ROCKFORD - Although Hononegah's team won Friday night's NIC-10 Boys Track & Field meet, Freeport's Deion McShane was the bigger story, turning in one of the greatest individual performances in conference history.

McShane won four individual events Friday at Guilford. It may be just the second time in conference history that a male athlete won four individual events in one meet.

McShane
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He also set a new conference record, breaking a record in the 300-meter low hurdles that had stood since 1993, and narrowly missed another.

McShane's titles came in:

  • The 110-meter high hurdles, which he ran in :14.26. He topped Harlem's Jayvious Johnson, who ran the race in :14.48, and he narrowly missed the record of :14.20, which has been recorded three times, the last by East's Loren Common in 1989.
  • The 300-meter low hurdles, where McShane again beat Johnson. McShane's time of :37.68 broke the previous mark of :38.30, which was set by Guilford's Nick Wright in 1993.
  • The 200 meters, where McShane's time of :22.28 just nipped Hononegah's Vito Guerrero, who ran a :22.31.
  • The long jump, which McShane won over Jefferson's John Funchess with a jump of 21-8 1/2.

How rare were McShane's accomplishments?

His record in the 300-meter hurdles is just the second conference meet record to be set since 1993.

The NIC-10 Sports History Book has started the laborious process of rebuilding the track & field records. In 1981, Freeport LeRoy Dixson won four events, the 100 and 200 meters and the high jump and setting a conference record in the 400 meters that still stands. It was believed as of that meet that Dixson was the first in NIC-10 history to win four events in one conference meet.

The NIC-10 History Book still hasn't published much of the 1980s meet result and none of the 1990s. Every meet though since 2000 has been published and just winning three events is a rare accomplishment.

Since 2000, only six boys track starts have won as many as three events in a conference meet.

  • 2000: Jvontai Hanserd, Jefferson (100 meters, 200 meters, 400 meters)
  • 2004: Jared Richardson, Harlem (800 meters, 1,600 meters, 3,200 meters)
  • 2004: Ricky Ellis, Jefferson (long jump, high jump, triple jump)
  • 2009: Dominique Hall, Belvidere North (110-meter high hurdles, 300 low hurdles, long jump)
  • 2013: Todd Berkenpas, Belvidere North (110-meter high hurdles, 300 low hurdles, high jump)
  • 2016: Eryk Yunk, Belvidere North (800 meters, 1,600 meters, 3,200 meters)

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