2025 Mascoutah Military Classic
These guys are tough to keep up with. I’m going to have to learn how to write less like a historian and more like a beat reporter if I’m going to stay on pace with all the things they’ve been doing this season, and my guess it’s not going to get any easier from here. Please excuse the typos or if I make any inaccurate statements… zero time for edits this week.
Friday we lined up against some of the best competition in Illinois… last year’s 3A state champs, the team many would consider the front runner for 2A state champs this season, and the list goes on. It was a windy day, and not all of our guys had their best stuff, but we were still good enough to rack up 49.5 points and a 5th place finish out of 23 teams (both programs records for us at this meet). Btw, the average enrollment of the other 9 teams in the top 10: 1,255. We have a little over 700 students at RCHS.
Highlights
Distance
While our teams speed and jumping ability has been catching a lot of attention as of late, our young distance crew has quietly been turning a ton of heads, both for their youth and for just how flat out good they are. At one point on Friday, Mascoutah’s announcer exclaimed “Man this Olney Team is young and it is TALENTED”… he made that statement during the 1600m after our young guys had already put on impressive showings in the 3200 and 800 earlier in the day - again, all freshmen. For all our successes on Friday, our lone event winner was Quaid Berger in the 3200, and it was a convincing one (he also scored for us in the 1600, finishing 6th). Quaid outpaced Mascoutah’s Leo Cozzi by 6 seconds. Judah Dicks took 4th in the same race. While Quaid got a win and set a new outdoor PR, neither of the fellas ran as fast as they’d hoped to coming in… the wind was extreme at times, and any race that requires a full revolution of the track is going to be negatively impacted on a day like Friday - that’s not an excuse, just reality. Also, not having anyone to run with (like Quaid on Friday) is always a challenge when you are trying to drop time no matter what race it is, but it’s especially tough for a distance runner on a windy day - that means you are just getting drilled the entire race. Nonetheless, Quaid still sits at #6 in Illinois. When the right race on the right day comes along for him, I have no doubts something great is going to happen.
Rounding out the rest of the fellas in our distance crew, Tristen Butler turned in top half finishes in both the 800m and the 1600m, and Landon Livingston ran a 2:09 800m, extremely impressive. So far this season, we’ve had 4 kids run under 5 minutes in the 1600, 2 kids under 10 minutes in the 3200, and 2 kids under 2:10 in the 800. That would extremely impressive for any group - and they are all freshman. Exciting stuff.
Throws
Our throws group really is pretty young. Casey Thomann is our lone veteran at this point, but we really like our young guys. They have ability, they show up, and they want to get better. Jace Tracey set a new personal best earlier in the week at Newton, a great sign for him coming off of being injured the past few weeks. Right now, Taylor Levitt is throwing the furthest of our freshman, and so he’s been our #2 in both throws at invites where he’s been getting some great experience. It’s tough being a young guy at a meet like Mascoutah, but one of the things I love about Taylor (outside of his work ethic) is that he doesn’t have any fear. He didn’t have his best day at Mascoutah, but I have no doubts that experience is going to help him get better. Looking forward to seeing what he does down the home stretch.
Mr. Thomann, didn’t have his best day either, but it was a positive one. As he’s transitioning from a glide to a spin in shot, we’ve talked (and I’ve written about) how that’s process that requires patience. Saturday didn’t produce the results he’s been seeing in practice, but we’re getting closer to that point… He threw 49’2… a season best and what I’m calling a “Spin PR”. In some ways he’s re-learning the event - gotta have perspective in all things, especially in this sport. Speaking of perspective… Casey threw half a foot further on Friday than he did at Mascoutah last year. We are getting there. Discus didn’t produce as many positives, but the wind wasn’t his friend in the discus ring on Friday… and I’m guessing learning to spin in the shot isn’t just impacting that event. The season is a process and patience is our friend.
