Wrap Up: 2024 Mascoutah Invite
For whatever reason, it really hit home for me this past week just how young this year’s team is. We are certainly getting contributions from upper classmen (most notably, Ian Winkler is putting up state-ranked performances on a weekly basis), but the bulk of our points this season are being put up by guys that are Sophomores and Freshmen. We graduated the fastest man in school history, the fastest High Hurdler we’ve had in a couple decades, and one of the most decorated distance runners we’ve had in recent years. And to top it off, our most decorated Junior, All-Stater Rex Hallam, is sidelined for the spring. So I was pretty shocked to look at the final scores after this year’s Mascoutah Military Classic and find that we actually rang up more points this year than we did in 2023, on a day that Gavyn Cothern didn’t have his best stuff, no less.
This meet isn’t the biggest on our schedule (that distinction goes to the Edwardsville “Meet of Champions”), but it’s pretty darn big. It’s loaded with 2A powerhouses (like Mascoutah, Triad, and Mt. Vernon) and a 3A school or two (like Edwardsville, the #1 track program in the state this year by most accounts). Their facilities are incredible, and it’s the kind of trip that is going to help our guys when the post-season rolls around. When we decided we needed to take our schedule up another level a year ago, this was one of the meets at the top of my list, and just like last year, our guys made the most of the trip.
Thomann New RCHS #1 in the Shot
Casey Thomann has been showing steady, incremental improvement, from the very start of indoor season. Starting with his first meet, he PR’d on March 9th - and has set a new best every single meet since (which is wild). But even with that, his throws in meets haven’t quite caught up with what he’s been doing in practice - until Mascoutah. Casey finally broke out with a new best (and a new #1 for us since 2010), throwing 48’7.5”. That’s a top 20 throw in 2A this season and makes him the #3 soph in 2A as well. If you’re looking for evidence of the strength of this meet, that throw placed Casey 6th! Casey also PR’d in the disc, putting him at #4 for us since 2010.
Wink Collects Our First Ever Win at the Mascoutah Invite
Speaking of incredible improvement, Ian Winkler’s tour of shock and awe kept on trucking at Mascoutah. Last year Wink finished 8th at Mascoutah with a jump 39’8”. This year he won the event with leap of 44’5.5” - almost a foot more than 2nd place. With his 2nd straight week over 44’, there’s no other way to put it: he’s in historic territory. Also notable that his TJ performance came on the heels of his all-time best Long Jump (20’11.5… half an inch away from becoming just the third 21’ long jumper I’ve ever had), and another fantastic leg in the 4x1.
Young Sprint Crew Continues to Wow
Last Year our record breaking 4x1 was made up of one senior, one sophomore, and two freshman. So far this year, our group consisting of one senior, two sophomores, and one freshman have established themselves as the 2nd fastest in school history, thanks to the continued improvement of our returning members (Cothern & Pianfetti), the arrival of an impressive freshman (Germak), and the emergence of senior as one of the fastest guys we’ve ever put on a rely (Winkler, who hit 23mph earlier this spring). This relatively inexperience group found themselves in the fast heat at Mascoutah, one stacked with teams that will be duking it out in the state finals later this year. And other than rough 3rd handoff (the wind was particularly brutal on that curve), our guys ran just .03 off their time at Greenville a few weeks ago. My mantra for last season’s group as they chased the record was “right race on the right day”… if/when these guys run the right race on the right day, look out.
Our young anchor on that crew, Ian Pianfetti, also made some history at Mascoutah, where he ran a wind legal 11.34. That makes him the fastest sophomore I’ve ever coached (he was already the fastest freshman I’ve ever coached). We set our goals high and it’s easy to forget just how young Ian is, but being a young sprinter is tough, especially at these big meets. Don’t let the 5th and 6th place finishes at places like Mascoutah fool you. Ian Pianfetti is on the path to becoming one of the fastest young men Olney has ever seen.
Cothern Battles It Out
Gavyn Cothern is a problem (a good one). He can realistically compete in about 10 events (I could see the decathlon in his future), but the maximum limit per meet is four (as it should be). And sometimes events don’t line up in a way that allows him to effectively do all he can do (High Jump and Long jump, both events he’s state-ranked in, take place at the exact same time). So this season has been a process of trial and error, and it will probably continue for another couple weeks. At Mascoutah, Gavyn competed in the Long Jump, Triple Jump, 4x1, and 400m. That’s a full day. In particular, the TJ and 400m (events I believe he can be specatular in) have two of the biggest learning curves in high school track and field. You can train for them, but there’s no substitute for meet experience. This was Gav’s first time in the Triple Jump and only his second in the 400m - by the way, two events that roughly occur in the same time frame. After a slightly rough day in the Long Jump (slightly rough for Gavyn = 2nd best jump we’ve had outdoors since 2010), he had to turn around and try to juggle those two aforementioned events. He wound up not being able to find the board on his 4 TJ attempts, and running about 3 seconds slower in the 400 than he did two weeks ago in Greenville (wind probably played a factor too). Gavyn is an elite competitor, though… he learned from his experience and followed it up with a phenomenal week of practice. You can’t hold this kid down.
Youngsters and Rookies Don’t Back Down
Mascoutah was probably a pretty eye opening experience for our Rookies. It’s an enormous meet with tremendous athletes running around all over the place. What I love about brining those guys to meets like this is exposing them to these conditions and watching how they react. They were nothing but impressive:
Gavyn Root took 5th in the HJ
Maverik Cordell Continued to Improve in the PV, finishing in the top 15
Aiden Germak PR’d in the 200m on his way to an 11th place finish
Carter Seaman continued to cement himself as the fastest freshman we’ve had in the 400m since 2010
Kaeden Davis battled it out in both the 800 and the 1600 for us, his first time doubling up in those events for us.
Our 4x2, F/S 4x4, and Varsity 4x4 were all made up completely of first and second year guys, and all 3 competed their tails off.