Edwardsville , IL — PNTRACK WINS BIGGEST INVITATIONAL IN SCHOOL HISTORY 22 TEAMS We traveled 285 miles in two minibusses, no seat unfilled. We stayed four to a room at a Super 8. We battled the coldest windiest conditions in recent memory. CHAMPIONS Beating Edwardsville is quite a feat. Edwardsville is coached by Chad Lakatos, a former athlete of mine from 30 years ago, and my oldest son, Alec. Edwardsville, for the past ten years, has been the best track program in Illinois, winning two state championships and four 2nd place trophies. We also beat Tinley Park Andrew who placed third (coached by my youngest son, Quinn). I don’t know if I’ve ever been more proud of a team. We used the weather to our advantage. We let other teams complain. We competed. GREAT GILBERT We won only ONE individual event, despite winning the meet as a team. That happens sometimes in a 22-team meet. But, if someone would have suggested that Noah Gilbert would be our only guy to win a gold medal??? Noah came into the 3200 at Edwardsville with a PR of 10:38 and was seeded TENTH. Combine the tenth place seed with brutal cold and high winds… most people would have predicted Noah Gilbert would not break 11:00. Noah ran 9:54.74 and WON the 3200. VICTOR PUTS TEAM FIRST After the 4x1, Victor Patterson wasn’t sure if he could run the 4x2 and 200. I encouraged him to run the 4x2 and said the 200 would be a game-time decision. Well, we were two points behind Edwardsville with only 200, FS 4x4, and V 4x4 left to run. We knew Edwardsville could win both the FS and Varsity 4x4. Victor asked if he needed to run the 200 for the team to win. Victor ran in lane eight, the curse of death. Victor ran an amazing 23.65 into the strong wind and placed 2nd, more importantly, he scored EIGHT POINTS. Victor also ran our top splits on both sprint relays, 10.2 and 22.7. Instead of a “Victory Lap” after the meet, we took a “Victor Lap”. CONNORS-HALL 1-2 PUNCH Freshmen aren’t supposed to score 13 points in the 1600 at a 22-team varsity meet. Going into 1600, we trailed by 12 points, so outscoring Edwardsville 13-3 was huge for our team. Aidan Connors ran 4:40.52 for 2nd. Gavin Hall ran 4:42.88 for an amazing PR and 4th place. Warriors! OMAR 11.59 What? 11.59 is not that good and not a PR for Omar Coleman. Why is this a headline? Well, the wind and cold was really hard on sprinters. The winner and top seed, Anafee Ford of Streator, ran 11.17 to win, in spite of an incoming time of 10.74. The #2 seed and second place finisher, Ayden Cothern of Olney, ran 11.32 in spite of a season-best 10.83. In fact, the top eight seeds ran an average of .45 seconds slower than their PR. Some simple math: Omar’s 11.59 might indicate a good-weather 11.14, not bad for a sophomore who is only seven months removed from Lisfranc Surgery on his foot (football injury). Omar also ran great leadoff legs in two FS sprint relays (11.2 and 23.2). Omar will run on our A-team sprint relays Thursday! FS 4x8 (All Freshmen) RELAY RELAY RELAY In a meet featuring EIGHT relays, all scoring varsity points, you better load up your relays. FS 4x1 - 1st FS 4x2 - 2nd FS 4x4 - 2nd