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COACHING STAFF CROSS COUNTRY TRACK & FIELD 2009 IHSA CLASS 2A ALL-STATE 2009 NCAA D1 RECRUITS 2009 MEET RESULTS LINKS |
02/03/2010 2010 TRACK & FIELD SCHEDULE INDOOR Feb. 6 Sat. DLS Golden Cup Opener Chicago 10:00 AM - CANCELLED The rest of the season is pending... Feb. 13 Sat. Poole Invite Chicago Hts. 9:00 AM Feb. 20 Sat. Thornwood Invite South Holland 9:00 AM Feb. 27 Sat. Bloom Invitational Chicago Hts. 9:00 AM Mar. 6 Sat. Joe Scarpino ABC Invite Buffalo Grove 9:30 AM Mar. 8 Mon. Mustang Relays Romeoville 6:00 PM Mar. 13 Sat. DLS Senior Day Cup Invite Chicago 10:00 AM Mar. 20 Sat. Romeoville Invite Romeoville 2:00 PM Mar. 21 Sun. CPS Championships Chicago 3:00 PM Mar. 27 Sat. Bolingbrook Fast Times Invite Romeoville 10:00 AM 01/23/2010 The Falcons Track Club culminated their season at the Niles West Open Meet #2 on Friday. The team of Vincent Perkins, Melvin Johnson, Welton Crayton, and Brandan Presley won the 4x320 meter relay in 2:49.3. The team of Johnson, Crayton, Presley, and Joseph Wright won the 4x160 meter relay in 1:16.5. The Frosh/Soph team of Freeman Fulwiley, Malachi Atkins, Dominique Crutcher, and Cordell Taylor went 1:20.6 in the 4x160 meter relay and 2:57.4 in the 4x320 meter relay. Presley won the 50-meter High Hurdles with a time of 6.9 while Atkins took the 50-meter low hurdles in 7.4. Taylor also went 39-11.5 in the Triple Jump and Sophomore Michael Bowdery went 5-6 in the High Jump. Coach Dr. Mark Thompson said he was pleased with the overall performances but noted that all but one of the relay hand-offs were good and many were not cutting into lane one after receiving the hand-off. "These are issues that can be corrected with practice and experience," said Thompson. Thompson was particularly pleased with the performances of Perkins and Crutcher, who had the fastest and third fastest splits in the 4x320 meter relay, respectively. The competition for the 4x400 meter relay is going to be tough. "I've got nine guys running sub-55 for the 400 indoors right now, and that includes no basketball players." 12/11/09 Sat. Dec. 19 Ted Haydon Classic Chicago, IL 9:00 AM Sun. Dec. 27 Great Lakes Classic Ypsilanti, MI 10:00 AM Fri. Jan. 8 Friday Night Special Hillside, IL 5:00 PM Fri. Jan. 15 Niles West Open #1 Skokie, IL 6:00 PM Fri. Jan 22 Niles West Open #2 Skokie, IL 6:00 PM Practice Schedule @ Harlan High School: Monday, Wednesday, Friday: 3-4 (Study Hall); 4-5 (Weight Training); 5-6:30 (Running). Saturday: 12-3 PM; Sunday (Outdoors) 11-2 PM (Distance); 2-6 PM (Sprints) 11/20/09 The Falcons Track Club begins practice Monday, November 23, 2009 at Harlan High School. Practices are 4-7 pm usually Monday, Wednesday, and Friday, and most Saturdays (AM) and Sundays (PM). Some travel out of state for practices and meets may be required (LIMIT 17 PER HARLAN HIGH SCHOOL on team roster per IHSA rules). The program is open to anyone 10 years of age or older providing they sign a parental consent form and waiver. The competitive program has its first meet on Saturday, December 19, 2009 at the Ted Hayden Classic in Chicago at the University of Chicago, Illinois. The program will culminate with its last meet on Sunday, January 17 with the Flyer Invitational in Aurora, Illinois. Anyone interested in the competing with the Falcons Track Club should email Dr. Mark Thompson at drmarkthompson@aol.com and leave a name and phone number. Anonymous emails or emails without a contact number will not be responded to. 10/21/09 Click here for Girls 5/6th Grade Results. (Oct. 20) Click here for Girls 7/8th Grade Results. (Oct. 20) Click here for Boys 5/6th Grade Results. (Oct. 21) -- Corrected Results Click here for Boys 7/8th Grade Results. (Oct. 21) Click here for South Sectional Championship Information on Saturday, October 24. Registration begins at 9:30 AM. NOTE: The Washington Park course for elementary school is on the North side. The High School meet is on the south side. 10/16/09 Click here for Girls meet results on Oct. 15. Click here for Boys meet results on Oct. 16. Click here for Elementary school course map.
10/12/09 Click here for meet results. 10/05/09 Click here for meet results. 10/01/09 Click here for meet results. 09/24/09 The Harlan Boys and Girls Cross Country teams won their home meet over Brooks and King and took both the individual titles as well. Senior Trevor Gills won the boys race in 11:30.5 in leading the Falcons past King 17-56. Brooks had a runner drop out of the race and did not receive a team score with only four finishers. Senior Aaron Ingram finished second in 12:11.3, more than 30 seconds faster than last week. Sophomore Travon Mackie placed third in 12:14.4, improving more than 25 seconds from last week. Vincent Perkins (12:19.5, 5th) and Michael Finney (12:33.9, 6th) rounded out Harlan's top 5. "Finney cut 52 seconds off his time from last week," said Coach Thompson. "If we can get more of our top guys to cut time off like that every meet then we'll be in good shape come post-season." Coach Thompson was not pleased with the way Perkins ran. "I guess he thought he could jog the race and win again like he did last week. Even worse, I changed the course and he thought he had one more lap to go and three guys passed him down the straightaway. He has to understand that he is expected to compete in these races from the very start." The girls team ran nearly as well, placing 1-2-3-5-7 for a total score of 18 points. However, neither Brooks nor King had complete teams to score. Tikeyah Johnson ran the first mile easily with two of her teammates before taking off to win in 14:12.5. Kasia Redding finished second in 15:14.3 while freshman Shekira Wilson fell off the pace to finish third in 17:02.6. It was Wilson's first race. Sophomore Jorian Lott finished fifth in 17:34.8 and Clenosha Byrd rounded out the scoring with seventh in 17:36.9. "With the exception of our third place runner who ran in her first race, we got rid of the walking from last week. Some of the girls improved by as much as three and a half minutes from last week. Once they learn how to push themselves they will start racing more competitively." Harlan's next meet is Thursday against Fenger at Abbott Park. The girls race starts at 4:15 pm followed by the boys at 4:45 pm. Complete results are here.
