By Eric Stock
BLOOMINGTON – John Szabo has coached the Bloomington High School boys track team for one-third of its 105-year history, so consider him more qualified than anyone to provide historical perspective on his 2017 team.
“This has been the best track team we’ve had in school history,” Szabo declared. “Winning the intercity for the fourth year in a row and then winning the Big 12 Conference meet for the fifth year in a row and that’s the first time that’s happened in our conference history, so we knew they were a special group.”
Bloomington High School hosted a reception Tuesday to honor its boys track team which placed third at state in Charleston last weekend and its girls track squad which took fifth place the previous weekend.
Sprint standout Cary Lockhart managed to take sixth place while running with a hamstring injury to give the Purple Raiders enough points to claim third place.
“Without (the injury) I felt like we could have done a lot better, but even coming home with something is perfectly fine,” Lockhart said. “It’s better than nothing.”
While Lockhart’s injury likely cost BHS a chance at winning the state title, Szabo says his runners took it all in stride.
“That was pretty hard on Friday night, but like we told the kids, you are going to have adversity in your life, so it’s one of those life lessons we have to deal with,” Szabo said. “Go out and don’t quit, keep competing and they did that.”
Among the top performers was junior Zachery Bradford who set a state record with a pole vault of 17 feet, 4 inches to claim the state title.
“Honestly, I didn’t know what to feel,” Bradford recalled. “As I saw the bar up there I didn’t know how to celebrate I was so excited. I just started running and hearing the crowd. All the excitement went to my head, I didn’t know what to do it was so exciting.”
Bradford won the state final by more than two feet over the second-place finisher.
Bloomington also received top performances from Avery Lyons, who took fourth place in the 400-meter run and anchored the fifth-place 1,600 relay which included James Ellis, Drew Crooks and Domeneik Criddell.
Crooks partnered with Ellis and Criddell and Marqus Harvey on the 800-relay squad which finished in seventh place. Harpy replaced Lockout after his injury.
BHS finished behind only Class 3A champion Edwardsville and runner-up East St. Louis. The Purple Raiders’ only other state finals finish was third in 2013.
The girls finished with an impressive haul one week earlier. Defending state champion Kylie Welch took second place in the 200-meter dash and finished seventh in the 200. Brooke Misukonis finished second in the pole vault and Ellie Weltha won third in the shot put and eighth in the discus.
Eric Stock can be reached at [email protected].
