Sprinters, jumpers, relays shine: Here's what we learned from boys conference track meets

The NIC-10, Big Northern and NUIC conferences held their boys track and field meets just before the weekend, and they all gave us a little taste of what's to come as the postseason really heats up the next two weeks.

Belvidere North ran off with the NIC-10 team title, while Rockford Christian took second behind Dixon at the BNC meet, and Lena-Winslow pulled off the team victory in the NUIC. But more than that, each meet showcased the local talent, and showed us all what to really watch for at next week's sectionals, and beyond.

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Senior Winnebago sprinter Supreme Muhammad, the defending state champion in the Class 1A 200-meter dash, won four events at the BNC meet; Guilford sprinter Messiah Tilson, just a sophomore, claimed three NIC-10 championships; and Lena-Winslow's relay teams showed off a bit leading into the postseason. But those are just a couple of the many highlights.

Here are a few more, and what we learned about the area's stars, and others, over the past few days, as well as what to expect coming up in Rockford-area boys track and field:

Everyone is ready for sectionals

It was a strong weekend, as you can see below from a lot of the individual performances. It's clear the Rockford-area programs are ready for next week's sectionals, and then state.

The Class 3A teams from the area will be competing in the Huntley Sectional on Wednesday, the same day our 2A teams will battle it out at the Norridge Ridgewood Sectional. Some of our other 2A teams will be at the Sycamore Sectional on Thursday, and at the 1A level, all of our local teams will be duking it out in the competitive Erie Sectional on Thursday or at the Winnebago Sectional on Friday.

Go to ihsa.org and click on boys track to find out which schools are where, and for all of the starting times.

The IHSA boys state track and field meet, held in Charleston, on the same blue track where the girls state meet is held this week, will be from May 23-25. Only the state finalists make it to Saturday, however.

Some of these area stars are sure to be there at the end, as they previewed this past week.

Elite sprinters sure are

This area has some seriously strong sprinters. The NIC-10 will have sprinters in both Class 2A and 3A to keep an eye on the rest of this postseason.

Tilson won the 100-meter dash (10.95), the 200 dash (22.06), and anchored the Vikings' 4x100 relay to a solid victory in 42.71. Tilson ran a 10.83 earlier this season, and that time has him ranked 17th in the latest Class 3A state rankings at athletic.net.

Over in the BNC, Winnebago's Supreme Muhammad is one of the best in 1A, and he won the BNC title in the 100 dash in 10.90. That's a solid time, but his 10.84 from earlier this season is ranked seventh in the current 1A rankings.

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But it's in the 200 that he shines above the rest. He won the BNC title in 21.79, but his 21.67 from earlier this year is ranked No. 1 in the state in 1A.

Even in the NUIC, Lena-Winslow has a sophomore sprinter that is a force. Alec Schlichting won the 200 dash in 22.44 and was key to the winning runs in the 4x100 (43.94) and in the 4x200 (1:32.87) relays. He also cruised to a second in the 100 dash with an 10.94. Schlichting will be in the mix in the individual sprints at sectionals and state, and Le-Win will be amongst the area's, and the state's, best relay teams over the next two weeks as well.

Relay teams blaze trail

Like last year, the Rockford area is sure to reel in multiple state medals in the relay events this year, including in the sprint relays.

Le-Win edged rival relay team Forreston by 3/100ths of a second in the 800 relay, but the two teams each have sprint relays that will most definitely be peaking over the next week-plus. The two teams are separated this year at sectionals, so will most likely meet again at state, probably on Saturday in the finals at Charleston.

And led by Muhammad, Winnebago also has the ninth best time in the 4x100 relay in 1A this year, and the fifth best in the 4x200 relay. They won both those events handily at last week's BNC meet.

And no matter what happened on Friday, led by star sprinter Mechai Docket-Lewis, East also has two sprint relay teams to be reckoned with. The 4x100 group was disqualified at this week's NIC-10 meet, while the 4x200 team was scratched. Chances are they will solidify the teams and clean up the mistakes at sectionals, and then probably state. East had the second fastest time in 3A in the 4x200 relay this season.

Belvidere North's Braeden Brown is one of several athletes from the NIC-10, and from the Rockford area, who has excelled in running events, relays and in jumps. Brown won the 400 in 50.05, anchored the winning 4x400 relay squad Friday at the NIC-10 meet, and he also won the high jump with a make at 6-2 3/4.

Jumpers make their move

Last year's 1A state triple jump champion Max Milbrath has recovered from a midseason injury just in time, and he soared 43-4 to win last week's NUIC conference title. That was the seventh longest triple jump of the year in 1A, but he already has a 44-7 1/2 this year, which is tied for the fifth longest.

Milbrath also placed second in the long jump last week, behind Milledgeville's Kolton Wilk, whose jump of 21-1 1/2 was the 17th best long jump in 1A this year.

Lutheran's Vontez Dent, who placed second behind Milbrath at state last year in the triple jump, dominated the BNC meet with a flight of 42-4. He has the 11th longest triple jump of the season headed into sectionals, and he's looking like a state-medal threat once again.

In the NIC-10, MyNes Murray has turned into a weapon, and he's climbed into the top-20 3A state rankings in the long jump with his conference-winning 22-4 1/4.

Jay Taft is a Rockford Register Star sports reporter. Email him at jtaft@rrstar.com and follow him on X, formerly Twitter, at @JayTaft. Sign up for the Rockford High School Sports Newsletter here at rrstar.com. Jay has covered a variety of sports, from the Chicago Bears and Blackhawks to local youth sports, since the turn of the century at the Register Star.

This article originally appeared on Rockford Register Star: Find out how they all did, and what comes after conference track meets