Robertson, Lucas move to Saturday's final day; Newton's 4x800 shines at state meet
May 28—Jadon Robertson and Daniel Lucas are at it again.
The Cowden-Herrick Beecher City duo combined to win four events and place in the top five in five at the preliminary round of the Class 1A state track and field meet at O'Brien Field in Charleston Thursday.
Robertson started his day by winning the long jump and coming in second in the high jump.
"Going into [the long jump], I felt really good because I warmed up good," Robertson said. "My first jump wasn't the best; I was stretching for the board, so they scooted me up a foot; I hit it perfectly, and I jumped one of my better jumps. Then, in the high jump, they shut us down early so that I could qualify for Saturday."
Robertson finished with a jump of 6.82 meters in the long jump. Palos Heights (Chicago Christian) senior Luke Jelderks was second at 6.71 meters.
As for the high jump, Robertson — and 13 others that qualified for Saturday — finished with a leap of 1.88 meters. Neoga's Dontye Perry was among the qualifiers advancing, while Altamont's Ben Roedl did not qualify, finishing with a jump of 1.80 meters.
After the field events were over, Robertson then turned his attention to the 110-meter- and 300-meter hurdles — both of which he won.
Robertson finished the 110-meter hurdles in 14.53 seconds. Auburn's Jackson Kern was second at 14.86 seconds.
Robertson said he felt "on top of the world" after finishing the 110-meter hurdles, even though it wasn't his sharpest performance.
"That hurdle race wasn't my cleanest race; I clipped a few, but that's nothing we can't clean up to get ready for the big day," Robertson said.
The 300-meter hurdles turned out to be a much different story, though.
Robertson cruised to a win — clapping his hands after crossing in 38.90 seconds — while battling tricky conditions, too.
"We knew today wouldn't be the best day, but we had to come in here focused," Robertson said. "Coming around that last corner, I didn't ease up a little bit; we had to push through because all of us are running in it."
As for Lucas, he won the shot put after a throw of 18.25 meters. He also came in ninth in the discus after a toss of 44.99 meters. Newton's Jacob Wickham also advanced to Saturday in the discus and the shot put with throws of 44.52 meters and 14.80 meters, respectively, while Altamont's Eric Kollmann did not move on; Kollmann finished with a throw of 40.38 meters.
Other area athletes also moving on included Newton's Parker Wolf and Evan Schafer, who advanced in the 100-meter- and 400-meter dashes, respectively. Wolf finished his race in 11.06 seconds, while Schafer finished his in 50.32 seconds.
Three of the Eagles' relay teams will also represent Jasper County Saturday, led by the 4x800-meter relay team, which won its heat handily and finished third overall with a time of 8:19.97. Newton's 4x800 consists of Luke Weber, Nick Zwilling, Luis Zavala, and Owen Mahaffey.
Mahaffey said of his 4x800 time, "This week, we eased down our workouts, so that way we were well-rested coming into today. Our main goal was quick handoffs, gain a few seconds on handoffs, and just run our race; don't get out too fast and do what we normally do.'
Zwilling commented, "Survive to Saturday. That was the main thing today, and I'd say we accomplished that."
Weber added, "We were trying to stick with our splits and not necessarily go off of how anyone else was running; just run our race."
Zavala explained, "I think the boys explained it all pretty well. Just run our race; run our best split, and let's go after it Saturday."
Contact EDN Sports Editor Alex Wallner at {span}618-510-9231{/span} or alex.wallner@effinghamdailynews.com.
