Distance trio Foltz, Hortin, Barrett leads Tuscola to 1A state runner-up finish
May 25—CHARLESTON — It would have been the perfect story: Three best friends all winning an individual boys' track and field state title, beating each other to make it happen.
Tuscola seniors Will Foltz, Josiah Hortin and Jackson Barrett were just a few seconds away from doing just that during Saturday's Class 1A state finals.
Foltz won the 3,200-meter run, with Barrett close behind in second, to get the day started with a bang. Hortin then won the 800-meter run as Foltz trailed back in eighth.
It was up to Barrett to complete the trifecta, but he had to settle for fourth place in the 1,600, and Hortin finished right in front in third.
While it wasn't the perfect ending — the Warriors finished as the team runner-up, just three points back of champion Winnebago — that trio, all top-10 finishers at last fall's state cross-country meet, proved once again that they own the 1A distance competition in Illinois.
"It's a testament to all our hard work," Hortin said. "We've been working at this since freshman year. Working all these years together and pushing each other to be better, eventually the best in the state, has really just been us taking it upon ourselves to be great and putting in the work every day."
Foltz and Barrett set the tone for the day, jumping out to about a 30-meter lead together over the rest of the 3,200 field after just two laps.
"It's kind of surreal," Foltz said. "Being at the top of the state with one of your best friends is a really cool experience. I was thinking during the race, 'It's me and Jack. It's going to be one of us. Might as well be me.'"
There was no flipping a coin or playing rock paper scissors to decide the winner this time. Barrett won the cross-country First to the Finish Invite last fall in a similar fashion after the Warriors led the pack by a wide margin. While they would have been happy with either outcome, Barrett said, "you want to see who's the best," especially when a state title is on the line.
"It makes me feel a little safe," Barrett said of running up front with Foltz. "I had in the back of my head, 'If Will beats me and we go one-two, at least we got the points on the board.' At the end of the day, I can live with that. It makes everything more comfortable because you have a guy to lean on."
With about 500 meters to the finish, Foltz kicked it up a notch, speeding ahead of his teammate and close friend to win with a time of 9 minutes, 18.86 seconds. He was hurting for the last three laps, but the mental side of the race took over.
"I was like, 'I've just got to hang on until the last lap. If I can make it to the last lap, I can win,'" Foltz said. "There were about 200 meters to go, and I was like, 'This is only 30 seconds, and I'll be the state champ,' so all the pain was worth it. I decided to give it all I had."
And as Foltz crossed the finish line, he pointed a No. 1 to the sky and put his arms out in triumph, joined shortly by Barrett, who congratulated him with a hug once Barrett crossed in 9:25.21.
"All the work that culminated to get there, it was immediately worth it," Foltz said. "I was like, 'I can't believe I'm actually the state champion.' I wouldn't want anyone else to get second. I'm so glad Jackson could be up there with me."
About an hour and a half later, it was Hortin's turn. His half-mile race started just like his teammates' 3,200, but instead of having a teammate up front with him, it was Elmwood's Isaiah Hill.
Hortin stayed tucked behind Hill for the majority of the race, running the first 400 meters in 53 seconds, which would have been fast enough to compete in the open 400 prelims two days prior.
"I was like, 'Dang. OK, we're going to run fast. I've just got to hang on until he fades,'" Hortin said. "With 200 to go, he kind of locked up a little bit, and I was like, 'This is my chance to go.'"
Hortin surged ahead as they hit the final straightaway, and as he picked up the pace even more, he looked over his shoulder seven times to make sure Hill didn't have another push left in the tank.
"I was a little shocked that he completely faded in that 100," Hortin said. "I thought he was going to come back on my shoulder, but after I looked back a few times, I was like, 'OK, he's gone. I've just got to go all out and finish.'"
He crossed the line all alone, spreading his arms out just like Foltz did, with his time of 1:51.98 just three-quarters of a second off the 1A state meet record.
"I've been stressing this race for a while," Hortin said. "It was kind of like a 50-50 race of who was going to win, me or Isaiah, and I was like, 'I want this race really bad.' Holding onto it was awesome."
Of course, the distance runners didn't get Tuscola second place all by themselves. Sawyer Woodard placed fourth in the discus, Kam Sweetnam took seventh in the triple jump, Aiden Weaver finished ninth in the shot put and Carter Simpson was ninth in the 110 hurdles. But they're all aware of who the Warriors' breadwinners were this season.
Hortin and Barrett were disappointed in their third- and fourth-place finishes in the 1,600, even feeling responsible for losing the team championship, but without them and Foltz, Tuscola doesn't sniff a team trophy.
Given some time to take it in, they were able to smile about what they accomplished, the highest team placement in school history. The fact that Tuscola's distance trio have been best friends since early elementary school made the experience that much more special.
"They've legitimately been my best friends by far," Barrett said. "They're the two guys I'm closest with. We spend at least two hours a day together just running or messing around."
No, it wasn't a perfect ending. But the Warriors made history once again.