09/17/09 The Harlan Boys Cross Country team opened up their season successfully with a 24-31 win over Urban Prep. Vincent Perkins won the 2-mile race effortlessly in 12:18.5. Sophomore Travon Mackie finished third (12:40.5) in his first ever cross country race while Captain Aaron Ingram was fourth in 12:42.1 "Ingram missed a week of training due to sickness and it has set him back considerably," said Harlan Coach Mark Thompson. "Hopefully he will be fully recovered in the next couple of weeks." Michael Finney and Freshman Cordell Taylor rounded out the scoring five by placing 7th and 9th, respectively. "We have the makings of a good team. We just can't afford any setbacks in a short season that started basically less than 10 days ago for most team members." On the girls side, Senior Captain Tikeyah Johnson won the 2-mile race with a time of 14:21.5 while her teammate Kasia Redding was third in 15:47.0. But Harlan didn't have another finisher until Freshman Regine White came across in 19:05.9, enabling Burbank (Queen of Peace) to take the win 24-37. "We have girls who can run at Harlan. We just need to get out for the team and stick with it." The team's next meet is next Thursday at home against Brooks and King. Complete results here. Click here for pictures.
09/14/09 The Harlan Boys and Girls Cross Country team open up their season this Thursday at Abbott Park at 4:15 PM with a dual meet against Burbank (Queen of Peace) of the Girls Catholic Athletic Conference and Urban Prep of the Chicago Public Schools. The dual meet is the first of five dual meets hosted by Harlan prior to the City Championships on Oct. 17. The girls team is expected to be led by Senior Captain Tikeyah Johnson. Johnson finished 14th at last years Varsity City Championships and was a track and field state qualifier in the 800-meter run in 2008. She is expected to be backed up by another track and field state qualifier, sophomore Kasia Redding, who qualified in the 300-meter hurdles last May. "As of right now we have 24 girls on the team but that is expected to grow a little bit more. We are looking for more freshmen as we only have three right now," said Head Coach Dr. Mark Thompson. This is Thompson's first year coaching Cross Country at Harlan. Last season he coached Wilmette (Regina Dominican) girls to a regional title and a state meet berth where they finished 19th. But he isn't placing any type of high expectations on his girls team this year. "When I have seven girls train an entire summer then I'll place high expectations. High school cross country is not a sport where you can become successful overnight. It takes a lot of hard work and commitment year-round to become and remain successful in the sport. Whatever I get out of them then that is what I get but the expectations will grow higher each year including training over the summer." The boys team is expected to be led by Senior Vincent Perkins, a track and field All-state runner who is using his first ever cross country season to prepare for a run at a state track title in the 800-meter run after finishing 10th last May. Perkins has brought his 800-meter time down from the 2:40 range to 1:59 in the first 16 months of his track career and has since brought his 200-meter time down from 24.9 to 22.3 after running over the summer for the first time in his career. Perkins is expected to be backed up by another state qualifier, Senior Captain Aaron Ingram, who is also using the cross country season to prepare for track in the 800-meter run. Ingram has brought his 200-meter time down to 23.5 after running in the 27s in his first track season last year. The team has not done any time trials. "There is no reason do sacrifice a workout in lieu of a time trial because in dual meets everybody gets to run." The boys team currently has 56 team members (and counting) including Sophomore Freeman Fulwiley and Senior Melvin Johnson, who elected not to go out for the football team to focus on track instead. Fulwiley has improved his 40-yard dash time to 4.25 seconds (from 4.75 in December) and his 200-meter dash time to 21.5 (from the 27s in December). Johnson has improved his 40-yard dash time to 4.28 seconds and his 200-meter dash time to 21.8. It is the first time Coach Thompson has ever clocked anyone below 4.40 for the 40-yard dash. "Last season Darien Williams ran 4.40 and Steven Clark ran 4.50 for the 40-yard dash and those two individuals were two of the fastest runners in the state before injuries slowed them down. This was my first summer track and field program and I changed the training dramatically from what we were doing in the spring. It only took me a month to take these guys from the 23s to the 21s." Harlan will also host meets against Brooks (9/24), Fenger (10/1), Jones (10/6), and Simeon (10/13) before the CPS Championships on 10/17. Harlan will also participate in the I.H.S.A. state meet qualification series with Regionals on 10/24, Sectionals on 10/31 (if qualified), and the state meet on 11/7 (if qualified). The Associate Head Coach is Sandra Jenkins and the assistants are Andre Lewis and Erwin Bryant. 08/28/09 Harlan Falcons Head Coach Keith Brookshire opened up his coaching debut with an easy win over Chicago (Hirsch) in a non-conference game at Gately Stadium Friday night. Brookshire, hired last January to take over the upstart program that qualified for the state playoffs for the first time in school history last season, exhibited a much improved offense that Hirsch could not contain. Joseph Wright led all rushers with 175 yards, including two touchdown runs of 25 and 22 yards. Harlan opened up the scoring on their first possession in the first quarter when a scrambling Quarterback Tashaun Johnson evaded several would be tacklers to find receiver Brandan Presley wide open for a 44-yard touchdown pass. Welton Crayton kicked the extra point to go up 7-0. After a botched snap ended Hirsch's first drive on their own 41, Wright carried for 19 yards before putting it into the end zone on the next play with a 22-yard run. A missed extra point left the Falcons up 13-0. After Brandan Presley intercepted a Hirsch pass driving in Harlan territory, it looked as if the Falcons would quickly turn the game into a rout. But the ensuing drive ended in Johnson's pass being intercepted near the end zone. Hirsch responded by evading tacklers to drive towards the end zone before punching it in on a short rushing gain to make the score 13-6. However, the Falcon's responded by scoring on their next drive with Wright capping it off with a 25-yard touchdown run. A pass play from Johnson to Presley resulted in a 2-point conversion to put the Falcons up 21-6. Harlan added two more scores in the second half off big plays. First, Marcus Green juked his way past several defenders enroute to a 42-yard touchdown run. Second, Welton Crayton converted a 4th down and 46 into a 55-yard touchdown run after catching a short pass to complete the scoring at 33-6. Wright was harlantrack.com's player of the game after ending the game with over 200 all-purpose yards and adding an interception on defense. Harlan's next game is against Kenwood at Eckersall Stadium next Thursday. 