With the boys state track meet at the end of the month, there is one word Morrison coach Kevin Kilker used to describe star runner Brady Anderson.

“Ready, that’s what he is - ready,” Kilker said after Anderson broke his third meet record at the 47th Oregon Hall of Fame Classic on Friday. “Brady is right on pace to win the 100, 200 and 400 at state. His biggest obstacle might be his teammate, Levi [Milder]. It’s unbelievable what he’s is accomplishing.”

Anderson started his record-breaking spree in the 100 meters, edging Alec Schlichting of Lena-Winslow, 10.7 to 10.85, with Milder next at 11.00. It was the exact finish downstate in Class 1A last year among the trio of Northwest Upstate Illini Conference sprint stars.

The previous Hawk Classic record was set in 1989 by Mark McClain of Freeport Aquin at 10.74.

“Now, I want the state record (10.47),” Anderson said. “And to win state again as a team. We have high expectations and need to perform really well to do it.”

Last year, Morrison crushed the 1A competition, winning by 25 points over second-place Tuscola, who has a runner with faster times thus far than Anderson in both the 100 (10.39) and 200 (21.42).

Next up for Anderson was a race he did not compete in downstate, the 400 meters. A 48.80 clocking bested the Hawk Classic record of 49.07 by former state champ Martin McCormick of Oregon in 2005.

With the chill of the night settling in, Anderson capped off his stellar performance with a meet record 21.63 in the 200, holding off Milder (21.84) and Schlichting (22.22). At last year’s state meet, it was Milder beating Anderson, 21.44-21.67.

“I like to think of him as another brother,” Milder said. “Without each other, we wouldn’t be as good as we are.”

Anderson, Milder, Koltin Swaim and sophomore Xavier Baldwin teamed up to win the 400-relay with a time of 43.27, as Anderson made up a 10-meter deficit over Le-Win and Rochelle on the anchor leg. Top seed Marengo had a comfortable lead but botched up the final handoff.

“Both Brady and Levi are team players,” said Kilker, who inherited a wealth of talent in taking over the Mustang program last year. “It’s incredible having both of them. Something like this will probably never happen again.”

Morrison finished fifth in the Hawk Classic team standings with 57 points, but that isn’t any indication of how they will fare downstate, as a couple of sprinters can dominate the scoring against elite competition.

For the second year in a row, Rochelle won the meet. Behind nationally-ranked pole vaulter Andrew Nuyen, the Hubs had 98 points to 92 for Winnebago.

Nuyen broke his own meet record with a 16-feet-7 clearance and had three close attempts at 17-2.

“I just got to clear a height. After that, it’s fun,” said Nuyen, in full recovery mode after a bout with mononucleosis that interrupted his indoor season.

He also gave the Hubs 10 valuable points by winning the long jump with a mark of 21-4, an event he took up last year.

“The funny thing about Andrew is he needed something to do to kill time while he was waiting for his turn to vault,” Rochelle jumps coach Vic Worthington said. “Since the long jump pit was next to the pole vault, he came over to me and asked to jump. Three weeks later, he broke the school record.”

Erie-Prophetstown picked up a first place in the 3,200-meter relay, with Gus Schultz, Justin Wainscott, Braeden Punke and Nathan Punke hitting a state-qualifying time of 8:30. Last year, Schultz, Wainscott and Braeden Punke ran downstate.

“We didn’t make it out of prelims,” E-P coach Jon Schlagheck. “Our final hump is to make it to Day 2 at state.”

Nathan Punke, ranked No. 4 in 1A pole vaulting, was second to Nuyen with a 14-foot clearance.

Milledgeville-Eastland is looking to make it to Saturday’s final for the first time ever downstate in the relays. At Oregon the unit of Carsten Wade, Konner Johnson, Draven Zier and newcomer Zyacn Haverland finished third in the 800-relay and fifth in the 400 relay.

“We’re under state-qualifying in both,” Milledgeville coach Jason Wroble said. “To give an idea of how tough the NUIC is, we finished fourth last year in the 4x100 in the conference, but 10th downstate. The girls have had state-placing relays, but the boys never have. We need to get into that top 9 to make it.”

One state relay power that was well below its typical standards was Forreston-Polo, as several of their relay legs were attending a school band event in Freeport.

“We’re still waiting for that one good day where everyone’s healthy and the weather is good,” F-P coach Tony Hardin said.

Newman was without its top runner and jumper, Rylan Alvarado.

“He’s helped tremendously, Newman coach Pat Warkins said. “We kept him out tonight because of the cold weather. He has a slight hamstring injury and didn’t want to take any chances. Without him, it hurt us in the long jump, 100, 200 and 800 relay.”

Morrison’s Josh McDearmon was another key no-show.

“We need him back for the relays,” Anderson said. “He broke his arm in practice, falling while hurdling. He should be ready to go soon.”

Oregon got a win from Daniel Gonzales in the 800 meters with a time of 1:58.91. Trailing Aiden Vazquez of Winnebago and Tim Starwalt of Byron, Gonzales surged past the pair in the final 100 meters, with all three breaking 2 minutes.

“I feel pretty good about the race, but was too slow in the first lap (58 seconds). I need to be about 56-57,” Gonzales said.

Freshman Ian Hassler of Amboy, who ranks in the top 10 in 1A discus, won his specialty in a tie-breaker situation. Hassler and Isaac Wills of Indian Creek tied at 154-7, but Hassler was awarded the win on having a better second throw.

“As state champ coming out of junior high and a dad who threw for Amboy, we knew he was going to be special,” Amboy coach Jeremy Wittenauer said. “Ian has a great chance to place at state.”