State bids up for grabs in classy field

Loaded. That's the only proper way to characterize Friday's Class 3A sectional at Homewood-Flossmoor.

Leaders in eight of the events are from Southland schools, including William Lindsey, Thornton's hurdle expert; Sandburg 1,600-meter sensation Zach Dahleen; and Japheth Cato, Bloom Township's field maestro.

There's also depth, all the way from the sprints to the distances, and in the field events as well. Every sectional sends at least two qualifiers to the state championship meet, plus any others who meet the qualifying standard. From H-F, three or four may qualify from each event.

The 100-meter dash is a perfect example. The electronic timing standard is 10.84 seconds. Nine potential runners in the meet have faster times, though some were hand-timed, which are generally faster. Five 400 relay teams in the meet have already run faster than 43.14 seconds.

In the field, three long jump contenders have leaped farther than 22 feet, 3 inches, including Cato, who is a state contender in both the long jump and pole vault.

Cato, also part of Bloom's 1,600 relay team, is one of several standout athletes to watch. Another is Thornton's Lindsey, the state leader in the 110 high hurdles (13.70 seconds) and Southland's pacesetter in the 300low hurdles (38.10).

Lindsey, aiming for his third straight appearance in the state finals in both races, finished ninth in the 110 as a sophomore and third last year.

Andrew was originally slated to host before area coaches pointed out to the IHSA that the school has no pole vault equipment and is a six-lane track with manual timing, opposed to H-F's eight lanes and electronic timing.

That gives H-F's Eric Oliver an edge he may not need in the 400. He's already the favorite in that race, given his state-best time of 48.05 seconds. But the real benefit goes to the sprinters from all 18 schools. With electronic timing, there's no need for early round heats. There will be just two rounds, semifinals and finals, in the shorter distances. That will keep legs fresher, which usually translates to faster times, and potentially more qualifiers.

Sandburg has a pair of favorites in half-miler Dennis O'Flaherty, who ran the 800 in a Southland-best 1:58.26 on April 30, and the aforementioned Dahleen, whose 4:11.09 clocking on Friday shaved more than 11 seconds off his previous best, is ranked by DyeStat.com as the ninth-best race in the U.S. this season, and moved him ahead of Brother Rice's Brian Corcoran, the area's previous leader. The Eagles also have Elliot Hevel, second behind Corcoran in the 3,200, to lean on.

For the last three weeks, Shepard's 3,200 relay timing of 7:30.56 has been an eyebrow raiser. This will be the test, because the Astros will be challenged by Sandburg, Thornwood and Andrew, the second-, fifth- and seventh-fastest distance relay squads.

Hillcrest seeks to dominate

Handicapping the Class 2A Hillcrest Sectional isn't difficult.

Start with the hosting Hawks and their impressive cadre of sprinters and hurdlers, who carry over to the relays. Cast an eye on Oak Forest's distance runners. Recall that Hillcrest is good in the jumps.

That leads to the conclusion that the Hawks will be leading the local 2A parade to Charleston. Hillcrest could win as many as eight events on Friday.

Nobody is an absolute lock, but sprinter Pierre Williams comes close in the 100 meters. His best time of the year, 10.30 seconds, has stood up for more than a month, and he's been close to that several times. He ran a 10.59 in the final of the South Suburban Blue meet, and only teammate Ryan Keen was close, at 10.75.

About the only sprint distance schools other than Hillcrest have a shot at is the 200, where Crete-Monee's Dylan McElveen (the Southland pace-setter at 21.53) and Rich East's Logan Coan (21.70) are faster than Williams (21.83) and teammate Jamison Wilson (21.88). However, both McElveen and Coan were injured in last week's SICA South meet at Bloom, and may not be 100 percent Friday.

The story changes as the races get longer. Oak Forest's Ed McDaniel is a good bet in the 800, while fellow Bengal Pathik Gandhi and McDaniel could run 1-2 in both the 1,600 and 3,200, if they're entered in both.

Hillcrest's Wilson is also favored in the triple jump and is the co-favorite with teammate Maurice Lyke in the 110 hurdles. Lyke and Hillcrest's Danny Harris could place 1-2 in the 300 hurdles.

For everyone else, it'll be a big task to jump over Hillcrest.

Tim Cronin can be reached at tcronin@southtownstar.com or (708) 633-5948.