Boys track & field: Sterling finishes fourth at 2A state meet

Johnson takes second, fourth in distance double for Golden Warriors; all four relays earn medals

Sterling’s Dale Johnson heads to the finish line for fourth in the Class 2A 1600 Meter Run State Finals on Saturday, May 27, 2023 in Charleston.

CHARLESTON – Sterling came into Saturday’s IHSA Class 2A State Track & Field finals with some extremely high hopes.

And while they didn’t pan out exactly like the Golden Warriors would have dreamed, there’s still a lot for them to be proud of.

Sterling medaled in seven events, and earned top-five finishes in five of them as they scored 34 points to finish fourth as a team at Eastern Illinois University’s O’Brien Field.

“We get to hang a banner up in the gym that says fourth place at state. That was not what people expected from us. We’ve been underdogs in everything we’ve done, so this is nice,” senior Kael Ryan said. “I’ve felt validated all year because of how real this team was. We’d go to meets and we wouldn’t win, but that’s not why we went to them; we went to get better, and that’s what happened – and it showed today. We got fourth place at state. No one was ready for that, no one said preseason that Sterling would do this.

“I don’t know if we sent a sprinter to state last year; we got three sprint relays here and we medaled in all three of them. I haven’t run track since eighth grade, and my goal was to make state in something, just make it – and I have three medals and we get to hang a banner in the gym. I’m ecstatic.”

Multiple Sterling athletes mentioned head coach Kel Bond and assistant coach Chris Lacy, as well as the rest of the Warriors’ coaching staff, for the monster season the Warriors had in the relays this spring.

“Big props to Coach Bond and just all of our coaches overall,” junior Jordan Britt said. “But he took the sprinters and turned them around in just one year, and what we’ve done already is just so amazing. I’m just so proud of my teammates and thankful for my coaches. It’s just amazing to finish at this level.”

“Credit to Coach Bond and Coach Lacy. They’ve really got this thing going now, and I think Sterling is going to be a powerhouse in track,” Ryan added.

Sterling’s Dale Johnson takes second place in the Class 2A 3200 Meter State Finals on Saturday, May 27, 2023 in Charleston.

While the sprint relay runners were new to the state meet, junior Dale Johnson proved how valuable experience can be. He earned a silver medal in the 3,200 meters, then came back three-and-a-half hours later and finished fourth in the 1,600.

In the 3,200, he kept up with eventual winner Ethan Hogan of Columbia for the first six laps, then fell off the pace a bit but still had enough left in the tank to easily finish second in 9:08.77. Hogan won in 9:02.22, a new 2A state record.

“My entire game plan going into it was just sticking with him, and it worked well; I PR’d by five seconds. So it worked out really well. But my legs got tired with about 800 left,” Johnson said.

“He ran strong today, ran a good race,” Hogan said of Johnson. “I know he’s a fighter, and I’m just glad I was able to pull away at the end.”

In the 1,600, Johnson kept pace with the leaders for a lap, then as Benton’s Gavin Genisio pulled away, Johnson stayed with the chase pack. He finished in 4:17.46.

“You never know exactly how much you have left for that second race after running the 2-mile,” Johnson said. “I took a nap between, had some good rest – it was a lot of rest compared to other meets where I’ve done this before – so I guess I was prepared as much as I can be. I was pretty happy with how I ran; I PR’d in both my events today.”

Sterling’s Thomas Holcomb takes the baton in the Class 2A 4x800 Relay State Finals on Saturday, May 27, 2023 in Charleston.

The day started with the 4x800 relay, and the Warriors finished fifth in 7:59.03. Parker Janssen led off and had Sterling in a good spot when he handed off to Britt.

“I wish I would’ve gone out a little faster,” Janssen said. “But we thought that maybe I could get us in first-to-third place, something like that, like in prelims get us in a good position for Jordan to come in and do his sit-and-kick thing he does to get us in first or second, and get it to the other guys to go from there.”

Britt did go out and do his thing, moving from seventh place to second before handing off to Owen Anderson.