08/11/09 If the Harlan Boys Track and Field team wins the state title in 2010, it expects to look back at the progress returnees made during Coach Mark Thompson's first summer training program in 2009 as the main reason. The two individuals who showed the most improvement were juniors Brandan Presley and Tashaun Johnson. Presley, who ran his first ever 200-meter dash in 32 seconds 18 months ago as a freshmen, is now running within a second of Steven Clark in the low 23 range when he beat 100-meter city champion Freeman Fulwiley in a time trial. Presley also improved his 40-yard time from sub 4.9 to sub 4.6 over the summer, which gets him close to the speed he will need to break 14 seconds in the 110-hurdles next year. Johnson recently ran 4.47 in a 40-yard time trial, which is .4 seconds faster than what he ran at the beginning of the summer and had the club's top 40-yard sand time with a time of 4.84. Fulwiley, who will be a sophomore, dropped another second off his 200-meter time despite running against the wind in his last race of the summer at Lake Park. Senior Melvin Johnson, a state qualifier in the 200-meter dash, had the fastest 51.7 meter hill time of 7.15. No one from Harlan had even broken 7.5 prior to the summer. He also broke 5 seconds in the 40-yard sand time trial. Welton Crayton also ran in the low 23's for the 200-meter dash. "Last season Steven Clark and Darien Williams were the stars of the 4x200 team that established the Class 2A state record in the prelims," said Coach Thompson. "I will now have at least 5 guys as fast or faster than both of them." With the psychotic levels of development still continuing for Harlan, Coach Thompson believes the team can make a run at winning all three sprint relays next May. "The only thing that can stop Harlan from dethroning Hillcrest, besides ourselves with injuries or ineligibilities, is not having anyone develop to score points in the Jumps. We are solid in all events 800-meters and below and could potentially score at least 25 points in the two hurdle events alone if Melvin Johnson runs both hurdle events with Presley. But we really need that 47' Triple Jumper and 23' Long Jumper to have a realistic chance of beating a team that could end up dominating the state again next year. Every athlete will be required to train for both of those jumping events throughout the season until that jumper emerges." Clark, who injured his hamstring in the first of his four state final events last May, took three weeks off before gradually getting back into training this summer. Clark posted a winning time of 10.7 in the 100-meter dash at a July meet hosted by the University of Chicago and beat some quality athletes as well. He also ran the fastest uphill 200-meter time of 24.06., cutting .9 seconds off his best hill time, and the equivalent to a 22.1 200-meter dash. Clark will attend and run track for Eastern Illinois University. Other athletes who trained over the summer include Vincent Perkins and Aaron Ingram. Ingram improved his 200-meter hill time to 26.9 and will train for the 800-meter dash instead of the 1600 and above races. "Ingram's best shot at making All-state is the 800-meter run." Coach Thompson expects Perkins to win the state title next May. Both Perkins and Ingram will be running cross country for the first time in their careers. The additional season of training should propel both of them to elite state runners." Both athletes had also been traveling to the Northwest suburbs to run with legendary Prospect Hts. Running Club Coach Greg Fedyski before his untimely death on July 23. "These guys got to work with a legendary coach before he sadly passed away. Hopefully, they learned enough about the sport under him to be as successful as they can be." 05/31/09 Steven Clark (Sr.) - 100-Meter Dash (9th), 4x100-Meter Relay (7th) Welton Crayton (So.) - 4x200-Meter Relay (7th), 4x400-Meter Relay (3rd) Melvin Johnson (Jr.) - 4x100-Meter Relay (7th) Vincent Perkins (Jr.) - 4x400-Meter Relay (3rd) Stephen Peterson (Sr.) - 4x100-Meter Relay (7th), 4x200-Meter Relay (7th), 4x400-Meter Relay (3rd) Brandan Presley (So.) - 110 Meter Hurdles (5th), 4x200-Meter Relay (7th), 4x400-Meter Relay (3rd) Darien Williams (Sr.) - 4x100-Meter Relay (7th), 4x200-Meter Relay (7th) 05/30/09 What was expected to be a great day and at least a top 5 team finish for Harlan Track and Field turned into a disaster during their first final event when anchor Steven Clark slowed up in the 4x100 meter relay after pulling his hamstring. Clark was scheduled to compete in three other events including the state leading 4x200 relay, the 4x400 relay, and the 100-meter dash. Clark jogged the 100-meter final for 9th place but had to be replaced in the other two relays. "I thought we were going to finish 9th place in the other two relays," said Harlan Coach Mark Thompson. "I certainly didn't expect to finish 3rd in the 4x400 without my top runner. Everyone went for it and established personal records in that relay." It was the first time in Coach Thompson's coaching career that he had an athlete pull a hamstring - in practice or a race. "I guess it wasn't meant to be." With Clark's injury, the 4x100 meter relay team placed 7th after expecting to place as high as third. Relay team members included Stephen Peterson, Darien Williams, Melvin Johnson, and Clark. Sophomore Brandan Presley, who