Boys Stateline State Tournament Roundup

By Al Zipsie

A rundown of Saturday's Stateline boys at the State track meet in Charleston.

3A. Nobody from the NIC-10 brought home a state medal. Syreal Holland of Auburn had solid times in the prelims in the 100 10.887 and 200 22.68 but did not qualify for the finals.

2A.  Riley Wells of Rockford Christian won his third straight 800 meters capping off a stellar high school track career.

The senior Wells was the only State champion from the Stateline in any of the three State classes at Eastern Illinois University Saturday. Wells encore to the 800 history came in a winning time of 1:56.02. He went out in style with three medals in the meet. He anchored the third place 3200-meter relay where he joined Brent Brunner, Stephen Thomas and Nicolas Capriola who were clocked in 8:06.68. Wells ended his prep career part of the seventh-place finish in the last event the 1600 relay. Wells with a strong kick kicked it down the stretch for his third straight title in the 800.

Rockford Christian who was state runner-up in 1A last year made the move to 2A and came up with a solid fourth place team finish. Wells won a state championship in all four of his years at RC. As a freshman, he was part of the winning 3200-meter relay team and was sixth in the 1600 meters. Then as a sophomore through senior won the 800 each year. He also was part of state title 1600 relay team as a sophomore and second in the 1600 relay last year. This year he capped it off with his encore winning three more state medals. Rockford Christian 's 400 relay of Davis Hood, Kody Page, Gage Wiebe, and Skyler Blanton. Seventh place efforts came from Noah Fulcomer in the 110 high hurdles and Brunner in the 1600.

Freeport in 2A was led by senior Jaden Johnson who had three state medals. Johnson was sixth in the 110 high hurdles and seventh in the 300 Intermediate hurdles and added a sixth-place part of the 400 relay team that also included Darius Lewers, Paris O'Bryant and Don Tay Thompson. Johnson was hoping to win the state title in the hurdles like his teammate from last year Deion McShane. Johnson did have the best time in the prelims Friday in 14.23 but ran a 14.88 in the finals.

1A. Forreston/Polo was in the finals in seven events and hoped for a higher finish. The Coop tied for seventh place. The best F/P finish was second place junior from Jace Coffey with a career-best 177'08 in the discus. The only other second-place finish from the Stateline came from Jake Mennen of Oregon who soared 14'9 in the pole vault.

Forreston/Polo got three state medals from senior Brady Webb he was seventh in the long jump, eighth in the 100 and anchored a strong fourth-place effort in the 800 relay (1:30.64) as he joined Cailean Davids, Evan Kelsey and Dom Christensen. Last year Webb leaped an NUIC all-time best 22'7 in the long jump. This year in the finals his 21'10.50 would have placed him higher in the state 2A. Ninth place from F/P came from Bennett Soltow in the 110 high hurdles and the 400-meter relay who struggled and finished ninth in 49.11. That 400 relay team in the prelims ran a 43.21 the second best time going into the finals.

Dakota had a solid fifth-place finish in the 400 relay as Cade Kloster, Kaleb Morris, Jordan Ayres and Nolan Lentz in 43.88 after a 43.66 in the prelims. Lentz a junior did not make the finals in the 400 meters but did set a new school record with a 51.11 in the prelims.

Pearl City's Lucas Peterson broke his own school record in the 800 meters in 1:59.65 for eighth place. Jayden Kempel who also owns the school 300 Intermediate hurdle record was also eighth in the event.

Chandler Ellis of Winnebago was fourth in the 300 hurdles.

Lena-Winslow's Isaiah Bruce in the shot put and Ian Kuehl in the discus both made the finals but did not medal. For Kuehl a senior he ended a sparkling sports career at Lena-Winslow which included team state championships in football and wrestling and an Individual state wrestling championship. However, after switching from baseball to track. "I saw people excelling in track and I wanted the opportunity to make it downstate in track," said Kuehl. But the humble Kuehl was more about praising another Lena-Winslow athlete in senior Lance Molitor. "One of my highlights in sports at Lena-Winslow was when the 4 by 400 qualified for state because of Lance Molitor a senior, he has been working hard for four years and to see all his hard work pay off and his dream come true is something I'll remember for the rest of my life."

Molitor anchored the 1600 relay team that ran a solid 3:33.70 in the prelims Thursday but not make the finals.

For websites on local track go to Facebook NUIC track records. And NIC-10 boys school track records.