Boys track: Thornwood dominates invite

Rich Central's Steve Robertson clears the bar in the high jump.
(Jason Han/SouthtownStar)

Font Size

Email

Bookmark

Black Text

White Text

It took 5.4 seconds to run the 50-yard dash in the Thornwood Invitational.

It took about 15 minutes to determine that Tommie Hopkins of East St. Louis had won the race in the big fieldhouse in South Holland. The half-dozen finalists crossed the finish line almost as one. Several observers thought Hopkins’ chest crossed the line first, but not every lane timer was sure where their runner finished. Everything was a guess.

Meet officials went to their tiebreaker, looking at a video camera’s tiny screen, and couldn’t tell. They put the video on a computer to take advantage of the larger screen, and found that the shutter speed wasn’t fast enough for the video to be of use beyond determining Thornton’s Romel Marzette had finished second. Fairness dictated that the next three finishers were placed in a blanket tie for third.

“I knew I was first or second,” Hopkins said after the review was over. “I wasn’t sure. I knew it was close. I was wondering what took so long.”

That dramatic finish was the opposite of the 8-hour-plus, 15-team meet as a whole. Thornwood was the varsity winner with 108 points, 39 points ahead of second-place Thornton.

“I’m very pleased with the performance,” Thornwood coach Brian Evans said. “We know everybody didn’t bring their full squad. East St. Louis left a couple of people home. But this was a checkpoint for us today.”

The Thunderbirds scored victories in the 880-yard and two-mile relays and had individual wins by Ryan Blackmon in the 300 (33.2 seconds), Kunle Daramola in the 880 (2:06.2) and Denzel Carter in the shot put (52 feet, 3 1/2 inches). Blackmon and Daramola bookended the two-mile relay, and Blackmon finished second in the 440 behind the 51.4-second clocking of East St. Louis’ Gregory Edwards.

Jamison Wilson, a Hillcrest junior, won the triple jump by more than four feet with a distance of 46-6 on his final leap. That’s the best jump of the season in the Southland, bettering Wilson’s previous best of 45-2 1/2 set on Feb. 12.

“It was hard at first because there was so much sand on the track and I couldn’t get any grip,” Wilson said. “But before my third jump one of my teammates broomed the runway and I was able get grip.”

That turned into energy, and thus distance. Thornwood’s Fernando Williams was second at 42-2 1/2.

Thornton’s William Lindsey beat Lincoln-Way East’s Matt Mackowiak to the wire in the 600, winning in 1:16.7. Lindsey also won the 60 high hurdles, edging Wilson with a time of 7.3 seconds.

Thornton won the mile relay in 3:42.5 after Thornwood was disqualified.

Lincoln-Way East’s Mike Sheetz cleared 13 feet for the pole vault title.

Thornwood edged Lockport for the freshman-sophomore title 64-62.