FS 4x8 - 1st V 4x1 - 3rd V 4x2 - 4th V 4x4 - 1st V 4x8 - 1st Not many teams are deep enough to do this. Staying with the theme of the cold windy conditions being hard on sprinters… Andrew came into the meet IL #5, 42.52 in the 4x1, and took care of business, winning the race. But they won running 43.77. This would indicate that our 44.18 might translate to a good-weather 42-high. State qualifying is 42.99 EASTON SHINES ON A DARK DAY 51.5 in 4x4 2:01.1* in 4x8 My son, Alec, said after the 4x4, “Every 4x4 kid will run at least two seconds faster in May”. Yes! Maybe we could run 3:22 in the 4x4. Maybe Easton Miller could run 49.5 Easton ran a PR in the 4x8, 2:01.1 Hard to believe in this epic team win, we only had five PRs Keith Cyracus 21’4” in LJ Easton Miller 2:01.1 in 4x8 Gavin Hall 4:42.88 in 1600 Cullen Williams 10:23.38 in 3200 Noah Gilbert 9:54.74 in 3200 BRENNAN MAKING BID FOR MVP The guy that didn’t make our roster for our first indoor meet has become a VIP, if not our MVP. Alex, for the first time ran in our 4x1. Hard to believe we now have three of our four 4x1 guys (Patterson, Gramley, Brennan), who prior to April of 2023, had never run in a 4x1. Alex Brennan nearly won the 400 (2nd) Alex ran the fastest split in our 4x4 (51.3) CYRACUS NEW PR 21’4” in Long Jump. IL #10 among sophomores. Also placed 5th in 200. #2 leg on FS 4x1 winner. #3 leg on VAR 4x2, 4th WILL WE EVER GET TO FULL STRENGTH? Three of our five captains did not run (Amoo-Otoo, Ashiru, Burns). Oliver Burns (5th in XC State Meet) attended the Palatine Distance Night and ran a solid 9:31.82 in the 3200 Ryan Tracey attended the Palatine Distance Night and ran a PR and team-leading 4:27.07 in the 1600. SPC indoor high jump champ, Gavin Floyd is taking time off to concentrate on his grades. SPC indoor pole vault, Ray Vanichtheeranont, is resting a sore knee. Our favorite track meet of the year, the Hunt TrackTown Invitational, is Thursday! PN RESULTS 100 Coleman 11.59 Gramley 11.70 200 Patterson 23.65 (2nd) Cyracus 23.87 (5th) 400 Brennan 51.59 (2nd) McCormick 56.87 800 Czerwinski 2:06.66 (5th) Farnum 2:08.49 (7th) 1600 Connors 4:40.52 (2nd) Hall 4:42.88* (4th) 3200 Gilbert 9:54.74* (1st) Williams 10:23.38* (7th) 110 HH Gavras 15.65 (4th) Morris DNF 300 INT Gavras 43.15 (6th) Morris SCR FS 4x1 Pntrack 45.12 (1st) Coleman 11.3 Cyracus 11.2 Bownes 11.7 Anderson 10.6 VAR 4x1 Pntrack 44.18 (3rd) Gramley 11.5 Pauly 10.8 Brennan 11.3 Patterson 10.2 FS 4x2 Pntrack 1:35.52 (2nd) Coleman 23.2 Bownes 24.1 Jones 24.3 Anderson 23.7 VAR 4x2 Pntrack 1:33.62 (4th) Gramley 23.6 Pauly 23.2 Cyracus 23.6 Patterson 22.7 FS 4x4 Pntrack 3:45.20 (2nd) Schmauderer 57.3 Ulrey 55.4 Kyrychenko 56.1 Czerwinski 56.1 Var 4x4 Pntrack 3:30.01 (1st) Stahl 53.1 Miller 51.5 Pauly 53.8 Brennan 51.3 FS 4x8 Pntrack 8:40.82 (1st) Hall 2:10.5 Czerwinski 2:07.6 Schmauderer 2:11.8 Connors 2:10.5 VAR 4x8 Pntrack 8:19.70 (1st) Stahl 2:03.2 Miller 2:01.1* Farnum 2:07.6 Davis 2:07.5 SHOT Snitko 13.05 42’10” Mescioglu 12.81 42’1” DISCUS Snitko 33.99 111’6” Mescioglu 33.15 108’9” HJ PV LJ Cyracus 6.50* 21’4 (3rd) Cardillo 5.71 18’9” TJ Cardillo 12.64 41’6” (4th)