These 58 Rockford-area boys track stars are ranked entering the postseason
The boys track and field postseason is upon us as the NIC-10, Big Northern Conference and NUIC boys conference meets are all scheduled for Thursday, followed by next week's sectionals and the IHSA state meet from May 23-25.
The Rockford area is filled with stars hoping to peak over the coming weeks. A couple of late-season meets last week showed just how sharp some of them are already.
Times were sliced down and distances grew during last Friday's Northern Illinois Invitational for the area's Class 2A and 3A athletes. Meanwhile, a lot of powerful 1A competition, especially in the sprints, showed up for last Monday's Lena-Winslow Boys' Gates Jamboree and then again at Friday's Winnebago Mike Mowen Invite.
Here are all 58 slots where local boys or their relay teams are ranked in the top 25 in the latest rankings from athletic.net from across the state of Illinois:
More boys track and field: Here are 20 Rockford area boys track and field stars to watch this spring
Class 1A
No. 1 in 200, No. 3 in 4x200, No. 7 in 100 and No. 9 in 4x100 relay: Supreme Muhammad, Winnebago
Muhammad has turned it up late in the season and is earning that big target he has on his back. He ran a 21.67 at last week's Le-Win invite, good for the sixth fastest 200 time statewide. He also clocked a 10.84 last Friday in the Winnebago invite to move up in the 100. Muhammad has been a fixture in Winnebago's dominant sprint relays for years. They are hoping this postseason goes as well as last year's did in that realm.
No. 3 in 1,600, No. 7 in 3,200, No. 20 in 800: Nicolai Martino, Winnebago
Martino has been climbing the rankings all year in the 1,600 and last Friday, he ran a 4:25.84 to move into third. He is behind his Rockford Christian rival Weston Forward at No. 7 in the two-mile after last week's run. He also just cracked back into the leaderboard in the 800 run with his 2:02.62 at the Le-Win meet last week. He is a threat in whatever event(s) he chooses.
No. 3 in shot put, Gage Dunker: Lena-Winslow
Dunker is back and he's been working his way up all season. His put of 52 feet, 2 1/2 inches last Friday has him at third in 1A.
No. 4 in 100, No. 4 in 4x100 relay, No. 8 in 4x200 and No. 13 in 200: Alec Schlichting, Lena-Winslow
Schlichting ran a 10.78 last week in the Lena-Winslow Boys' Gates Jamboree, which moved him into the top five for the first time. Then at Friday's meet in Winnebago, with a lot of powerful competition, he moved up in the 200 dash and helped his 400 and 800 relay squads into top spots as well.
No. 4 in triple jump, Brandon Wiggan, Winnebago
Wiggan has been up there all season long and he soared 44 feet, 3 inch jump a couple of weeks ago to move up even more.
No. 5 in 1,600, No. 6 in 4x800, No. 10 in 800 and No. 22 in 4x400: Andrew Kurien, Rockford Christian
Kurien is close to breaking two-minutes in the 800, but his 2:00.04 from nearly a month ago still has him 10th headed into the postseason. He also joins Weston Forward, Evan White, Nate Thomas, Blake Lindberg and Sam Walsh to form two powerful distance relay crews.
No. 6 in 3,200: Weston Forward, Rockford Christian
Forward has been a fixture in the lead pack in just about any distance race in the area for years, and he should bump that to anything statewide this postseason. He's been pushing hard in the two-mile run.
No. 8 in 110, No. 10 in 300 hurdles and No. 12 in 4x400: Jake Schumacher, Lena-Winslow
He ran a 15.57 in the 110 high hurdles last week in his home jamboree, but he has been up near the top all season in that event — and all last season as well. He is also a threat in the 300 hurdles as his 41.44 from last month is still in the top 10 in 1A. Plus, the grouping of Schumacher, O'mar Pasley, Blake Duncan and Kasch Lessman is at No. 12 in the final event of each meet: the mile relay.
No. 9 in 4x800, No. 10 in 4x400: Winnebago
With the foursome of Aiden Vazquez, Joseph Erb, Jr., Sam Kaap and Cole Thomas in the 3,200 relay and Parker Brule, Daniel Hodgdon, Vazquez and Thomas in the 1,600 relay, Winnebago has a shot at excellence and state medals in both of the distance relay races this postseason.
No. 9 in pole vault: Leo Cardenas, Oregon
This senior Hawk cleared the bar set at 13 feet, 2 3/4 inches last week to break into the top 10 in the latest pole vault rankings.
No. 10 in discus and No. 19 in shot put: Tanner Kempel, Lena-Winslow
Le-Win has a slew of throwers that could excel in the postseason, although only two per event are allowed in the state series. He threw a 151-3 in discus on April 23 and tossed a 47-11 1/2 in shot put on April 15.
No. 10 in triple jump: Vontez Dent, Lutheran
Dent burst onto the track and field scene last year by placing second at state in the triple jump. His 42-7 3/4 is his best this year, but that's over a foot shorter than he went at state last year. So look out.
No. 11 in 4x400, No. 14 in 4x200, No. 15 in 4x100: Forreston
A crew consisting of De'Angelo Fernandez, Jonathan Milnes, Brock Soltow and Noah Dewey are looking to try and double-medal like last year's sprint relay crew from Forreston did. And in the 1,600 relay, Micah Nelson, Soltow, Brody Schwartz and Dewey have been strong all year.
