Track: Seton's Martin advances in 1A

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CHARLESTON — Sean Martin is a one-man track team for Seton. Unlike the Sting’s girls team, which had multiple runners at its state championship, Martin has only his coaches to lean on. That doesn’t bother him.

“My coaches have done a great job preparing me,” Martin said. “I feel I’m ready, in my prime.”

The senior showed what he’s capable of on a chilly Thursday at O’Brien Field. Martin’s leap of 21 feet, 8 1/4 inches, before a long rain delay, has him third in the Class 1A long jump with Saturday’s three jumps remaining.

“I plan to do a lot better in the finals, because I know I can go a lot farther than that,” Martin said.

His best leap this year is 22-11, achieved in last week’s sectional.

“I plan to surpass that, or try my hardest to,” Martin said.

Martin wasn’t able to advance to the finals in the 100- or 200-meter dashes. He missed advancing to the 100 final by one one-hundredth of a second, running his heat in 11.26 seconds.

Kevin Ybarra of Sterling Newman, ran 11.25 and made it, as did Alex McMahon of Westville at 11.28, because he won a heat. The five heat winners and the next four fastest runners advanced.

Martin was in Lane 4, the only one with a puddle in it.

“I stepped in it a few times, but what can you do?” Martin said. “You can only run your race, and that’s what I tried to do. I try not to complain. It’s not like I was the only one in the rain.

“If I leave everything up to God, He’ll put everything how it should be.”

The tendinitis in Martin’s right knee began to bother him during his 200 run. He was clocked in 23.01 seconds, 14 hundredths off the necessary pace.

For Martin, the good news is that he has an extra day to recover.

“Right now, I want to get my mental game together,” Martin said.

Beecher senior Griffin Nykaza ran 2:00.93 in his heat of the 800 meters, .48 off the last qualifying spot. It was a valiant effort, considering Nykaza was coming off an injured calf.

“It’s decent,” Nykaza said of his leg. “I don’t want any excuses. I ran bad. It was not what I wanted to do.”

Nykaza said the injury came about during a pickup basketball game a few days before the sectional meet. He ran 2:02.28 to make it to the state meet, a time in the middle of the 35 sectional qualifiers, and improved on that by more than a second, but won’t be running Saturday.

Qualifying in Class 2A, where Hillcrest is favored, and Class 3A, is Friday. In contrast to Thursday, the forecast is for sunny skies.