When it comes to the Big Northern Conference boys track & field meet, the question is not whether Dixon will win, but by how large of a margin. For the 10 straight time (not counting two cancelled COVID seasons) since joining the league in 2015, the Dukes were victorious, nearly doubling the score on second-place Byron, 192-97.

“I think this is best Dixon team ever,” said 25-year Rockford Christian coach Randy Moore, whose team has had plenty of distance-running tussles with the Dukes.

One of those was in the featured race of the meet, the 800 meters with six runners seeded at two minutes or under. Class 1A favorite Evan White (1:54 seed) of RC edged Dixon’s Averick Wiseman 157.17-1:57.67, with Duke Abe Garcia third at 1:59.37, just ahead of another RC runner.

“Evan White will win state,” Wiseman said. “I was glad to stay with him. I’ve never broke 1:58 before and had more in me. I just need to step it up.”

The 800 isn’t Wiseman’s specialty. It is the 1,600 and he has audacious goals for it.

“This shows me that I’m capable of running harder and I have what it takes to win 1,600 at state,” Wiseman said. “I can bring it home with a kick.”

Regular Duke 800 man Dean Geiger ran the 1,600 and the result was a first-place time of 4:22, with teammate Keegan Shirly second at 4:25.

“I wanted the school record, but halfway through, I wasn’t feeling it,” Geiger said.

Westin Conatser (10:24) and Brody Hopper (10:44) went 1-2 in the 3,200 run for Dixon and Alonzo Bautista, Daniel Ramirez, Ethan Carter and Shirley cruised to an easy victory in the 3,200 relay at 8:09.

In the four distance events alone, Dixon tallied 60 points, more than everyone other than Byron had in 18 events.

“The distance crew is so deep,” Dixon coach Ryan Deets said. “We can afford to put them in single races.”

Sprinter Owen Belzer has become accustomed to being in the background to the highly-vaunted distance aces, but has also made a name for himself. He won the 100 meters and took second in the 200. Teammate Adam Staples was third in the 100 (11.37).

“I’m thankful to have the long-distance guys paving the way,” Belzer said. “It gives me motivation. In the 100, I didn’t have my best block start and had to fight for a close win (11.29-11.30).”

An individual double winner was Jayden Toms in the 110 hurdles (15.43) and 300 hurdles (40.47). It was a repeat BNC championship in each. Dawson Kemp was third in the 110s and fourth in the 300s.

“I’m looking to get in state range at the sectional,” Toms said.

Top seed Owen LeSage (57-feet-2) of Dixon nearly was upset on the final throw of the shot put by sophomore Brady Kann of Byron, who hit a PR of 53-6 by over four feet. LeSage’s 53-7 on his first throw held up.

“I’m happy with the win, but hoping for 58 feet (Rick Reuben’s junior class record),” LeSage said. “I’ve been close to it and fouled.”

Max Kitzman was third at 50-7. A pleasant surprise for Deets was a 48-3 by freshman Charles Zimmerman had in winning the jayvee shot put. Freshman Xavion Jones was third in the varsity long jump at 21 feet.

“We had impressive performances in the both jv and varsity,” Deets said. “Across the board with everything, we’re as deep as we’ve ever been.”

Deaglan Taylor started triple jumping 3 weeks ago and left Stillman Valley as another Duke conference champ, leaping 40-1. In the pole vault, Nathaniel Payne and Tukker Tarner went 1-2 with 12-3 clearances, with the pair needing 6 more inches to meet state qualifying.

Dixon closed out the meet by winning the 1,600 relay (3:26) by a 3-second margin. Andrew Osborn, Logan Grett, Geiger and Wiseman ran for Dixon.

The Dukes are in great shape headed into the sectional with 14 events meeting state-qualifying marks. Rather than taking a van down to Charleston like most schools, Dixon will likely need a regular school bus.

The highlight for Rock Falls was winning the 400 and 800 relays. Adan Oquendo anchored the 400 team to the win (43.71), but later pulled a hamstring in the 100 meters, in which he was leading.

His fill-in the 800 relay was Carson Devers, who helped Alex Oquendo, Logan Thome and Cole Heald to a season best time of 1:32.27.

“All year, we’ve struggled to keep our relay healthy,” RF coach Eric Bontz said. “It’s a shame for Adan. He was running so good. I feel bad for the rest of the 4 X 1 group.”

State qualifying in the 800 relay is 1:32.62 and that is what the Rockets will be shooting for at the Rochelle 2A sectional on Wednesday.

“Even with Adan out, I have a lot of hope. I’m pretty pumped we threw an alternate in and had such a good time.” Bontz said.

Has Oquendo not gotten hurt in the 100, Rock Falls would have placed third as a team, but settled for fifth, a point behind Winnebago and 2 points behind RC.

Oregon’s best effort was by senior Brian Wallace, who took second in the triple jump, this after taking up the event two weeks ago.

“He fouled on 41-4, which would have been state qualifying,” Oregon coach Jim Spratt said. “I think he can join Daniel (Gonzales) as a state qualifier for us. I wish he’d been out since his freshman year. With his height, he might be at 47 feet.”

Gonzales tried running the 800, but finished well below his standards because of an illness.

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Dixon's Owen LeSage watches the shot put leave his hand as he competes at the Big Northern Conference Meet at Stillman Valley on Thursday, May 14, 2026. (Earleen Hinton)