No. 12 in 800: Evan White, Rockford Christian
Kurien's teammate White is also close to breaking that two-minute barrier in the 800. His 2:00.64 was from the same meet just under a month ago.
No. 18 in pole vault: Blake Inglima, Winnebago
Winnebago is showing its depth this year with a state-medal contender in the pole vault as well after Inglima cleared 12-3 1/4 about a month ago.
No. 18 in high jump: Suubi Kyobe, Rockford Christian
Kyobe cleared a personal-best 6-1 1/2 just last Friday to break into the high jump rankings and to put his hat in the 1A ring.
No. 21 in shot put: Gannon Dunker, Lena-Winslow
Gage's little brother joined him on the line in varsity football and now the freshman is trying to join him at state in the shot put. He unleashed a 47-5 1/4 last month.
No. 22 in discus: Odin Stabenow, Lena-Winslow
Le-Win has shot putters and discus throwers that are sure to make some noise this postseason. After Stabenow's 141-3 3/4 last Friday, he's making a case that he could be one, too.
No. 23 in high jump: Blaise Brown, Winnebago
Brown just cleared 6-1 last week and if he keeps progressing he could find himself in the hunt at state.
No. 24 in 1,600: Ryan Pieper, Lena-Winslow
Pieper burst into the top 25 in the mile run with a 4:36.30 in the very fast 1,600 from last Friday's meet.
No. 24 in 300 hurdles: Parker Krogman, Milledgeville
Krogman ran a 42.72 against tough competition last week and he is now in the mix in the longer-distance hurdles.
Class 2A
No. 3 in pole vault: Andrew Nuyen, Rochelle
Nuyen, just a sophomore for Rochelle, has cleared 15-1 this year, and he's a definite state title hopeful for the Hubs.
No. 9 in 4x100 relay: North Boone
The team of Maximiliano Cervantes, Connor McKibben, Collin McKibben and Azriel Dixon clocked a 42.88 to move up into the ninth position late last month.
No. 14 in shot put: Landon Mickley, Rochelle
The big 6-foot-8, 360-plus-pounder has worked a lot on his technique over the past year and he has been climbing up the ranks of the shot put late this season.
No. 15 in 100: Rasheed Johnson, Boylan
Johnson just ran a 10.95 last week and climbed up to No. 15 in 2A and he could be a factor down the stretch, for sure.
No. 22 in 4x800 relay: Boylan
Powered by Joseph Fiorenza, Luke Wedwick, Dominic Schwartz and Nolan Coen, the Titans have a shot in the distance relay, no matter who the competition is.
Class 3A
No. 2 in 4x200 relay, No. 10 in 200, No. 18 in 100 and No. 18 4x100 relay: Mechai Docket-Lewis, East
Two NIC-19 rivals, Docket-Lewis and Messiah Tilson, could be battling until the final day of the season if they can lose just a little bit more time off their 100s. Docket-Lewis is also a contender in the 200 and his 4x200 relay team including Christopher Tolliver, Javius Catlin and Jayden Green could be in the hunt for a championship. Meanwhile, the 400-relay crew of Kyaire Johnson, Justin Brown and Jaidyn Nguyen could be pushing for a finals berth as well.
No. 10 in 400, No. 22 in high jump and No. 23 in 4x100 relay: Braeden Brown, Belvidere North
Just last week Brown broke free for a 49.32, which put him in the top 10 in the 400 run as the postseason hits. Brown also has a make at 6-4 1/2 in the high jump, which puts him in contention there, too. Brown also joins Ben Bucher, Erick Roman and Nico Bertolino in the 400 relay event, where they just ran their best time (42.63) last Friday.
No. 11 in 110 high hurdles: Janardie Turner, Jefferson
Turner, just a freshman, ran a 14.95 last Friday to show he's ready to make some noise this postseason.
No. 11 in shot put, Jacob Benson, Hononegah
Benson is the only NIC-10 thrower to crack the top 25, which his throw of 54-8 3/4 from last month did in the shot put. It nearly put him in the top 10.
No. 12 in 110 high hurdles, No. 15 in 300 hurdles: Coen Lee, Hononegah
Lee, a sophomore, is just behind Turner in the rankings as we hit the postseason. Turner's 14.95 and Lee's 14.99 makes Thursday's NIC-10 meet even that much more exciting. Lee also has a 40.36 in the 300 intermediate hurdles.
No. 17 in 100, No. 13 in 4x100 relay and No. 24 in 4x200 relay: Messiah Tilson, Guilford
Tilson ran a 10.83 — the same time as his East rival Mechai Docket-Lewis — but just edged him out, last Friday. He is also an anchor on strong 400 and 800 relay crews that include Kyaire Johnson, Justin Brown and Jaidyn Nguyen.
No. 24 in 4x800 relay, Belvidere North
The Blue Thunder's grouping of Anthony Avila, Kristian Vujicic, Isaac Erwin and Jesse Kramer ran an 8:06.74 less than a month ago, and that has them just in the top 25 heading into the postseason.
This article originally appeared on Rockford Register Star: 58 Rockford-area high school boys track stars ranked IHSA postseason
