Track and Field: Lemont’s Quinton Peterson leads three area individual champs at Illinois Top Times meet

BLOOMINGTON – Quinton Peterson of Lemont is trying to correct what some coaches see as faults in his hurdling style.

He twists his body when going over the hurdles, and his left arm floats out like a chicken wing.

Those who judge runners purely by their speed will scoff at their advice. Peterson is fast, and in Saturday’s Illinois Top Times meet, the senior was also first, winning the Class 3A 60-meter hurdles in a personal-best 8.16 seconds, the fourth-best indoor time in the state this spring. He came in seeded sixth.

“Looking at times, I was worried, because I’ve only run 55 indoors this year, but like my dad said, the race is always different,” Peterson said.

Peterson’s start was more than efficient, and he flew over each hurdle, chicken wing flying. Then he pounded home the last 15 meters to edge Marist’s Kamil Kokot by three-hundredths at the line.

Peterson, who is mulling walking on to run hurdles in college, was one of three area athletes to capture individual titles in the de-facto state indoor championship. Dedrick Richardson of Lincoln-Way East won the boys 3A long jump and Symone Holman of Joliet Catholic captured the girls 2A long jump. Plainfield North saved its best for last, winning the boys 3A 4x400 meter relay in 3:24.78 to edge Grayslake Central, while Bolingbrook’s boys won the 3A 4x800 meter relay.

Richardson’s best jump was his third, a leap of 24 feet 2.5 inches. He then passed on the last three attempts. Only Kwabena Osei-Yeboah of Oak Park-River Forest came close (23-6.75).

“I was up really (far), and six jumps is excessive,” said Richardson, who was prepared to jump on the last attempt if necessary. “And I had another event to go.”

That was the triple jump, in which he finished fifth.

Holman may be a sophomore, but has the poise of a veteran. That was clear after her victory in a 60-meter dash mid-morning qualifying race. There was no time to talk then. She had the blinders on, knowing the last five of her six jumps in the long jump were imminent.

Holman had jumped 16 feet 6.5 inches on her first try an hour earlier. By the time her 60 heat ran, most of her jumping competition had finished. She would have to alternate with one other competitor, jumping every four or five minutes.

She produced a pair of jumps at 17 feet 3.5 inches, moving into fourth place, then fouled on her fourth leap, and managed only 14 feet 6.75 inches on her penultimate attempt.

“I was getting tired,” Holman said. “But for the last jump, mentally I just locked in.”

What she called a “quick prayer” she said before pounding down the runway for the last time might have been answered. Her leap was 17 feet 11.75 inches, a personal record by about four inches, and won the competition. She outdistanced Jillian Schittler of Tolono Unity by 2.75 inches. It might as well have been a mile based on her smile.

“I took a deep breath and I just ran,” said Holman, seventh in last year’s IHSA finals as a freshman.

Then came the 60-meter final, where she ran a personal-best 7.75 seconds, taking second behind Kayda Austin of Cahokia (7.66). Two hours later came the 200, one lap around Illinois Wesleyan’s Shirk Center track, in which she finished sixth overall in 26:06, .15 off her time last week in Lemont.

Laila Richardson of Minooka celebrated accepting a scholarship to DePaul by taking second in the girls 3A shot put. Her best throw, 40 feet 9.5 inches, was her last, but Normal’s Marco Reynolds topped her with a 41-7.25 on the last throw of the competition.

“Every throw is a new throw and you have to approach it that way,” said Richardson, who followed up fouls on her first two attempts with a better throw on each of her last four tries. “You figure out what to do better on the next one and keep going.”

Lincoln-Way East’s Alaina Steele finished second in the girls 3A 400 in 58:08, just behind York’s Morgan Navarre (57.77). Fellow Griffin Roosevelt Walker took third in the 3A high jump with a personal best of 6 feet 5 inches. The Griffins’ boys relay team took second in the 4x800-meter relay, and the Griffins girls took third in their 4x800-meter relay.

Tania Miller of Romeoville ran 24.94 seconds in the 3A girls 200 to place second behind Zawadi Brown of Neuqua Valley. Miller finished eighth in the 60 dash.

Lockport Township’s Mckena Miglorini finished third in the 3A pole vault, matching DeKalb’s Joscelyn Dieckman at 12 feet 3.5 inches. Chelsea Wetzel of Dunlap won at a meet-record 13-3.5, the ninth best height in the country this year.

“It was a good day,” Miglorini said. “It’s good not having to make the height on last attempts and freaking out.”

Miglorini cleared the bar on her first try at 11-3.75, her second at 11-9.75 and her first at 12-3 before finding 12-7.5 too much to handle, as did Dieckman. Wetzel’s meet-record success came via scraping the bar and watching it bounce off the stanchions four times before settling.

Bolingbrook, with Hussein Almousano anchoring, won the 4x800-meter boys 3A relay by 1.4 seconds over Lincoln-Way Central. The Raiders’ Kristyn Johnson took third in the girls 60-meter final.

Joliet West’s Janellisa Oceguera ran third in the girls 3A 800, only 32-hundredths behind winner Marley Andelman of St. Charles East.

Minooka freshman Natalie Nahs authored the best rally of any race, coming from fourth in the final 150 meters to win her heat of the 800, edging Kenwood’s Stephy Venuti by five-hundredths of a second. The effort earned her ninth place overall, and left an impression.

“It’s just pushing yourself mentally, making yourself go that extra step,” Nahs said.