Tales From The Track
Editors note: Nick Cognito is a new correspondent for the Illinois Prep Top Times. He will be featuring profiles from various track meets from around the Chicago area. This is his first report. We welcome him to the IPTT Staff.
Five Tales of Triumph from the Illinois Prep Top Times Class AA Indoor Track and Field Classic, Saturday, March 31, 2007 at Illinois Wesleyan University, Bloomington, IL.
By N. Cognito, Illinois Prep Top Times ace reporter
Athlete: Devyn Thompson
Year: 9th
School: Chicago Whitney Young
Coach: Bob Geiger
Events: Girls 1600 -Meter Run; Girls 4/800 Meter Relay; Girls Distance Relay
While the other runners were stretching in preparation for their runs, throws and jumps in Saturday’s Illinois Prep Top Times Class AA Indoor Classic, Devyn Thompson had a rather unusual concern on her mind – the words to the National Anthem.
The 14-year-old freshman mid-distance runner is also a talented singer, and she sang the National Anthem to kick off the competition on March 31.
“I don’t want to forget the words,” she said, as she copied down the lyrics. “That’s my biggest fear – don’t forget the words.”
With her father, Devon Thompson, who sings professionally in clubs throughout the Chicago area, helping her out, she spent about fifteen minutes before the meet quietly rehearsing the song. “I’ve done the anthem before,” she said. “But I’m really nervous about it today.”
At ten o’clock her father led her to the center of the field, the meet announcer handed her a microphone, the crowd rose to face the flag and she started to sing. “My legs were shaking when I started,” Devyn admitted afterwards. “But once I got past `oh, say, can you see,’ I was okay. That’s the part that determines the whole key. If I messed up that part, the whole song would be thrown off. But I got it.”
Like any good middle-distance runner, she grew stronger as the song went on. She ended with a strong kick that drew a rousing ovation and then she went about her main business of the day.
As a freshman, it was her first high-school championship meet and she had some of the usual highs and lows from a first time competitor. She got off to a good start in the 1600, had a difficult time breaking out of box in a crowded field, and then finished strong to come in 12th with a time of 5:22.58, just ahead of Rachel Joravsky, her fellow freshman at Young. “It’s a good learning experience for me and Rachel,” Devyn said.
Asked whether she wants to be a singer or runner, Devyn says she doesn’t want to have to choose between the two. “I want to do sing and run,” she said. If all goes well, she’ll qualify for the 1600 in May’s outdoor championship. And who knows, maybe the IHSA will ask her to sing the national anthem as well.
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Athlete: Troy Doris
Year: 12th
School: Bolingbrook High School
Coach: Art Pahl
Events: Boys Triple Jump; Boys Long Jump
Everyone knows Troy Davis is the man to beat in the triple jump. He’s one of the top prep triple jumpers in the country, with a nationwide best of 50 feet nine inches, set at a March 24th meet at Lewis University.
But what many people may not have realized is that this year he’s looking to be a double threat. “I’m going for the long jump, too,” he said.
With a personal record of 23 feet 6.25 inches in the long jump Saturday, Troy put his stamp on both events. “I’m loose and I’m ready to go,” said Davis.
Not surprisingly, he also won the triple jump with a leap of 50 feet 2.75 inches.
For his efforts, Troy was selected as the Outstanding Male Athlete. Shakeia Pinnick of Waubonsie Valley was selected as the Outstanding Female Athlete, after finishing first in the 200 and the 400 and finishing second in the long jump and the 55-meter hurdles.
In between his jumps on Saturday, Troy said his larger goal is to eventually set the world record for the triple jump, but at the moment he’s concentrating on defending his state Class AA championship.
On Saturday, he took a giant leap toward that goal, finishing nearly four feet ahead of his closest competitor, Maxim Bakana a senior from Normal Community. Troy said he wasn’t disappointed that he didn’t set a new personal record. “I’m making progress,” he said.
As a triple jumper, he said he made a big breakthrough a couple of years ago when he and his older brother Ryan, now a sophomore at Southern Illinois University, began studying tapes of other great jumpers. “I’ve got to give my brother credit – he really got me into it,” says Troy. “It was something he was doing and it looked like fun. So I tried it.”
Troy is actually the third of the Doris brothers to compete in track at Bolingbrook. His oldest brother, Dinote Doris, ran on the team’s 1999 state championship 4 by 100 team.
After Saturday’s meet, Troy emerged as the solid favorite to win both jumps in the May championship. “I’m not getting ahead of myself,” he said. “I take it one jump at a time.”
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Athletes: Elaine Kuckertz, Emily Kane, Emily Cleary, Gina Kapusta
Year: 10th, 12th, 11th and 12th
School: Hinsdale Central
Coach: Mark McCabe
Event: Girls 4 X 800 Relay
The four members of the Hinsdale Central 4 X 800 meter relay team work so well together it’s easy to think of them as one person.
