Plainfield North hosts a 16-team invitational this Saturday starting at 10 a.m.
We run on a 178-meter 4-lane track where the curves are nearly impossible.
We seed on the fly and time races with stopwatches.
Once a spectator bitched at me for the lack of seating in our field house.
Somehow we make it work. Somehow the atmosphere is thick with excitement. Somehow performances are extraordinary.
I tried to explain our meet when I wrote The Gauntlet Mile for Freelap last March.
Once on a camping trip I saw a sign “Always Leave the Campsite Better Than You Found It.” If everyone would leave things better than they found it, we’d live in a better world. Finding myself the fourth quarter of my coaching career, I think about this often. I would like to leave track & field better than I found it.
The @Pntrack Invite is my attempt to improve the track & field world.
STORY TELLING
Inaugural Embarrassment (2007)
The Monday after the inaugural 2007 Pntrack Invite, my athletic director, Jeff Johnson, called me to his office. His message was pretty simple. Belleville West and Herrin were well-coached track teams and mine was not.
Two of my former athletes, Patton Seagraves and Chad Lakatos, had shown up their old coach.
Belleville West and Herrin had become great track programs. Patton’s Belleville West program was headed towards 3A excellence, placing top-6 in 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, and 2015. Chad’s team (Herrin) won Class A in 2007 and 2008. Both programs were heavily influenced by the modus operandi of the Harrisburg teams I had coached from 1990-2004.
My 2007 Plainfield North team had no seniors and only three guys who could manage a sub 4.60 40-yard dash. Plainfield North looked like a rag-tag group of rookies. We had ugly uniforms. The schedule I inherited was awful. We were pathetic in the “coached events” (hurdles, jumps, pole vault, and throws).
The next year we were conference champs.
In the past seven years, Belleville West has won medals in 20 state relays. When you consider there has been only 28 relays run in Class 3A at the IHSA state meet in the past seven years, 20/28 is spectacular. Ironically, this picture shows Edwardsville coached by Chad Lakatos running against Belleville West coached by Patton Seagraves.
Eric Thompson, Herrin (2007)
Eric Thompson won the long jump at our invite in 2007. Eric jumped 23’6″ and his record still stands. For those of you new to track and field, Eric Thompson went on to lead Herrin High School to the 2007 State Championship (Class A). Herrin scored 77.5 points while Eric Thompson won the high jump (6’11”), the long jump (23’6″), the triple jump (45’2″) and anchored Herrin’s dominant 4×1 team (43.09). You can’t do better than four gold medals.
Herrin’s Eric Thompson high jumped 7’2″ in high school.
Luke Vaughn, Champaign Centennial (2013)
Luke Vaughn was the best thrower to ever compete in our invite. Luke’s record throw of 59’7″ in the shot put may stand for many years.
One of our special races is our “Dunkin Donut 55″, a race where the best six shot putters compete for a dozen Dunkin Donuts. Luke Vaughn’s race had an unfortunate ending when he placed 2nd and broke his hand punching a wall.
The next year as a freshman at Memphis, Luke threw the 16-pound college shot 58’2″ and the college discus 187’9”.
Two 6’8″ shot putters here, both competed at the 2014 Pntrack Invite. Normal West’s Kyrin Tucker got beat but later finished 2nd in the state throwing 60’5″. Luke Vaughn set our field house record but did not place at the state meet due to injury.
Strong-Ware-Pagan-Gilmore, Plainfield North (2009)
Our 4×2 relay team in 2009 was headed for greatness. We were ranked IL #1 indoors, running 1:31.73 in our first meet.
First meet splits: Dion Strong 22.8, Erran Pagan 23.1, Dominique Ware 23.1, and Robert Gilmore 22.5 lead-off (Meet MVP).
This quartet put together, in my opinion, the most amazing performance in the history of the @Pntrack Invite. Somehow this group ran 1:31.3 on a 178m track where the field house record for the 200 is 22.9. It blows my mind to think this group averaged less than 22.9 for an entire 4×2. Robert Gilmore led off with a 22.8 followed by Ware at 22.4, Pagan at 23.0, and Strong at 23.1. The energy in the field house that day was palpable. Plainfield North won the meet with 130 points. Second place went to Hillcrest who later won Class 2A with 93 points.
As a cautionary tale, our outdoor season fell apart. Robert Gilmore tweaked his hamstring and never got right. Dominique Ware chose to attend his senior graduation instead of the IHSA State Meet. Dion Strong missed practice the week of conference and was suspended for our biggest team meet. Erran Pagan missed practice the week of Sectional and watched from the stands as our 4×2 ran qualifying time without him only to get disqualified for a late exchange. Two of these guys were living from couch to couch all spring.
Jamison Wilson, Hillcrest (2009)
Jamison Wilson triple jumped 48’0″. We have a wall at the end of our pit that sometimes discourages jumpers, but not Jamison Wilson.
