Sprinters, relays lead Morrison to first boys track state championship

CHARLESTON – Morrison capped its first team state title in a fitting manner.

On an excellent day for track – a light wind combined with sunny and hot temperatures – the white and red Morrison state qualifiers captivated the large crowd gathered at Eastern Illinois University’s O’Brien Field.

With an enrollment of just less than 300 students, the Mustangs blazed the blue track all day long Saturday.

In the second-to-last event, Morrison junior duo Levi Milder and Brady Anderson capped a historic day for the program by dominating the Class 1A 200-meter dash.

Milder hit the finish line in a personal record time of 21.44 seconds, nudging out a fast-charging Anderson, who finished second with PR of 21.67. With the 18 points scored by Milder and Anderson, Morrison added another sterling accomplishment to the best day in program history.

Morrison tallied 60 points to win the 1A state title. Several Mustangs said last season’s fourth-place state showing motivated the entire program. In total, the Mustangs won two relays, Anderson placed first in the 100-meter dash and Milder claimed the 200 title.

“It’s awesome to win the team title and go one and two with my teammate to end it,” Anderson said. “That was one of the few times we’ve raced against each other. We’ve all been working so hard for this. Last year left a chip for the team. We wanted to win state.”

Milder, running the 200 in lane six, said it was special to win the final individual event to further cement Morrison’s place as the top 1A program in the state this season.

“It’s nice to win the 200,” Milder said. “It was nice having the competition against my own teammate. I love the feeling of winning this. The relays were something we’re so lucky to have. I’m happy this year went as planned. I knew I was ahead around the first 100 and knew if I just kept going, it was my race. It ended up in my favor.

“It feels so good to win the team (title). Last year we thought we had a chance, but we didn’t come close. This year we knew the whole season we had a good chance. We’ve been working on all our events and had a plan laid out and it worked out because we got the state championship. That 200 just put some sprinkles on the ice cream.”

Morrison opened up the state final day by loading up on the points in the relays, defending its 4x100 and 4x200-meter relay titles. The 4x100 relay team of Rylan Alvarado, Levi Milder, Zach Milder and Anderson clocked a PR time of 42.16. Forreston just missed a top five in the relay, earning sixth place (43.38).

“I was injured last year, so it was good to back and felt good running with these guys and I just tried to do my job,” Alvarado said.

Levi Milder said he was motivated to win the relay for the second straight year.

“This year I felt so much more confident about it and we’ve been improving the whole year and everything went as planned,” Levi Milder said. “Compared to last year, we were more ready for it and we knew we could win it.”

Zach Milder, a senior, also ran the third leg last year at state.

“I was a lot more confident because we won last year and knew we had to just come out here and execute,” Zach Milder said. “I ran how I wanted to run.”

Anderson said the entire relay team did its job to gain 10 early points.

“I was really confident and looking at the time and tried to get a state record but just fell short,” Anderson said. “Last year we didn’t know what we could do, but this year we knew and it was 100% confidence. It feels awesome to start the day this way.”

With the same group, the Mustangs added the 4x200 relay title in a time of 1:26.92.

Zach Milder helped the relay with a sizzling leg, setting up Anderson to rely on his strong kick to close out the race.

“I just had a lot of motivation after hearing the announcer saying we were defending our title, and that really pushed me,” Zach Milder said. “Seeing Brady and my brother get top three in the 100 gave me a lot of motivation.”

Anderson won the 100 in a time of 10.74 seconds and was emotional after winning his first state individual title in his career. He clapped his hands together several times after seeing his time. Levi Milder placed third 10.92.

“I was injured and no one thought I could do it,” Anderson said. “It’s been a rough season, but I had some people who pushed me and I kept believing in myself. I came in here as a bad seed, but I knew I was better than that.”

Bureau Valley senior Landon Hulsing, who also runs cross country and plays basketball, made his final state experience a moment to remember, placing first in the 1A discus with a PR toss of 57.19 meters on his first finals attempt.

“I was really nervous,” Hulsing said. “It’s unreal. My other personal was like six meters less. It was huge. I was super excited. When I threw it, I thought it was a decent throw. I didn’t even hear the mark because my family was freaking out. I got seventh last year, so I’m so happy. It’s unreal. I didn’t expect this but thrilled to win state.”

Forreston managed a fifth-place time in the 4x200 relay (1:30.17) and eighth in the 4x400 relay (3:27). Newman Central Catholic’s Wyatt Wildoff posted an eight-place time of 1:58 in the 800.

The Class 2A meet included several outstanding finishes by Sterling. The Warriors’ 4x200 relay of Cole Stumpenhorst, Joseph Holcomb, Ryan Gebhardt and Maurice Delacruz fell just short of a state title, placing second in 1:27.71. East St. Louis won the relay thanks to a strong kick by Melvin Sledge in the final 100 meters (1:27.03).

“The whole entire team worked really hard to get this opportunity, so it’s not easy to get a spot on this relay and we all had a blast down here,” Stumpenhorst said.

Running the third leg, Gebhardt put Delacruz in a prime position with his solid split.

“I was just making sure I had good form and passed the baton cleanly to set up the fourth runner for success,” Gebhardt said.

Delacruz said he knew the Flyers would made a strong push in the anchor leg.

“We had this all planned out, but we also knew the competition would be really good, so I just tried to push hard and keep the lead,” Delacruz, a junior, said.

Sterling’s 4x100 relay of Derek Prieto, Holcomb, Delacruz and Gebhardt took sixth in 42.51 seconds.

The Warriors’ 4x400 relay unit of Prieto, Aiden Lacy, Quincy Maas and Delacruz finished in fourth (3:21.05).

“It was a very exciting race,” Delacruz said. “I knew I had to catch those guys and was in a different mindset than the other relay. We came back and all of us did the best we could. We wanted first, but it just didn’t happen today.”

Dixon’s 4x800 relay managed sixth in 7:59. Dixon sophomore Owen LeSage claimed ninth in the shot put with a throw of 15.65 meters.