was seeded 9th in the 100-meter Hurdles, made amends quickly by placing 5th in 14.92. "That was huge. He will be one of the favorites for next year." Following Clark's 9th place finish in the 100-meter dash was Vincent Perkins' 10th place finish in the 800-meter run. Perkins had been seeded 5th. "Perkins ran every coach's dream race that always turns into a nightmare. He tried to outrun a field of experienced runners from the start. He went from 1st to 10th in the last 300 meters. Hopefully he will learn from this." Despite the 4x200 meter relay team losing Clark, Coach Thompson still felt the team had a chance to place in the top 3, if not win since he still had Presley available who had just finished 5th in the 110-meter Hurdles. But Melvin Johnson, who had qualified for state in the open 200, complained of hamstring issues as well and refused to run. He was replaced by Crayton. The team was in the lead halfway through after the legs of Peterson and Williams but faded to 7th. "Crayton and Presley were unexpectedly thrown to the wolves and performed as well as they could. Their time of 1:30.14 was still the second best time they ran all season." The highlight of the meet was the meet-ending 4x400-meter relay team of Perkins, Crayton, Presley, and Peterson. Perkins replaced Clark had was given the chance to redeem himself after a poor showing in the 800-meter run. "We had to go find him and it took us 20 minutes. Then we had to get the whole team pumped up. I told them about how they still had the opportunity to win a state title if everyone did this or that. They went for it." Perkins (50.9), Crayton (50.6), Presley (50.9), and Peterson (49.5) all ran solid personal records to finish an amazing third place without their top runner. "Crayton lost a second on his leg because he got boxed in after the break. You put Clark back in the mix and we win that relay." Although the Harlan Track team finished a disappointing 14th place overall, returnees like Presley, Crayton, Johnson, and Perkins have the potential to lead this team to a team state championship next year. "We could have finished second this year if not for ineligibilities and injuries. We will go for it next year." 05/29/09 The Harlan Track and Field team opened many eyes at the state prelims Friday, qualifying in six running events for Saturday's grand finale including a state leading qualifying time of 1:29.01 in the 4x200 meter relay. Because of the new 2A class, the mark will stand as the current state record. Steven Clark led the Falcons to the finals in four of those events including three relays (4x100, 4x200, 4x400) and the 100-meter dash. Sophomore Brandan Presley qualified for the finals in the 110-meter High Hurdles and is ensured of an All-state finish on Saturday as long as he finishes the race. Presley's time of 15.23 just edged out Jeremy Simmien (15.25) of Park Forest (Rich East) for the 9th and final qualifying slot. Vincent Perkins qualified fifth for the 800-meter run, running a personal record by five seconds, but is not assured an All-state finish in the field of 12 finalists. "Clark has a busy day ahead of him tomorrow," said Harlan Coach Mark Thompson. "The team's trophy hopes rests mostly on his shoulders." Thompson believes that Clark can finish as high as second place in the 100-meter dash behind heavy favorite Justin Smith of Lanphier. He also believes it is possible for all three relay teams to score a total of 25 points. "If the relay teams can score 25 points and the other individuals can score 18 points in the three individual events, that would put us in a position to win a 3rd place trophy with 43 points. It may seem like a long shot to individuals who aren't familiar with our team but at the state finals anything can happen under extreme amounts of motivation and adrenaline." Presley will need to have a huge race if he wants to place higher than his 9th place seed. But Thompson feels Presley is capable of running much faster than his 15.23 time in the prelims. "Presley is tall with long legs and tends to lack acceleration through the hurdles. I saw a great example of pumping your arms by Thornton's William Lindsey in his prelim race and I told Brandan to do the same for tomorrow's final." Perkins race tactics to qualify for the 800-meter final was perfect, according to Thompson. Thompson said Perkins' race tactics throughout the season was one of the main reasons why he didn't qualify for IPTT. "He either went out too fast or he went out too slow," said Coach Thompson. "Today, he was patient and let the other runners take control and he used his speed to finish strong in the end to qualify. If he does that tomorrow, he can place as high as third place and get us seven of those 18 points we need in the individual events to have a chance at a trophy." Harlan left itself a difficult task to trophy when sprinter Darien Williams failed to qualify in the finals in either the 100 or 200-meter dashes. Williams had placed second in the 200-meter dash at the Illinois Prep Top Times (IPTT) meet in late March and 6th in the 55-meter dash. But Williams has had several setbacks in training due to injuries obtained when he was still competing in the Triple Jump, an event he also placed at in IPTT. "Darien showed great promise in the Triple Jump when he first came out for the team. But he hurt himself jumping in three outdoor meets, the last being the Chicago Hts. Bloom Invite. After the injury at Bloom in which we had to scratch him from the 200-meter finals, I wouldn't let him jump anymore. He still hasn't regained his form although he showed signs of it in the 100-meter dash prelims at sectionals where he ran 11.08." Three other individuals failed to qualify for the finals. Trevor Gills failed to make the opening height of 5-11 despite a sectional jump of 6-2. Tashaun Johnson, who needed three jumps at the sectional meet to qualify for the finals, scratched on his 3rd attempt. And Melvin Johnson failed to qualify in the 200-meter dash. Coach Thompson was hoping at least one of these individuals would make the finals. "All three of these individuals will be back next year and their experience of not making the finals will provide more incentive for them to train harder so that it does not repeat itself." The 4x800-meter relay team of Damain McCormick, Aaron Ingram, Dominique Crutcher, and Perkins also failed to qualify but they weren't expected to either. "Junior Aaron Ingram will run the 1600 and 3200-meter runs for us next year. His state meet experience has motivated him and he will be running cross country for the first time this Fall and will be training over the summer." 