Thornridge’s Ford on the mark

Updated: April 28, 2011 11:47PM

Gary Ford has high standards.

“I was really high off the hurdle,” Ford said after winning a blistering 110-meter hurdle race on Sandburg’s wet track Thursday evening. “I had the speed in between, but I was really high.”

Which, to Ford’s practiced eye, is not good. Never mind the hand-timing of 14.15 seconds. No faster time has been clocked in Illinois this year, at least not by hand.

But Ford, a senior at Thornridge, looks for perfection. He found it early in the 20th Pete Struck Classic with a 21-foot, 11-inch long jump, which won the competition. He jumped well enough — 6-2 — to win the high jump, 8 inches off his season high.

Then he completed the sweep of his activity by winning the 300-meter hurdles in a state-best time of 37.43 seconds. A brilliant start followed by a cruise over each hurdle brought him home well ahead of runner-up Rashad Hulbert, of Crete-Monee.

“I sprinted through the whole thing,” Ford said. “My steps (between hurdles) were on and felt good. I warmed up perfect. I liked this race today.”

Told his 300 was the fastest in Illinois so far this season, Ford said, “There’s more to come.”

Brother Rice senior Dan Caddigan came up 200 yards short in an attempt to double in the 3,200 and 1,600. Caddigan won the 3,200, beating Sandburg’s Mike Tortorelli to the line, but came in third to a pair of Sandburg runners, winner Derek Hevel and runner-up Kevin O’Flaherty.

“I caught O’Flaherty with 200 to go, but my legs were just feeling it after that two-mile (3,200),” Caddigan said. “I was just trying to hang tough.”

While Ford brought Thornridge 40 points, Joliet West took the team title with 79 points, with Brother Rice second, one point behind.

The team title came down to the 1,600 relay, and when Crete-Monee’s Lexus Jackson barreled into the lead with a pass to the inside on the anchor leg, he not only cliched third place for the Warriors but assured Joliet West the title.

The wet conditions caused one mishap early in the long jump competition. The left foot of Sandburg’s Kyle Williams slipped on the plant board and he skidded, landing in the pit on his bank. A sprained left ankle was suspected, but Williams bounced back to run a heat of the 100 without incident.

The jump was reconfigured and proceeded without incident.

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