When asked if he could go back four years and tell his eighth-grade self that he would end up earning a medal in the 300-meter hurdles at the IHSA Class 2A state track and field meet, recent Ottawa High School graduate Joey Liebhart just smiled and shook his head.

“I would have said my future me was out of his mind,” Liebhart said.

“I played baseball up until my eighth-grade year, but I didn’t love it, and my freshman year in the spring I decided to go out for track. I just thought, ‘Maybe this will help me get faster for football.’ The thought of, ‘Hurdles will be awesome,’ or ‘I’ll make it to state,’ or ‘I’ll earn a medal’ weren’t a thing.

“I started in the sprints, but after the first couple of weeks of practices my coaches said I should give hurdles a try instead. Like most hurdlers, I wasn’t very good at all at first, but I really liked the challenge it gave me.”

After just missing advancing to state in 2025, Liebhart - the 2026 Times Boys Track and Field Athlete of the Year - knew that goal was well within his sights after opening this past season with solid times at the Gene Shipley Invitational in Moline.

“My junior year is where I started to feel very comfortable in the hurdles and also saw my times getting faster. I just missed qualifying for state, but then in my first race this past season I knew I had a really good shot,” he said.

During the spring, Liebhart finished in first place in 11 of 14 races in the 300 hurdles and placed in the top three in seven of 13 races in the 110 hurdles, including four victories.

“How I run the 300 hurdles is really different from almost everyone else I’ve ever run against,” Liebhart said. “I’m not worried about a super-fast start; I’m about pacing myself. I saved my energy for the end of the final curve and the final straight-a-way. ... That’s where I made up ground. I also never switched (alternated) my (front foot) over the hurdles, I was just never able to do it, so it limited my steps.”

In the Interstate 8 Conference Meet, Liebhart captured first place in the 300-meter hurdles in a time of 39.24 seconds while placing third in the 110 hurdles (15.66).

At the Class 2A Pontiac Sectional, he injured his arm suffering a nasty friction rash when his extra effort sent him tumbling to the track after throwing all his weight forward at the finish line of the 110 hurdles to ensure a state-qualifying time (15.30). But it didn’t stop him from later finishing first - in a personal-best time of 38.60 - to become the sectional champion in the 300 hurdles.

He just missed by a half of second of also advancing with the 4x400 relay team with Brayden Biewer, Brayden Brewer and Dreager Duncan.

“Making it to state in both events was the goal, but earning a medal in the 300 was the main goal,” Liebhart said. “I wanted to do well at state in both, but like I did all season, I kind of used the 110 as a warmup race. You’re getting a good sprint in going over higher hurdles. I felt like my 110 at state was pretty good, not great, but I was happy with it.”

In the IHSA State Finals at O’Brien Stadium on the campus of Eastern Illinois University, Liebhart finished 17th in the 110 hurdles (15.46) but failed to advance to the finals. He did move on in the 300 hurdles, placing third in the preliminaries in 39.15.

“I knew going into the (300 hurdles) finals that that race was going to be the last one I run,” Liebhart said. “I thought about that a lot the hours before the race. I just wanted to make sure I was mentally prepared and just wanted to make sure my last race was as close to the best I ever ran. Time-wise, it almost was.”

Liebhart placed fourth in the finals, crossing the finish line in 38.66 seconds to earn a state medal.

Liebhart will be attending the University of Illinois this fall to start his path towards a degree in civil engineering. He said as of now, he’s hoping to use that knowledge in construction management.

“My best memory is walking into (O’Brien Stadium) for the first time,” Liebhart said. “There was hardly an empty seat anywhere, and when the crowd was cheering it felt like the sound went right through you. It was a little intimidating, but also just an awesome feeling knowing I was going to get to compete in front of that many people. The energy in that place was unbelievable.

“It’s a feeling I will never forget.”