2023 Charleston Invite Recap
In some ways, things start to slow down towards the end of the track season… fewer meets, less practice time as we make rest a priority, etc. But in other ways, things get extremely hectic. Prom, the end of the school year, graduation, preparations for summer, and the list goes on. One of the casualties of having less time is usually things like these recaps. Even so, our kids did some great things at Charleston (we regard it as our “last chance meet” before sectionals), and they deserve to be recognized and honored for it. This just may be a little more brief than usual (some folks might be applauding that). Overall we turned in a 2nd place finish out of 13 teams, trailing only Mt. Zion, last year’s state runner-up, and a program that has been ranked off and on again throughout the 2023 season…. Side note: Mt. Zion’s Head Coach, Joe Fritzsche, let me know that he told his kids before the meet “You guys better have it together or Olney will beat you… They aren’t messing around.” High praise coming from a great program and a complement to our kids… other people are taking note of what they are doing this season.
Hough Hits a Milestone in the 1600
Holden Hough has been gearing up for the 3200 all season, but he’s shown his versatility and toughness as a runner as of late, putting together some excellent times in the mile. Wednesday, he put in another tremendous effort, this time making some history. Holden’s 4:31.94, which he truly had to battle for down the stretch, lands him at #2 for me outdoors and the fastest we’ve had in 12 years, trailing only Max Gassmann’s 4:30 at the 2011 Olney Invite (Max ran a 4:26, winning the Indoor State Meet that spring, but suffered a stress fracture that ended his season while running that 4:30 at Olney). Holden has been training with the end in mind for months. Looks like things are clicking at the right time.
Jones Hits a Momentary Snag, Mixed Results in the Hurdles
Saul Jones has been dropping time at a positively scary rate over the past month, and he finds himself ranked number #1 & #2 in the 110 High Hurdles and 300 IHs at our Sectional, respectively. But there is always an element of uncertainty with the hurdles that I don’t think you find anywhere else in the running events. Along with High Jump, the hurdles & sprint relays might be the most nerve-wracking events in track for me with all the variables involved (ok, and the 100 - every time one of our guys gets in the blocks for that race I still feel the same way I did when it was me 25 years ago). In the 110s, for example, a kid do 99% of everything right, but there are 10 chances along the way to suffer a setback that may be impossible to recover from (kids who run this event flat-out amaze me). And sometimes, an athlete in another lane can cause issues for you (i.e. Chase Travis in 2022).
Wednesday, Saul hit one of the first hurdles out of the gate pretty hard (we’re not totally sure, but film seems to indicate a hurdle from another lane may have caused it). he wound up finishing 3rd with a time over a second slower than his best, which came at the previous week’s Conference Championship. He also came away experiencing some discomfort, so we elected to hold him out of the 300s. All indications are that he is fine, though, and I am absolutely certain there is no one who will be more ready to compete at the Mattoon Sectional than Saul Jones.
Caleb Rudolphi, our steady #2 in the hurdles, had to deal with some adversity as well. For at least the 2nd time in the past few weeks, he was interfered with via another runner’s hurdles being knocked into his lane (unfortunately at this level, these things don’t always get called like they should - there simply aren’t enough eyes). Caleb, true to form, competed his tail off in both hurdle events like he always does. Caleb is a senior and I am going to miss watching him run with tenacity every single week.
AC & the Sprint Crew Take Care of Business
Getting pushed the week before Sectionals is a good thing, and it’s why we started attending the Charleston Invite 5 years ago. We had hoped our sprint group, which has been pretty dominant the past few weeks (other than when we had to make a last-minute double substitution at Newton in the 4x2), would get pushed and improve on their seed times going into Sectionals. That was especially true for our 4x2, who haven’t had the right mix of competition, weather, and health on a given day yet this year.
The competition was good, but not quite where it needed to be to push us like we needed to drop any time (Mt. Zion unfortunately was banged up, and they didn’t have their A Crew together - they have been running in the 1:30s all season, but turned in a 1:36 @ Charleston). We wound up winning both relays by half a second, but both came up short of new bests. Both had encouraging signs though… the 4x1 (Pianfetti, Cothern, Hallam, Cothern) ran under qualifying time (43.66) for the 3rd straight meet, and our 4x2 was again in the mid 1:32s (qualifying is 1:31.98). This group will probably have to hit qualifying in the 4x2 (Brown, Cothern, Hallam, Cothern) to get through to state… the competition in this Sectional is extremely good. But I’ve seen enough to think they are more than capable of doing it.
