2025 Newton Invite
Really quick turnaround between the Newton Invite and the LIC Conference Championship Meet (Wednesday @ Robinson), so this write-up will have to be a little more on the brief side. The Newton Invite is always one of my favorite meets of the year. It’s 20 minutes up the road, features great competition from both schools our size and really great programs from smaller schools. Eagle Track has itself been a tremendous program for decades, winning a state title in the late 90s, and has since had 3 top 3 performances since the turn of the century. Two of those have come under my friend and mentor, Todd Short. Tiger Track would not be where it is today without him.
Also of note, we took a FS group to the Newton Invite this year. Every few years the IHSA calendar rolls back, and the Newton Invite lands on the first Friday in May… that’s prom for us. While I would have obviously loved to send our varsity guys, we’ve been all over Illinois the past few months, and we’re heading into the home stretch. I think a weekend off was probably a good thing - and it was great for our younger guys to get a little bit of the spotlight this week. We finished tied for 7th with 46 points - not bad for a Frosh-soph squad competing with 16 other teams. Big Congrats to Coach Koebele (another great Coach and good friend) and the Charleston Trojans on their big win Friday!
Highlights
Distance
Distance led the way on Friday night, which makes sense as Distance is a group for us that is heavily dominated by young guys. Having said that, Coach Butler chose to get these guys out of their comfort zone - something that is a bit more common for distance. Quaid Berger, who is one of the top 2 milers in the state regardless of class, ran the 800m, and ran an all-time best of 2:07. Tristin Butler, typically a shorter distance guy, ran the 3200m and got pushed all the way to end, running a 9:56 and winning the event (Prior to this year, we’ve only had 2 runners break 10 minutes in the 3200 since 2010, this year we have three - and they are all freshmen). He then turned around and gutted out an 800 - a few coaches mentioned how tough a turnaround that was and how well he ran. Judah Dicks and Landon Livingston both scored in the 1600m and both turned in sub 5 minute miles. Landon set a new PR of 4:55… That now gives us 4 freshmen who have broken 5 minutes outdoors this season. Our 4x8 of Berger, Dicks, Livingston, and Austin Kuenstler finished 4th with an 8:44 - that’s the 2nd best time in the LIC this spring - and Oliver Fehrenbacher ran his first ever 3200m, turning in an 11:52.
Jumps
We were light in the jumps on Friday night, with only two guys total competing in those events. Maverik Cordell cleared 11 feet again on Friday Night - that’s the fifth time he’s cleared 11 feet (or roughly that height - sometimes the metric system lands on 10’11.75) this spring in 6 meets. Last year he had a personal best of 10’8. He’s raised his floor, so I expect the ceiling is going to go up sometime soon as well. He’s going through the process of finding the right pole to fit what he needs as an athlete, and we’re hoping he’s poised to peak at the right time. Mattey Sanders was able to jump for us for the first time since the Olney Invite (Mattey is having a great baseball season at the varsity level as a freshman). Friday Night at Newton he cleared 5’7, tying his best for us this spring (he cleared 5’7 at SIU back in March). Mattey is an outstanding athlete - he’s got multiple sports (including T&F) excited about what he’s going to be doing as a Tiger for the next 3 years.
Sprints
Couple great highlights to share on our young sprint group from Friday night. Xae Owusu-gyan and Gentry Hough have cemented themselves as two of the fastest freshmen we have had, and both ran their fastest FAT times on Friday night at Newton. If you haven’t seen an explanation previously on FAT vs. hand times, there’s a good rundown here. Essentially, FAT is both more accurate and generally produces a “slower” time. Xae’s 11.66 is the 2nd fastest time from a Freshman we’ve had on FAT (behind only Ian Pianfetti at 11.55), and landed him a 6th place finish - not a small accomplishment at the Newton Invite. That puts him at the 2nd fastest FAT time in the conference behind Quincy Fulton of Newton. Gentry’s 11.88 is the 5th fastest FAT time we’ve had from a freshman and puts him at 4th in the conference amongst freshmen.
Aiden Germak’s 55.01 wasn’t his fastest of the season, but I loved the way he handled it. He saw that times were slower amongst some of the other guys he’d run against earlier in the season, and realized he had actually run a solid race. Track is a sport you have to have perspective in or can eat you up. Loved seeing that maturity. The fact that he’s running a 55 flat on a day that wasn’t his best is also a positive sign. He’s got some sub 54s on the horizon.
Keagan Puckett finally got a race under his belt… he’s been playing a ton of varsity innings for Tiger Baseball as well. We’d hoped he would be able to make his debut last Friday night but Robinson was rained out. Friday night at Newton didn’t go like we wanted… Keagan took a tumble within the first few hurdles. But he got right back up and finished out the race. I don’t think people realize how much guts and character it takes to do that when you are out of contention. Proud of Keagan both for not quitting and for his positive attitude after the fact.
Our young guys gave tremendous effort in the relays on Friday Night. Our 4x1 (Hough, Germak, Sanders, Owusu-gyan) had a nice race going, but had a rough 3rd exchange that took them out of the race. Mostly the same crew, with Mason Brown subbed in for Germak, ran the 4x2, and bounced back well. 3 Freshmen and a sophomore scored with a 7th place finish - and at 1:38.50, would be in the hunt for the Conference Title in the 4x2 if our varsity group wasn’t leading the rest of the LIC by a wide margin. Lastly, our young distance crew put together a nice 4x4 in the F/S division (Fehrenbacher, Kuenstler, Livingston, Berger) and finished 2nd. Those guys only know one way, and it’s to compete.
Throws
Because of prom, we only had one thrower Friday Night: Jace Tracey. No personal bests for Jace on Friday, but he continues to show up and work hard every week. He’s a great kid, and is always there whenever we need someone to step up. Guys like that always succeed in the long run, and he’s exactly the type of kid we want as part of our program!
Up Next
First stop of Championship Season for our varsity guys is the LIC Conference Meet @ Robinson on Wednesday, followed by our first ever visit to Collinsville for a pretty huge meet on Saturday for one of two tune-up meets before Sectionals (the other is next Friday at St. Teresa).
Relay Splits
4x2
Hough - 23.8
Brown - 26.4
Sanders - 24.9
Owusu-gyan - 23.2
4x4
Berger - 58.1
Fehrenbacher - 60.6
Kuenstler - 61.9
Livingston - 58.5
4x8
Livingston - 2:07
Dicks - 2:12
Kuenstler - 2:17
Berger - 2:06
Event Winners
Butler - 800m
New Personal Bests (Outdoors)
Berger - 800m
Dicks - 1600m
Livingston -1600m
Butler - 3200m
Sanders - HJ
New School Records & Honor Roll Performances (Top 10, Outdoors, Since 2010)
Dicks / 1600m - #9
Butler / 3200m - #3
4x8 - #6
Tigers Who’ve Hit State Qualifying Marks
Long Jump / 21’3
Hallam
Cothern
HJ / 6’2
Cothern
Root
Shot / 48’10
Thomann
4x100 / 43.51
Goncalves, Hallam, Cothern, Pianfetti
4x200 / 1:31.33
Goncalves, Hallam, Cothern, Pianfetti
3200 / 9:57.04
Berger
Butler
Dicks (Indoors)
1600m / 4:32.20
Berger
Dicks
100m / 11.03
Goncalves
200m / 22.59
Goncalves