05/23/09 The Harlan Falcons soared to their school's first ever sectional track title by winning their own 14-team Class 2A sectional on Saturday at Hanson Stadium. The Falcons amassed 156 points and qualified 13 athletes in 13 events for the state championships next Friday at O'Brien Stadium in Charleston. Fellow Chicago Public Schools (CPS) member Chicago (Kenwood) had 75 points for the runner-up slot while three non-Chicago Public School teams rounded out the top 5 with Evergreen Park's 67 points, and Chicago (Leo) and Chicago University both garnering 64. Steven Clark led the Falcon's with four gold medals. Clark anchored all three sprint relays and won the 100-meter dash in 10.95. Prior to the sectional seed meeting last Wednesday, Harlan Coach Mark Thompson conferred with Clark and decided to pull him out of the 200-meter dash, an event he could have placed at state in, and put him in the 4x400 instead. "All year we've had injury issues when our top sprinters have to run prelims to get to the finals in both the 100 and 200 meter dashes in large meets where they end up competing in six races or events," said Thompson. "It's a risky move but I can't afford an injury to Clark right before state. Plus, I feel that our 4x400-meter relay team has a better chance at placing at state than Clark does in the 200-meter dash. Clark anchored the 4x400-meter relay team to victory in 3:29.23 but was not pushed. "Hopefully we can step up at the state meet prelims and make the finals." Darien Williams also qualified in four events, winning gold in three of them. Williams was a member of the 4x100 and 4x200 meter relays with Clark, finished second to Clark in the 100-meter dash in 11.25 and won the 200-meter dash in 23.28. "Darien has struggled with injuries throughout the outdoor season as well, attributed directly to the Triple Jump, an event he placed 8th at indoor state but injured himself in at the Bloom Invite on April 25. However, his 11.08 time in the 100-meter dash prelims indicates that he is capable of returning back to his old form by state next week and could qualify for the finals in four events at state." Both Williams and Clark teamed with Stephen Peterson and Melvin Johnson to win the 4x200 meter relay in 1:30.47, most likely Harlan's best relay event. "We talked about how this is the one event that Harlan has a chance to win at state if everyone would run all out and not save themselves for other events. This team is capable of breaking 1:28.00 at state." This was the first time Peterson had joined the 4x200 relay quartet, scratching from his individual 400-meter race where he garnered all-city honors two weeks ago. He replaces Joseph Wright who had been a fixture on the relay team all season until he was injured running the 4x200 at the City finals two weeks ago. Peterson was originally scheduled to run the 4x100-meter relay as well with the same 4x200 quartet but was replaced by Welton Crayton instead. "Crayton was seeded fourth in the 400-meter dash and I thought if he ran the 4x100 as a warm-up that his chances of qualifying for state in the 400 were better." The strategy paid off as Crayton nipped CPS rival Spencer Williams of Calumet by .02 seconds for the second state-qualifying berth, 51.38 to 51.40. Crayton had lost to Williams twice before at the CPS Indoor Championships and also at the CPS Sophomore Outdoor Championships. Another Falcon who won three gold medals was Sophomore Brandan Presley, who swept the 110-meter and 300-meter hurdle titles in times of 15.30 and 41.15, respectively, and was also a member of the winning 4x400-meter relay team. Presley also just missed qualifying for state in the Discus, finishing third and missing second place by less than three feet. "Hopefully, Brandan can step it up to another level and make the finals in both hurdle events downstate. No one on this team has put in more training hours throughout the season than Brandan. He is one of the most coachable athletes on the team." Perhaps the biggest surprise of the meet was Sophomore Tashaun Johnson winning the Long Jump with a personal record leap of 21-9. Prior to the meet, Johnson had not yet jumped over 20 feet. "If Johnson duplicates this performance at the state meet, he may place." Another Harlan jumper who qualified for state and has a chance to place is Trevor Gills, who won the High Jump event with a leap of 6-2. "Gills can place at state with 6-2 or 6-3 but he is going to have to jump early in the morning at state prelims. He hasn't shown enough consistency throughout the season to be relied upon to qualify for finals." The 4x800-meter relay team of Damian McCormick, Aaron Ingram, Dominique Crutcher, and Vincent Perkins won the first final event of the day with a time of 8:37.64, setting the stage for the Falcons to sweep all four relay events. "This was an event I wasn't sure we were going to run but it was the best chance to get additional qualifiers downstate so they can see what it is all about. This experience will be very helpful for next year's team." Perkins also won the 800-meter run in 2:06.23, coming from way behind to outkick Albert Washington of Robeson in 2:06.55. "Perkins has not employed good race tactics all year and if he races like this at state his season will be over." Other state qualifiers include Melvin Johnson in the 200-meter dash (23.69) and Kwame Fowler in the Shot Put (41-5.5). The Falcons scored points in every event except the Pole Vault, an event in which there were no entrants and is not conducted at the CPS championships. This was the first year the Illinois High School Association adopted a three class system (1A, 2A, 3A) with the largest enrollment schools in Class 3A. From 1974 to 2008, both 2A and 3A schools competed in the AA Class of a 2-class system. Harlan's lone title run in 1967 was in a single class system. Click here for pictures. Click here for results.