Jamison Wilson, only a junior in 2009, went on to lead Ron Towner’s Hillcrest team to 93 points at the state meet. Wilson placed 2nd in the triple jump (47’0), anchored the winning 4×1 (42.42), placed 3rd in the highs (14.61), and ran lead-off in the 4×4 placing 1st (3:20.51).
Jamison Wilson on the left and Maurice Lyke on the right. Ron Towner coached these amazing Hillcrest teams and Benny Phillips was the hurdle coach. Hard to believe these two hurdlers were not twin brothers. One of my favorite pictures of all time.
As a senior, Wilson again led Hillcrest to the 2A state title. Jamison Wilson long jumped 23’6″ (1st), triple jumped 45’3″ (7th), won the high hurdles (14.35), and placed 2nd in the 300 hurdles (37.93).
Jacob Arnold, Plainfield North (2008)
As a 5th semester sophomore in 2007 (figure that one out), Jacob Arnold shocked the world splitting a 47.8 in the 4×4 on a windy Tuesday afternoon. In may of 2007, Jacob became the first all-state track athlete at Plainfield North.
As a 7th semester junior in 2008 Jacob Arnold was meet MVP at the Normal West Invitational. Jacob’s 6.48 in the 55m made him a nationally ranked sprinter. Jacob still holds the 55m record for the Pntrack Invite at a hand-held 6.2.
Jacob Arnold missed most of his junior track season with a doctor’s excuse despite continuing to train at Acceleration. Jacob’s track career at North did not end well. I haven’t seen Jacob Arnold for years but his name appears seven times in the Rockford College Track & Field Records.
Note: Jacob was allowed by the IHSA to play football as a 5th-year senior but was not allowed to play a spring sport the same year.
Jacob Arnold as a sophomore, 21.4 in the 200, 48.2 in the 400. I truly believed Jacob would be an Olympian.
Andy Jatis, Providence (2015)
Everything at the Pntrack Indoor is up close and personal. Andy Jatis set the meet record last year vaulting 15’7″. Jatis placed 2nd in the state last year with a vault of 16’0″.
Andy Jatis had a high school PR of 16’6″ and now vaults for the Iowa Hawkeyes.
Dan Mazar, Edwardsville (2010)
The mile record of 4:27.0 set by Dan Mazar of Edwardsville has stood since 2010.
Dan Mazar set the our 1600 meet record his junior season. Mazar broke hearts in Edwardsville when he moved to Rockwood Summitt in Missouri his senior year. Dan Mazar won the 800 in Missouri with a time of 1:50.87 and got beat by .01 in the 1600, running 4:12.51. The photo finish became famous.
Dan Mazar dove for the finish line in an attempt to win the 1600 at the Missouri state meet.
Jarvis Carter vs Alex Ruscitti (2015)
In last year’s 400m “Battle of 119th Street”, Plainfield East’s Jarvis Carter won a titanic battle with Alex Ruscitti from Plainfield North. Both guys broke the previous meet record of 52.3 (the 200 and 400 are tough races on a 178m track). Carter ran 51.6 and Ruscitti ran 51.9.
Both of these warriors returned to battle in the 4×4, with Carter running 52.8 and Ruscitti running an inspired 51.7 split.
Unlike many places, in “Track Town” we are friends with our competition. Ironically, these two guys shared the 3rd place platform at the IHSA state meet in May. East and North tied for 3rd in the state finals of the 4×2.
The Gauntlet Mile (2015)
The Gauntlet Mile was an experiment last year. It worked. The picture tells the story.
Tanner Thurman running a PR in the Gauntlet Mile.
Zack Riley, Herrin 2009
After back to back state championships, Chad Lakatos made the move from Herrin to Edwardsville. Zack Riley was a sophomore on Chad’s 2008 state championship team.
In 2009 Chad Lakatos brought Edwardsville to the @Pntrack Invite and new Herrin coach, Rob Long, brought Herrin. Zach Riley jumped 6’6″ setting the meet record. If my memory serves me right, Riley did not attempt a higher mark. High jumping 6’6″ on a slick floor without spikes is quite an accomplishment. In May of 2009, Zack Riley high jumped 7’0″ to win Class A.
As a senior, Zack Riley led Herrin to its 3rd state title in four years (2007, 2008, 2010). Riley won the long jump (23’4″), won the high jump (6’8″), and anchored Herrin’s 4×1 & 4×2 relays to gold medals (42.77 and 1:28.88).
This picture shows Zack Riley clearing 7’5″ to win the NJCAA National Championship. Riley was also finalist at the 2012 Olympic Trials and later jumped for Kansas State.
The 2016 Pntrack Indoor will be something special, always is. Click here for more information.
Does this look fun?
