Dixon, Sterling, Rock Falls advance athletes state at Rochelle Sectional

ROCHELLE – It was the “Big 3″ of northern Illinois Class 2A track and field on display Wednesday with Sycamore, Dixon and Sterling dominating the Rochelle Sectional.

Sycamore, one of the favorites to win the state title, won the Class 2A Rochelle Sectional with 139 points, followed by Dixon (100) and Sterling (94).

“I couldn’t be happier,” Dixon coach Ryan Deets said. “If everything would have went 100% perfect for us, maybe we could have beaten Sycamore in what was a tough sectional and tough weather.”

With an inclement forecast, several schools reached out to Rochelle in hopes of moving the meet to Friday. Due to scheduling issues of graduations, finding officials and only light mist instead of heavy rain, the decision was made to stay with Wednesday, as was the case with every other 2A sectional meet that day.

“The weather is keeping fringe kids out of state qualifying, not just here, but all over the state,” Sterling coach Kel Bond said.

Personal bests were hard to find, but plenty of locals qualified for the state meet next weekend at Eastern Illinois University in Charleston. Foremost was Kaedon Phillips of Sterling, who won the high jump (6 foot, 3 inches) and triple jump (42-8), and also qualified in the long jump (21-3) and 4X100 relay.

“Those are four hard events to do in the first couple hours of the meet,” Bond said. “We figured he’d qualify in all four, but didn’t know if he’d win the triple and high jump.”

Sterling shined in the relays, with Joseph Holcomb, Ryan Gebhardt and anchor Maurice Delacruz joining Phillips in running a 42.73 seconds in the 4X100, finishing second behind Sycamore.

“It’s always a lot of competition against them for the last 3-4 years,” Delacruz said.

“We could have done better, but our handoffs were late,” Phillips said.

The Warriors also added a win in the 4X200. Their time of 1:29.90 was below the season best, but Bond said it was a prime example of the weather negatively affecting times.

“All that mattered is we got the ‘W’ and are going to state,” Holcomb said. “The handoffs were well executed.”

In the 4X400 relay, both Sterling and Sycamore had seeds of 3:22. Neither came close to that, with Sterling clocking a 3:27 to take second to the Spartans (3:24). It was senior Parker Blakeslee with a group of sophomores in Derek Prieto, Aiden Lacy and Quincy Maas.

Dixon claimed three winners, actually four if you count the rare first-place tie between Cullen Shaner and Jayden Toms at 15.75 in the 110 high hurdles. Upon finishing such a close race with his teammate, Shaner was so excited, he could barely speak.

“After the conference, I knew this was going to happen,” said Toms, who trailed Shaner for much of the race.

Aaron Conderman cruised to a victory in the 3,200 at 9:47. Teammate Westin Conatser was fourth at 10:12.

“I was pushing in the 3,200 to get in the fast heat at state because I will be running the 4X800 prelims and finals,” Conderman said. “It was a tough wind and I was 13-14 seconds behind my PR.”

Conderman sat out the 4X800, with Keegan Shirley, Averik Wiseman, Hayden Fulton and Dean Geiger running an 8:17 to meet state qualifying by three seconds. Geiger came back later to run a 4:25 in the 1,600, holding off a pair of 4:26 Aurora Central Catholic runners to the finish line.

“I’m a confident racer,” said Geiger, who proudly displayed the No. 1 sign upon finishing. “I can count on one hand the number of times I’ve been out-kicked.”

Finishing sixth was Shirley at 4:29, good enough for a trip downstate.

“We put a lot of trust in him. He’s our 4X800 leadoff and we ask him to do what he can in the mile,” Deets said.

It was a state-qualifying clean sweep in the distances for the Dukes with Wiseman claiming second in the 800 at 2:00.84.

“I was trying to stick with the Boylan runner. He was fresh and after doing the 4X800; I wasn’t,” Wiseman said. “I’m looking forward to getting down on the blue oval at state and hopefully making it into the top nine [to medal].”

In the shot put, where weather doesn’t factor in as much, second-place Owen LeSage (53-10) of Dixon was one of six qualifiers. Five of the top eight finishers were sophomores, including LeSage.

“That was a PR for him and he was leading until the final round,” Dixon throwing coach Brandon Woodward said. “He’s small in stature, but spastic in terms of explosiveness.”

Taking advantage of the wind at their back, four long jumpers made state, with Owen Belzer of Dixon leaping 21-3 to edge out Phillips for third.

Sterling also had plenty of other qualifiers. Holcomb (22.25) and Delacruz (22.59) finished third and fourth, respectively, in the 200, but had state-qualifying times. Sycamore’s Aidan Wyzard, who won four events, ran 21.59 in the 200.

Gavino Munoz-Ripley squeezed made it to state in the shot put at 49-5, good for sixth.

Anthony Valdivia was the main story for Rock Falls, which took eighth with 35 points. Valdivia cleared 6-3 in the high jump to place second. Then in a closely-contested race for second place in the 400 behind state-ranked Dylan Hodges of Sycamore, Valdivia had a kick at the end to qualify with a 50.84. Midway through the race, he was in fourth.

“I had to kick it in,” Valdivia said. “At 50 meters left, I put a burst in to the finish. I really surprised myself today. This was the first year for running the 400 and trying the high jump.”

A major disappointment in the meet for Dixon was failing to qualify in the 4X200 and 4x400 relays. A dropped baton in the 4X200 and a close call in the 4X400 doomed the Dukes. In the pole vault, senior Hayden Yingling, who had met state standards at 12-9, was hampered by a nagging injury and no-heighted.

“That’s track,” Deets said. “Before the 4X200, we were in first place in the team standings and having a great day. Then, you see a baton on the ground. Otherwise, we would have qualified.

“We came back to run angry in the 4X400 and just came up short.”