05/16/09 The Harlan Falcons Track and Field team participated in the Sandwich Invite as a tune-up for the sectional meet next week. Several key athletes were missing because of the school Prom. Harlan won several events in the field of mostly Class 1A smaller enrollment schools. Steven Clark won the 300-meter hurdles in 41.6, finished second in the 110-meter Hurdles in 15.7, and anchored the winning 4x400-meter relay team in 3:33.2; Brandan Presley won the 110-meter Hurdles in 15.2, finished second in the Triple Jump in 37-0.25, and was a member of the winning 4x400-meter relay team along with Welton Crayton and Vincent Perkins. Crayton won the 400-meter dash in 51.9. Harlan Coach Mark Thompson was particularly pleased with Melvin Johnson's winning time of 23.4 in the 200-meter dash, racing not far removed from running the 300-meter hurdles in 45.8 where he didn't place. Thompson believes Johnson can qualify for the state meet in the 200-meter dash but would have to pull Steven Clark or Darien Williams out of the event. "Darien was 2nd at IPTT in the 200 so he's not going anywhere," said Coach Thompson. Clark would have to be pulled and he's been wanting to run the 400 anyway. With his solo effort split of 51.8, I think he can break 50 seconds by state and help the relay team qualify for finals. Plus, he would have one less prelim race at sectionals and we're having injury issues with our top sprinters running so many races." Johnson also finished second in the 100-meter dash in 11.4 and third in the Long Jump with a leap of 18-0.25. Thompson was not pleased with the 4x400 leadoff leg of Vincent Perkins, who ran 56.0. Crayton (53.2) and Presley (52.4) secured their slots on the 4x400 team with better performances. "Steven Peterson couldn't make the meet today and with Clark joining the quartet, Perkins' performances puts him off the relay team. A lead-off leg like that at sectionals or state will end your relay team's season real quick." Other athletes who placed in the meet include Trevor Gills in the High Jump (2nd, 6-0), Aaron Ingram in the 800-meter run (3rd, 2:13.8), and Freeman Fulwiley in the 100-meter dash (4th, 11.50). Fulwiley, who was expected to be the lead-off runner in the 4x100-meter relay at sectionals, strained a muscle running the 100 and is now out for the season. "That's two key guys in the 4x100 we've lost in 8 days. Last year I didn't have a single runner get injured the entire season. Who's next?" 05/09/09 The City championship meet didn't bring out the greatest performances for the Harlan Varsity team without their City championship Frosh/Soph team competing alongside with them but the third place finish behind AAA city powerhouses Lane Tech and Morgan Park was still one of the highest finishes in Harlan history. The team was led by Steven Clark, who finished second in the 100-meter dash (10.93), third in the 200-meter dash (22.83), and anchored both the 4x200-meter (1:32.37) and 4x100-meter relays (43.28) to second and third place, respectively. Teammate Darien Williams competed in the same events and added a fourth place in the 100-meter dash (11.37) and fifth place in the 200-meter dash (22.98). "We had some nice performances overall, particularly from Clark, Williams, and Johnson on the relays," said Harlan Coach Mark Thompson. "However, not everyone came prepared to compete at their best to give Morgan Park a run for second place. We only want real competitors representing Harlan." Other All-City performances (top 8) include Stephen Peterson in the 400-meter dash (4th, 52.92), Vincent Perkins in the 800-meter run (4th, 2:04.01), Damian McCormick in the 800-meter run (6th, 2:07.98), Trevor Gills in the High Jump (5th, 5-10), and George DeBerry in the Shot Put (7th, 43-1.5). The 4x800-meter relay team of Perkins, McCormick, Aaron Ingram, and Stephen Peterson placed 3rd in 8:59.42 and the 4x400-meter relay team of Perkins, McCormick, Peterson, and Johnson placed fourth in 3:35.99. 05/08/09
No one said it was going to be easy to win the CPS sophomore title, yet no one on the Harlan boys' sophomore track team seem to care. They didn't care that they wouldn't get half the rest they received at prelims. They didn't care that most of the events they had to compete in would be shortly after the 4x800, an event three of them hadn't trained for or run all year. They didn't care that co-favorite Morgan Park's field events would carry over while they had to earn their points all over again. They didn't care about pain. What they did care about was glory. Harlan was on a mission to win something the school hadn't accomplished in 37 years (1972) - a city sophomore championship in track and field. This mentality couldn't had been more evident in the first running event of the finals - the 4x800-meter relay. Despite getting the baton in sixth place, anchor Welton Crayton made up a 50-meter difference in the last 400-meters with a blistering kick to surpass Whitney Young's anchor for second place. "Crayton knew he had a showdown race with Calumet's Spencer Williams later on," said Harlan Coach Mark Thompson. "He could have settled for third place or lower and not kick it in. His unselfish desire to put aside his own personal ambitions to help the team score as many points as possible reflected the entire team's attitude. Destiny was on their side." Crayton's 4x800 split was 2:09. He was supported by his teammates Brandan Presley (2:14), Devontae Pendleton (2:17), and Dominique Crutcher (2:19) for a final time of 9:00. Everyone ran a personal record in the 4x800 except Crutcher, who was trying to conserve energy for the grueling 3200-meter run he was expecting to race with less than 15 minutes rest. Pendleton had to race the 4x100 immediately after the 4x800 with Freeman Fulwiley, Xavier Terrell, and Tashaun Johnson. That relay team placed third. Crutcher was unable to place high in the 3200-meter run as expected, as they combined heats leaving him with less than 15 minutes rest. He placed 7th in both the 3200-meter and 1600-meter runs, despite being expected to place as high as third in both events. "If I had to do it all over again I'd would drop the 4x800," said Coach Thompson. "But none of them agree with me or regret running it. To them it was fun to accomplish all of this after running a grueling event they never trained for." After the 3200-meter run, Brandan Presley won the first of two hurdle events - the 110-meter High Hurdles. His time was 15.55, an excellent F.A.T. mark considering he had run a 2:14 split on the 4x800 about 30 minutes earlier. He would later get a personal record of 41.57 in the 300-meter hurdles. "Take away the 4x800 and Brandan is ready to break 40 seconds in the 300-meter hurdles," said Coach Thompson. Despite the great performances, it was Freeman Fulwiley's 100-meter dash victory and fifth place finish in the 200-meter dash propelled Harlan to a championship team. Fulwiley was never considered to be a contender for any individual title before the prelims began and his preliminary time in the 100 placed him 9th and in the 200 he was 7th. "Fortunately, they had semi-finals in the 100. Otherwise, Fulwiley doesn't even make the finals - yet he ends up winning and ultimately scoring an unexpected 14 points for us." Harlan won 91-80 over Morgan Park, an 11 point difference. Tashaun Johnson's performances in the Long Jump and Triple jump were just as significant, if not more. He placed second in both events with personal records for 16 points in an event that his been hit and miss all year for Harlan. His Triple Jump of 41-2 marked a three foot improvement before the prelims. Johnson also anchored the 4x100 and 4x200 relays for third and second place finishes, respectively. "Johnson's performances were huge," said Coach Thompson. "Next year he will focus on the jumps. You will see him on the state meet stage next year in the Triple Jump. He is going to train on his own year-round." Crayton was involved in the most exciting race of the meet - the 400-meter dash. Despite being tired from running both the 4x800 and 110-meter High Hurdles (placing 8th), he still gave meet favorite Spencer Williams a challenge until the very end only to fall just short. Crayton's time was a personal record 51.81 to Spencer's 51.30. "Crayton lost the 400-meter race when he sprinted the last lap of the 4x800," said Coach Thompson. "Crayton will be waiting for him fresh at the sectional championships. It will be an exciting race. Hopefully, they will both meet in the state finals as well." Lost in the individual event glory is Devontae Pendleton, who was selected by the coach to hold the championship plaque for the official picture. Pendleton was a member of all four relay teams which placed either second or third. "Pendleton's role in the relays was just as significant as the individual event competitors," said Coach Thompson. Without his versatility from 100 to 800 meters, we finish second as a team." Xavier Terrell was a member of two of those relay teams - the 4x100 and 4x200. Terrell represented the depth needed to score high in those two events as well. Coach Thompson feels that this group can bring home a state meet trophy within the next two years but he maintains that they have to capitalize on the success they've had by continuing to develop their talent year-round. "This group of individuals have the mentality and character to do it but the time between your sophomore and junior year in respect to development is critical. I just hope their determination, commitment, and attitude doesn't change. Before the team was announced as winners, Coach Thompson had told the team they lost by one point. "Some of the kids didn't run well and were crying and I wanted them to know what it felt like to train hard for several months and lose so that they will make sure it doesn't happen in the future for real."