In fact, it’s hard to tell them apart when they’re together in a jubilant frame of mind as they were after their stirring come-from-behind-victory over Edwardsville. Running a team best of 9:29.25, they fought Edwardsville tooth-and-nail before edging them at the wire. Edwardsville ran 9:30.43.
Hinsdale came in with a seeded time of 9:35.34, second to Edwardsville, which finished third in last year’s IHSA outdoor championship. It sets the stage for a strong rematch in this year’s championship.
After the race, the Hinsdale runners spoke in unison, finishing each other’s sentences and delivering punch line to one another’s jokes.
I found it so difficult to keep up with them as they spoke over each other that I practically gave up.
“Is it okay if I attribute someone’s quote to someone else?” I asked.
“Oh, sure,” said Emily (or maybe it was Gina).
“Definitely,” said Elaine (or maybe it was the other Emily).
They all laughed.
Actually, they don’t see eye to eye on everything, like whom they want
to win this year’s American Idol.
“Anybody but Sanjaya,” said Gina and the Emily’s in unison.
“He’s not so bad,” said Elaine.
Three things they definitely agree on: They like running relays better than individual events, they credit Coach McCabe with their success and they wish he would carry a cell phone.
We were looking for Coach McCabe to pose for a picture with the relay team. Photographer Allen Winston suggested we call his cell.
“You can try, but he won’t answer,” said Gina.
“He never answers,” said Elaine.
“Never,” said Emily.
“We bought him a cell phone,” said Elaine.
“But he never uses it,” said Gina
They saw Coach McCabe in the crowd and waved him over.
“Where’s your phone, coach?” I asked.
“My wife has it,” he sheepishly answered.
“See!” the relay team said in unison.
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Athlete: Major Clay
School: Springfield Lanphier
Year: 12th
Coaches: Mike Garcia and John Rummel
Event: Boys High Jump
By the time Major Clay prepared for his final jump, the official competition was over and he was competing against himself.
The pole was set at 7 feet 0.25 inches. The second place jumper, Mykail Chambers, a junior from Urbana, had finished at 6 feet 7 inches. If he cleared it, he would set a new meet record.
Normally, the high jump gets overlooked at meets, as the eyes of the crowd tend to follow the track events. But as Major prepared for his record-setting attempt, the crowd turned its attention to him. He got a good start, but his foot kicked the bar and the crowd oohed in disappointment.
Back he went to the mosh pit of coaches and competitors at the center of the field house. He put on his sweatshirt, jogged in place and stretched. The starter’s gun went off for a race. He looked up at the sound, and then returned to his preparation. He took off, he jumped, he seemed to clear, but the bar fell.
Oooh, went the crowd.
“One more attempt for Major Clay,” said the track announcer.
He put on his sweatshirt. He wiped the sweat with a towel. In the mosh pit, the onlookers swelled. Talking ceased – like the moment before a golfer makes a putt.
“Okay, let’s get him going,” said the track announcer.
The crowd started to clap, a steady rhythm. The whole field house was clapping. He took off his sweater. He bowed his head in thought. He took a deep breath. He slowly began his run, he picked up the pace, turning, jumping – over the bar! The crowd roared, many on their feet. It was a new meet record, a personal record and it left him as the clear favorite to defend his championship at the state meet.
Afterwards, as he stood with his classmate, George Weed, who finished third in the shot put, Major said he never even heard the crowd. “I was just concentrating,” said Major. “I block everything.”
A guard on his school’s basketball team, he likens the jump to shooting a free throw. “You don’t listen to the crowd – you have to block it all out.”
And if you miss?
“If you miss, you just get ready for the next jump.”
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Athlete: Jenna Wexter
Year: 11th
School: Lincoln-Way Central
Coach: Dustin Waddell
Event: Girls Pole Vault
As she readied for her final jump, Jenna Wexter followed some advice from her coach that pushed her to new heights. “Coach Waddell always tells me to visualize the vault,” said Jenna. “You have to visualize the whole vault – the approach, the jump, clearing the bar. Everything.”
But it’s not as simple as it sounds. “If in your visualization you fall short, you have to stop the visualization and start again,” she explained. It’s like the visualization is a movie that has to finish with a happy ending. If the ending’s not victorious, she has to re-edit it in her mind. “Coach says stop, take a breath and start the visualization all over,” says Jenna.
That’s what she did Saturday. “I visualized myself making it,” she said. “And it worked like I visualized. My take off was good. I felt really good going over.”
She wound up winning with a personal best of 12 feet, shattering her old personal record of 11 feet six inches and tying the Prep Top Time mark set by Diana Noonan of Frankfort Lincoln Way East in 2005.
Her victory was a surprise, since the heavy favorite going in was Melissa Gergel, a senior at Chicago Heights Marian Catholic, who has a season high jump of 12 feet 10 inches. But Gergel, who finished second in last year’s outdoor state championship, was nursing a hamstring injury. She finished second to Jenna with a jump of 11 feet 6 inches.
Look for the two to battle it out for the state championship in May, once the Oregon-bound Gergel’s injury heals. “I’m feeling good,” says Jenna. “It’s fun and I’m loose.”
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