“That second leg was honestly the best race, in my opinion, that I’ve run all year – or that I’ve ever run in any race. Really, it was just a lot of fun,” Britt said. “I was really nervous at first, but as soon as I got the handoff and I saw where I was, I just knew I was in position to put in the work and show people what I could do. It was an amazing time, a great event.”

Anderson kept pace for his two-lap stint, and handed off to Thomas Holcomb in third place, with a pair of pursuers close behind.

“I was honestly just trying to maintain, not lose ground to one guy and try to make up as much ground as I can on the second lap. I feel like in an 800, the second lap is really when the race begins; the first lap’s staying where you want to be, and it’s anybody’s game the second lap,” Anderson said. “I ran pretty good. I always think I can run better, but I’m happy with that race.”

Holcomb then did his best to keep up with the secondary pack.

“Jordan did a really good job of bringing us back up to set us up in good position, and Owen maintained pretty well,” Holcomb said. “I was hoping for just a little bit more so I could stay in contention for at least third. But it is what it is. We did good as a team; I mean, fifth place out of every high school in Illinois, you really can’t complain.

“But a person like me, I just want to win, stay hungry. I’m always my own worst critic, but it was a great race. I liked my split for my first lap, and I was just hoping my second lap was fast enough for a good PR.”

Sterling’s Cale Ledergerber heads for the finish line in the Class 2A 4x100 Relay State Finals on Saturday, May 27, 2023 in Charleston.

Next on the track was the 4x100, which finished in sixth place in 42.81 seconds. Joseph Holcomb, Dylan Doss, Ryan and Cale Ledergerber ran that one, then came back five events later to run a 1:28.70 in the 4x200.

Sterling had entered the finals in the 4x200 with the fastest time in Friday’s prelims, but settled four a fourth-place finish.

“We medaled, but I was hoping the 4x2 got more than fourth place. I was hoping we’d get top three at least, even win it,” Joseph Holcomb said. “It wasn’t a PR, but we still ran a good race, 1:28.7. It’s not our best, we definitely could’ve done better. But having two more years to get back here, this makes me want it even more. It’s my first year out for track, so I’m going to work hard to get better.”

Ledergerber will also return next year, and despite losing Ryan and Doss to graduation, he knows the experience will be valuable for next year’s relay teams.

“We obviously didn’t get the outcome we wanted in either of our events, but I feel like we ran really good races in both of them. There’s just the little things that could’ve made it better,” Ledergerber said. “For both of our relays, it’s the same four guys, but we’re all first-timers here. Maybe the environment got to us a little bit, but we did good either way. And seeing how strong these teams are, it makes us want to take that next step next year.”

Sterling’s Kael Ryan crosses the finish line for fourth in the Class 1A 4x200 Meter Relay State Finals on Saturday, May 27, 2023 in Charleston.

After Doss placed seventh in the 200 in 22.30 seconds, he was going to try and pull off the same double he did in prelims in the back-to-back races at the end of the meet. But he was feeling worn out after the 200, so Thomas Holcomb stepped in.

The Warriors clocked a 3:27.57 to place eighth, and Thomas Holcomb was happy to finish his Sterling career on the track in the last race of the season.

“I didn’t expect to run it at all. I was warming up under the impression that Doss will be fine. He comes into the tent, and I don’t even think he could look at me because he was just so tired. So I knew from then on that I had to run this, and I was looking at the team points and thought, ‘This is 100% winnable, we can do this,’” Thomas Holcomb said. “So I did what I needed to do so I could get my team two points so we could take home that fourth-place banner. That’s all that matters. We haven’t done that since I think 1970-something, our coach said that was the last time. That’s just crazy, it’s a blessing to bring home something like that. It was just a great season, I love all my boys.”

Those two points in the 4x400 were enough to give Sterling the fourth-place finish in the team standings, 34-33 over Columbia. East St. Louis won the title (72 points), followed by Cahokia (59) and Herrin (47).

“If you would have asked me earlier this year if I’d take a fourth-place finish at state, I would’ve said yes,” Bond said. “But today, it’s a little heartbreaking. Still, I’m proud of all my guys for working so hard to get us here.”

Ty Reynolds

Ty Reynolds

Ty is the Sports Editor at Sauk Valley Media, and has covered sports in the Sauk Valley for more than two decades.