CHARLESTON – Saturday's final day of the 124th IHSA Boys Track and Field Championship produced a little bit of everything for area teams.

Area schools brought home four medals from the competitions in three classes, while history was made for one school on the day.

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The history came from McGivney Catholic, who saw junior Elijah Burns become the first Griffin to represent the school at the state track meet at O'Brien Field on the Eastern Illinois University campus in Charleston; Burns finished 30th overall in the Class 1A 3200-meter run in a time of 11:04.92.

The medals came from Triad's Jadon Elliott, who tied for seventh in the Class 2A pole vault with a height of 14-0 with Effingham's Alex Morrissey; from Roxana's Jordan Hawkins, who finished second in the discus throw with a toss of 184-3, topped only by Mount Zion's Harley Russell, who had a 186-11; and from Edwardsville's Amari Brooks, who finished sixth in the Class 3A discus throw with a toss of 165-5.

The fourth medal came from Granite City's Andrew O'Keefe, who was nipped at the line in the Class 3A 1600 meters by Orland Park Sandburg's Dylan Jacobs, who had a time of 4:11.60 to O'Keefe's 4:11.68

“We're extremely proud of Andrew,” said Warrior coach Tom Miller following O'Keefe's performance. “He kept the race honest; he's the one who made it a race and went for it – he deserved to win, but there's great competition in Illinois. The best thing is that he knows he gave it everything he had and ran a new PR (personal record) for him.

“He's got one more year to get that title. He'll be happy because of his time and he knows he gave it everything he had – he doesn't do anything less.”

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“You know, I couldn't get anything to connect,” Hawkins said of his performance in the 2A discus final. “My warmups looked very good, but that's the way it happens; I'll take it. I wish I could have taken the No. 1 spot, but I think I have the luxury of continuing at the next level (Hawkins will be throwing for Iowa come next track season).”

“I'm happy about (his sixth-place finish),” Brooks said. “At first, it was a surprise because I was seeded 12th (going into Saturday's final), but I moved up to sixth place, so I was really happy about it. I had a really good experience (at his first state meet); I PRed in both shot (put) and disc.”

When asked about his experience at the state meet, Brooks rated it “a 15 out of 10; it was amazing, I loved it.”

Roxana's Cree Stumpf finished 21st in the Class 2A 3200 meters with a time of 10:49.71, while the Tigers' Roland Prenzler won his section of the Class 3A 3200 (finishing 13th overall) with a time of 9:27.15; Kenyon Johnson finished 12th in the 3A long jump with a leap of 22-4.5; Blake Neville finished 11th in the 3A pole vault with a mark of 14-0; and Franky Romano was 12th in the 800 meters with a time of 1:57.08.

Naperville Nequa Valley won the Class 3A team title with 52 points, followed by Homewood-Flossmoor (48), Plainfield North (43); Rock Island (27) and Hoffman Estates (26). The Class 2A team title went to Aurora Marmion Academy with 44 points, followed by Mahomet-Seymour (40), Normal University (36), Olympia Fields Rich Central (34) and Geneseo (30), while Class 1A was won by Colefax Ridgeview with 50 points, followed by Rockford Christian (44), Rushville-Industry (37), Carthage Illini West (35) and Warrensburg-Latham (33).

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Feeney, 56, is a native of Granite City and graduated from Granite City South in 1978. He was a part-time writer for the old Granite City Journal from 1979-84 before attending Eastern Illinois University in Charleston,
from which he earned his BA in journalism in 1988. He has worked for newspapers in Sikeston, Mo., Rocky Mount, N.C., Seneca, S.C. and in Charleston-Mattoon. He also worked for the old St. Clair County Suburban
Journals.

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