Sprints
Sprints produced all the emotions on Friday. It was weird, crazy, & exciting - disappointing at times, and absolutely amazing at others. We started with the highest of highs: our 4x1 (Goncalves, Hallam, Cothern, Pianfetti) dove into the deep end with some absolute stud relay teams: Mascoutah, who’s #2 in all of Illinois regarding of class, Edwardsville who were the 3A Team Champions last year - they perennially produce some of the best relays in the state, and that’s just the tip of the ice berg. To give some perspective, the top 8 teams all ran faster than our school record, and 7 of those teams went faster than 43 seconds… that’s REALLY fast, especially for mid-April, and we were right there in the mix. We finished 6th with a 42.83… up there for the happiest I’ve ever been with a 6th place finish. That time crushed our previous school record by 3 tenths of a second, and at the time ranked us in the top 5 in 2A (our first time ever cracking the top 10 in an event that is extremely competitive - for a rural school our size to have 4 kids that can go fast enough to do what we did on Friday is extremely impressive). And the cool part is we all know (both myself and the boys) that we can go faster. This was our first race with the entire group together, we were in lane 1 (not ideal), and the wind didn’t help either. If these guys can stay healthy, they’ve got a shot to do some damage on the blue track in late May.
The 100m produced all those ups and downs I spoke about above. They turned the race around to go with the wind, which is great. Definitely better than running into 10-15mph winds. But it also complicates things when the wind gusts anywhere above 2m/s (5ish mph). At that point, times become “wind-aided”, and don’t count for the record books (although they still count in the results for that meet). During the event on Friday, the wind was fluctuating… some times were wind legal and some weren’t. Unfortunately, the heat that two Tigers in it saw winds above that mark. The race started off with Ian Pianfetti and Felipe Goncalves in a dead heat at the front of the pack, but Ian tightened up mid way through the race (he’d been experiencing a little discomfort going in). He finished, but not at 100% (ultimately he was thankfully ok). Despite halfway pulling up, he still turned in an 11.2 - only .05 off his all-time best. He’s gotten therapy and is feeling great going into this weekend, but we’ll have a close eye on him. With Ian out of the mix, Felipe took the heat in astonishing fashion: a 10.78 that brought gasps from the crowd… and half a tenth faster than Ayden Cothern’s school record (ironically set at Mascoutah in 2023). Then came the roller-coaster… it was announced that the time was wind legal, stunning Felipe’s coaches and the entire team, only then to find out that it was in fact not. The wind reading was at 3.9 m/s, twice the legal limit. Frankly, I hate those types of situations, because they can steal the joy out of a phenomenal accomplishment. Even with the wind, Felipe’s time converts to under 11 seconds, something very few Tigers have done over the years. He also finished 4th overall. Felipe is such a wonderfully spirited kid, and he just shrugged it off. I continue to be amazed that we have been fortunate enough to add him to a group that was already so outstanding.
School records and the finer details of wind readings, etc. already have me running long in the sprints section, but we had some other fantastic efforts in this group as well. Goncalves and Germak both turned in new Personal Bests in the 400m, finishing 7th and 13th in an extremely tough field. Along with guys like Carter Seaman, Tristin Butler, and others, this is already looking like the strongest group of quarter-milers we’ve ever had - and they are young. Speaking of young, our 4x2, which included two freshmen and a rookie (Hough, Owusu-gyan, Edel, and the only veteran of the group Reed Klingler) turned in a top 15 finish. In the open 200, Reed didn’t eclipse his new PR from the Olney Invite, but he ran a tough race on a banged up leg - he got spiked pretty bad practicing handoffs the day before (proud of that kid). Ryan Kirby did PR though, running a 44.65 in the 300 hurdles - a drop of almost a second and half from last week (his previous best). Neither of our 4x4 groups (we had a varsity and a f/s group) broke the top 10, but I am super proud of them both. After Kirby went down with a hyper-extended knee in the Triple Jump, we were stretched a bit thin in terms of putting two groups together. Anyone who knows the 4x4 knows it’s a cliche for kids to run and hide when you’re looking for an extra guy at the end of the meet for that race. But instead, we had guys circling the wagons and doing what they could to make sure those groups got to run (Judah Dicks stood out as one of those guys). For one or two of those guys, it was their only race of the day. Can’t say it enough, I love this team. And it’s for things like that.