Our anchor and main man in the sprints, Ayden Cothern, has been extremely good throughout the season. Conditions haven’t always made it possible for him to turn in times that reflect what he’s doing on the track. Even so, he’s run sub 10.9 twice on FAT and has averaged an 11.07 in the 100m this year - several hundredths below qualifying time (big difference between hitting qualifying once and averaging below it). Wednesday at Charleston produced good conditions, but Ayden stumbled out of the blocks… maybe his first true mishap of the year in the 100. In the very same race, Parker Wolf, Ayden’s partner in competition so much the past two years, came with his A game, running maybe the best race I’ve ever seen from him. Ayden is a true competitor, though, and managed to just barely edge out Parker at the finish and run 11.00. At this same meet last year, Ayden ran 11.33, his best FAT of the 2022 season. 3 tenths faster with a stumble out of the blocks (and just a few days after prom). Pretty incredible.
Zach Wease Continues to Take Off at the Right Time
I am pretty proud of Zechariah Wease. As a senior who recently signed to play football at North Central College (one of the premier D3 programs in the country), Zach is one of those guys you could see mailing it in, especially after Conference. Instead, he continues to show himself as one of the most improved athletes on our team. In fact, he’s PR’d in his last 5 meets in the discus, which is fantastic. At Charleston, Zach shocked quite a few folks and finished 2nd in the Disc, throwing 131’6. His latest PR edges him past Anthony Helm (2012) and makes him #4 for us since 2010. That’s also our best toss since 2016 (Derek Deimel & Trevor Jones both hit the 140’ mark). And with all this talk about Disc, it can’t go unmentioned that he PR’d in the shot as well… he now sits at #5 since 2010 in the shot at 42’9. Maddox Dorn, btw, is still so close to the 125’ mark in the disc, and will be taking another shot at it Wednesday at Sectionals. He’s currently sitting at #8 for us since 2010.
Jump Crew Solid on a Sub-Par Day for Jumpers
Wednesday at Charleston was not an especially good day for jumpers. Noah Gilmore of Robinson returned to form a bit, hitting 6’6 after struggling at Conference, but both Gavyn Cothern & Drew Rodgers (Paris) went out at 6’1.5 after clearing 6’6 the previous week. In the Long and Triple Jump, performances were down across the board. Rex Hallam won both Long Jump & Triple Jump despite struggles with the board and performances that were well below his best. Both of these guys are mature beyond their years, and I loved watching them just compete and go about their business when they could have been complaining. Not too many 15 & 16-year-old kids out there with that kind of composure. And they’re pretty talented, too - both guys head into the Mattoon Sectional state-ranked and seeded #1 in their events.
Ian Winkler and Hudson Lathrop, both guys who have been extremely important contributors for us this season, while not their best, turned in nice performances for us as well. “Hud” cleared 11’0 for the 2nd time in his career (he cleared 11’6 at Conference the Previous week). “Wink” jumped 38’11.25” in the Triple… again, not his best, but it was his best since March, and on a day when distances were down across the board.
Other Notes
6 Personal Records on Wednesday @ Charleston: Runyon in the 200m, Jerrison Hough in the 400m (his final ever race as a Tiger), Brayden Beard in the 800m, Holden Hough in the 1600m, and Wease in the Shot & Disc
We call Charleston our “last chance” meet because it’s the last opportunity to improve on seed times, etc. before Sectionals. But for some of our guys, it was their last chance to compete. After the rain-out at Fairfield about a dozen of our guys are done for the season. Every one of them were fun to watch grow this season. This has been a great group, top to bottom.
We began attending the Charleston Invite in 2018… this was our 4th time competing there (no Charleston Invite was held in 2020 or 2021 due to COVID). This year’s 2nd place finish is our highest since we began attending.
We head into our Sectional Meet with the highest-ranked group we’ve had since making the move to Class 2A over a decade ago. I count 9 events where we are either seeded in the top 2 or have already turned in a state-qualifying performance. Our 4x2 makes 10 if you count it (again, they are just .23 off of qualifying time). Important to note, though, in Illinois, only Sectional Performances can get you to state: You have to either finish in the top 2 or turn in a qualifying performance at your sectional meet to advance. That’s a lot of pressure, but it’s also why we have been putting our guys on big stages as much as we can since late February. “The hay’s in the barn”, and the weather looks like it’s going to be cooperative. Now our guys just need to go and compete.
A limited photo gallery… I slacked off a bit with the pictures at this meet. But our guys got ahold of the camera and made up for it again.