05/08/09 The Harlan Boys' Track and Field team safely passed through to the next rounds in the preliminaries on Wednesday, but rain postponed the rest of the meet until Saturday. As a result, the meet will be reseeded to reflected all heats as finals against time. When the team returned to the school at about 8:00 pm, they had a short meeting and then left to do a hill workout in the rain. "I told the team that their competition probably went home after they got off the bus," said Harlan Coach Mark Thompson. "Going home just because a meet gets rained out doesn't fit within the character of champions and that's what I want to instill in this team for years to come. No one was expecting to get home until about 11 pm anyway so we decided to take advantage of the situation by getting in a hill workout since the thunder and lightning had passed." The sprinters look to be regaining their form after setbacks due to injuries. Steven Clark posted the fastest time in the 100-meter preliminaries with an 11.29 clocking, faster than what he ran in Champaign a week ago. Both Clark and teammate Darien Williams qualified for the semi-finals in the 100 and 200. "Steve did not run hard in that prelim and Darien won his heat in the 200. Both sprinters look to be getting back to form and we need them both to have great races." Clark and Williams teamed with Joseph Wright and Melvin Johnson to post the second fastest time in the 4x100. They will also be competing together in the 4x200 meter relay where they are seeded third. The 4x800 relay team of Damian McCormick, Vincent Perkins, Aaron Ingram, and Trevor Gills also qualified. Gills also qualified in the High Jump and it has not yet been determined if he also qualified for the Long Jump. Gills will be replaced by Stephen Peterson in the final of the 4x800. Perkins and McCormick are seed 3rd and 6th, respectively, in the 800-meter run. Peterson, along with Perkins, will be running in the third of four sections in the 400-meter run. "If they come 1st and 2nd in that heat they could end up scoring points. But Perkins will have to perform that after two 800's and Peterson one. It will be tough but certainly worth attempting." Harlan is predicted to finish 3rd after the scores are tallied Saturday. But senior George DeBerry thinks the team can do better. According to Coach Thompson, DeBerry has been reinvigorated and has worked hard in the past week at all four events he will be participating in. In practice yesterday, he threw over 48' in the shot, 130' in the discus, and got to the 3rd hurdle of a 55-meter hurdle indoor race in 4.39 seconds. "George is capable of having a big meet at city on Saturday and significantly contributing to the team score. Maintaining confidence and finishing out races is something he has to work on." Sanyahta Wadlington looks to be jumping well after a separated shoulder sidelined him for the Champaign meet. He jumped over 19 feet in the prelims and may qualify for the finals. He will also be in the Triple Jump with Johnson. Both have the potential to score points in those events, despite not being seeded to. The finals begin at 10 AM at Hanson Stadium.