Jumps
Our jumps crew scored a ton of points for us on Saturday (18 of our 49.5), and that was w/ Mr. Cothern just doing one of the jumps, and us continuing when or if to move forward with Rex doing any jumping outside of LJ… that’s thanks in part to Gavin Root emerging as another high level competitor for us. He continues to climb the ladder, this week clearing roughly 6’3. That’s over state qualifying height & puts him at #2 in our Sectional (behind Cothern)… and if he goes any higher that legitimately puts him the mix to score points at the state meet. High jump is the most unpredictable event in Track & Field, and anything can happen if you’re good enough to get in the door. Gavin has worked at it and I’m super excited for him - he finished 4th on Friday. Gavyn (Cothern) cleared 6’5, good enough to tie for the lead, but he wound up 3rd in placing after tie breakers. It wasn’t a great day overall for HJ… Gavyn went 6’8 the last time he competed in HJ, another state leader in Matt Plouffe went 6’8 earlier in the week… both went 6’5 at Mascoutah - hard to say for sure but I believe the wind probably played a role.
Rex Hallam’s return continues to gain steam. For the 2nd week in a row he set a new best (6.92), and this time around, he was consistently hitting in the range of 22’8. He’s currently sitting at #3 in 2A. A few days later I clocked Rex at 24mph - the first Tiger I’ve ever timed at that speed in HS (for those wondering, Ayden Cothern hit 23.8 his Senior Year, and then 24mph the summer after graduating) I’ve had so much fun watching so many guys over the years, but there’s something special about watching a guy come back the way Rex has and succeed like he is. And he’s a great kid. Couldn’t be any easier to root for. And just to throw this out there, with Gavin Root and Rex’s performances the past couple weeks, combining them with Gavyn Cothern now gives us two High Jumpers going 6’3 or higher and two long jumpers going 22’8.5 or further. Until last spring 22’8 was our school record in the LJ. I’m guessing never in the history of the school have we been able to say we have anything like that going on (if we have, it’s been a LONG time). Likewise, I’m guessing we may be the only school our size in the state that can claim to have multiple athletes doing those things.
Rounding up the rest of our Tigers on the runways for us: Maverik Cordell went roughly 11 feet, half a foot under his best. Again, the wind likely wasn’t helping. But Mav and I also discussed the fact that if you’re bummed about a height that a short time ago would have been your best, you know you’re making progress. Success never happens in a straight line. He’s currently ranked in the top 3 at our sectional, excited to see how the back half of the season plays out for him. Ryan Kirby and Reid Brown (our newest Triple Jumper) both set Personal Bests in the TJ (Ryan’s was an outdoor PR - he went 40+ during indoor). The way Ryno is competing, I think he’s just around the corner from another best in Triple - a slight hyperextension ended his day early. Reid on the other hand, is still in the earliest phases of learning… but he’s built for it, and I think it’s going to pay huge dividends for him on the basketball court. And Xae Owusu-gyan continues to impress… he hit a new best of 19’6. Inching closer to that 20’ mark. Which would be phenomenal for a freshman.
Up Next
Track season is crazy, but this week is next level. A very competitive Mattoon Invite starts us off on Thursday, but we’ll be taking a different lineup, holding back some of our guys that are state hopefuls because we’ll be taking them to Edwardsville on Saturday for one of the biggest meets in Illinois - the Edwardsville Meet of Champions, perennially recognized as one of if not the top all-class meets in Illinois. In between those two meets, we’ll take a more JV focused crew (with a few varsity guys in the mix) to Robinson’s Coach Cork Invitational. Of note, the Robinson meet is not a “JV” Meet, and our JV group is highly competitive. Very excited to see how they compete.
Relay Splits
4x2
Owusu-gyan - 23.6
Hough - 24.3
Klingler - 24.6
Edel - 24.8
Varsity 4x4
Butler - 56.09
Germak - 55.78
Seaman - 56.11
Edel - 59.25
F/S 4x4
Dicks - 1:02
Padilla - 58.00
Berger - 1:01
Livingston - 58.5
Event Winners
Berger - 3200m
New Personal Bests
Goncalves - 100m / 400m
Germak - 400m
Livingston - 800m
4x100 - (Goncalves, Hallam, Cothern, Pianfetti)
Kirby - 300m Hurdles
Root - HJ
Hallam - LJ
Owusu-gyan - LJ
Brown - TJ
New Honor Roll Performances (Top 10, Outdoors, Since 2010)
Goncalves / 100m - #2 (Conversion due to wind-aid)
Goncalves / 400m - #3
Germak / 400m - #9
Berger / 1600m - #5
Butler / 1600m - #8
4x1 - #1
Kirby / 300m Hurdles - #6