Malachi Lee spent most of the spring guarding a secret and hoping for the best.
On Saturday morning, the best is exactly what happened.
The Bishop McNamara junior won the Class 1A long jump at Eastern Illinois University’s O’Brien Field with a season-best leap of 7.21 meters.
He’s the first state champ for the Irish since sprinter Tony Phillips won two events in 2022, and he’s the first long jumper in program history to win a state title. It’s the second state medal for Lee, who was fourth in the 3A long jump for Bradley-Bourbonnais last season.
“It was a big sigh of relief because I injured myself three meets into the season,” Lee said. “I was at one of the lowest points all year, of my life. But nobody knew because I disguised it.”
The injury, a hyperextended knee, forced Lee to take a month off from competition. He came back for the sectional.
During the layoff, Lee kept working and seeing his trainer. He also credits his parents for getting him through the hard times: “They always motivated me and told me to keep going and that it’s just a minor setback for a major comeback.”
His winning jump came on his first attempt Saturday.
“I hit the whole board perfect, had a great jump,” he said.
Another athlete overcoming health issues was Bradley-Bourbonnais senior Lyzale Edmon, who became the second Boilermaker to win three state medals in one year (Camron Harrell was the first in 2017).
Edmon finished fifth in the 3A 200 meters in 21.79 seconds, and he ran legs on two relays that won medals. He ran the second leg of the eighth-place 4x100 relay (42.03), joining his brother Ky’Ren, Seth Teague and Brandon Sumrall.
Lyzale Edmon, Sumrall, Jamir Burt and Kyron Birk ran a season-best 1:27.80 to take seventh in the 4x100.
Pretty good results, considering the way Lyzale was feeling.
“I was sick all weekend,” the Pittsburg State football recruit said. “Sore throat, I had a headache this morning. Tylenol really didn’t help much.”
It was just a matter of powering through his busy day.
“I just didn’t quit during the race,” Lyzale said. “My mind was telling me I wanted to, but it’s all in the heart.”
And it’s all in the family for the Edmon brothers.
“He’s gonna be special,” Lyzale said of Ky’Ren. “I’m excited to see his future.”
Someone else with a bright future is Wilmington sophomore Hunter Kaitschuck, who took second in the 1A 110 hurdles with a personal-best 14.58. He’s the Wildcats’ first state placer since 1997.
Kaitschuck said he had plateaued at around 15.3 seconds during the regular season.
“Then we hit sectionals and I got my 14.72,” he said. “(State) prelims wasn’t the time I wanted; I ran a 15 flat basically. Then here I got a big PR.”
A state runner-up finish wasn’t on his radar at the start of the year.
“But as the season went on, I saw the times dropping,” he said. “And I knew I had a chance.”
Also earning medals were Manteno’s Briggs Cann, who was fifth in the 2A 400 with a PR of 49.01; Beecher’s Wences Baumgartner, who cleared 1.94 meters for fifth in the 1A high jump; and McNamara’s Cale Hamilton, who was sixth in the 1A shot put at 16.22 meters.
It was a good weekend for Cann, who broke the program record by running 49.37 in Friday’s prelims and then broke it again on Saturday.
“I’m happy with my finish, way better than last year,” said Cann, who was ninth in 2A in 2025.
“I’m just a junior. I got my next year and hopefully (will) make a lot of improvement.”
Baumgartner, who is Beecher’s first state placer since 2015, didn’t start high-jumping till last season and there was a learning curve.
“I had no idea (what to do),” he said. “This year we honed in on what I specifically needed to work on, if it’s the take-off or the run-up. I think we just took better care of working on the specific things.”