05/07/09 The Harlan Boys Frosh/Soph team qualified 12 individuals and 4 relays in a total of 14 events and have the slight edge over Morgan Park heading into the Frosh/Soph Outdoor Track and Field championships this Friday at Hanson Stadium. The Falcons are seeded first or second in 10 events and can score high in three other events. Brandan Presley will enter the Finals with the fastest time in the 110-meter hurdles and 300-meter hurdles. Freshman Freeman Fulwiley posted the fastest time in the 100-meter dash. Welton Crayton and Tashaun Johnson both qualified as high as second in two individual events. Devontae Pendleton qualified as a member in all four relays that are seeded either first or second. Dominique Crutcher qualified in two distance events, the 1600 and 3200-meter runs. Xavier Terrell (4x100 and 4x200 relays) and Keith Porter (Triple Jump) will also be competing. "It looks great on paper right now but when the finals are run it could easily turn into someone else's favor very quickly," said Harlan Coach Mark Thompson. "Most of Morgan Park's points are coming from the field events which carry over. Our points have to be re-run and most of them will have to be obtained by four individuals after their 4x800-meter relay with a lot less rest since there are no girls races between the boys. Plus, you never know who is going to be motivated by what on that day. Mather, Lane Tech, Whitney Young, and Northside all have enough qualifiers to score over 100 points." Harlan's performance in the 4x800 could set the tone for them in the rest of the meet. Crutcher, only a freshman, will have the toughest day of anyone in the entire meet. He will be running the second leg of the 4x800-meter relay, 3200-meter run, 1600-meter run, and will most likely be anchoring the 4x400-meter relay. "I don't recall racing anyone in more than two distance events in the same meet before but this is something they want to do to have a chance at winning the meet," said Coach Thompson. The Falcons last won an outdoor Frosh/Soph track title in 1972. Crayton will also have it tough. Crayton will be anchoring the 4x800-meter relay at the beginning of the meet, and then running the 110-meter hurdles, 400-meter dash, and then running as a member of the 4x400-meter relay. "Crayton biggest task is placing high in the 110-meter hurdles from his eighth seed. He has the potential as he will be the fastest sprinter in the field but he lacks meet experience in three-stepping the hurdles." Crayton ran a leisurely paced split of 2:10 in his first 800-meter ever. He has also split 51.3 in the 400. In a surprise performance of the prelims, Fulwiley qualified first in the 100 and also qualified in the 200. "I wasn't sure what chances Fulwiley had in qualifying in both but I certainly didn't predict him entering the Finals as the top seed in any event," said Coach Thompson. "It will be more difficult to hold his seed in the 100 than to improve his seed in the 200. Whatever the case, these were points we did not count on prior to the prelims. His performance has been huge for us in trying to win the city title." Johnson has it easy compared to what some of his teammates will have to go through. Johnson's second place marks in the Long and Triple Jumps carry over to the Finals in an event that has been hit and miss for Harlan all season. He will also be only running 100 and 200 meter legs on relays. But what will not be easy for Johnson will be coming in first and any of those four events. "Morgan Park will be right there in the 400-meter relay and they are already ahead of us in the Jumps," said Coach Thompson. "Robeson is also a second ahead of us in the 4x200-meter relay. We would love to win that relay."
Preliminary Results Overview (top 12 only for 3200m run):
04/28/09 Story coming soon. 04/27/09 The Harlan Boys' Frosh/Soph team haven't won a city title since 1972 - only two years prior to 1974, when the boys varsity team last won a city indoor title. But the Varsity boys team ended their indoor city title drought this year and the boys Frosh/Soph team will be on a mission to do the same at this year's Chicago Public Schools Sophomore Outdoor Track and Field Championships. Harlan's Frosh/Soph team is deep with talent and includes two individuals who qualified in two events each for the Varsity indoor state track and field meet this past March - Brandan Presley and Welton Crayton. Presley has emerged as the school's top hurdler in the absence of Harlan's top returning hurdler, Bernard Chalmers, who was unable to join the team this year. Presley ran an unofficial 14.8 in his come from behind victory at the Windy City Relays over Oak Park-River Forest in the 110-Meter Hurdle Shuttle Relay and ran 42.1 for the 300-meter Hurdles at the Mather Invite. He has also run a 53.5 second split on the 4x400 meter relay team that is currently ranked #1 in the city among sophomore teams. Presley will be joined on that relay team by one of the state's top sophomore 400-meter runners, Welton Crayton. Crayton ran a second leg split of 51.3 in a driving rain storm that gave Harlan's varsity the lead against Chicago Hts. Bloom and Oak Park-River Forest at the Bloom Invite last Saturday and will be one of the favorites to win the open 400 meter title with a 52.3 seed. Crayton will also be running the 110-meter Hurdles, an event he has been working on this past month in preparation for the city. "I would have loved to have also placed Crayton in the 300-meter hurdles and Presley in the 400," said Harlan Coach Mark Thompson. "But the 300-meter Hurdles race is right after the 400." Instead, Crayton and Presley will be entering the 4x800 along with Devontae Pendleton and Dominique Crutcher. This foursome combined to run 3:39.91 at the Windy City Relays and they have the potential to run a fast 4x800 as well. Crayton, Presley, and Crutcher have all run 1:31 or faster for 600 meters and Pendleton was a finalist in the 800-meter run at last year's Frosh/Soph championships but scratched the finals to focus on the 4x400. "It is a risky move and we could contend for the 4x800 meter relay title but I'm not going to have them run all out when all of them have three other events to run. It was either this or place them in field events that may or may not have scored in." Tashaun Johnson, the football team's starting quarterback, will be anchoring the 4x100 and 4x200 meter relay teams, the latter relay having run 1:36.40 at the Windy City Relays for a CPS leading time at the sophomore level. But the championship title run may come down to how well Johnson performs in the field events, one of Harlan's weak areas. Johnson will be one of the top seeds in both the Long and Triple Jumps but a lack of consistency has been of concern. He is capable of jumping over 20 feet in the Long Jump but even that may not be enough to win. "We would like to see Johnson jump over 40 feet in the Triple Jump as well and place first or second in his two jump events," said Coach Thompson. "If that doesn't occur the lack of points in the field events will most likely do us in as far as winning the meet. We pulled out our regular high jumpers for the 4x800 and we just don't have any shot or discus throwers capable of scoring." Crutcher should be able to score key points in the 3200 and 1600-meter runs as he is capable of running sub 10:30 and 4:50. However, he would have to run the 4x800 first and depending upon the weather, it could take a lot out of him. To make matters worse, there will not be a lot of rest between events since the Girls' Frosh/Soph championships have already been completed. "The meet will move along very quickly," said Coach Thompson. "Crutcher will be lucky to get 5 minutes rest between the 4x800 meter relay and the 3200 meter run because of the way the meets were organized this year. The meet format favors the larger teams who have depth. I have no idea why the championship meets were set up the way they were. The rest of the state has their conference championships one week prior to that gender's sectional meet." Another athlete the Falcons will be relying upon is freshman Freeman Fulwiley. Fulwiley won the Frosh/Soph division in the 55-meter dash at the East St. Louis vs. De La Salle indoor meet showdown and was a member of the Varsity 4x200 meter relay team that went 1:33.2 at the Stagg Invite. "Fulwiley is capable of making the finals in both the 100 and 200 meter dashes along with Xavier Terrell," said Coach Thompson. "I may hold him out of one of the relays in prelims so he is well rested for the semi-finals." Even if the Falcons don't win the meet, Coach Thompson believes the team will show vast improvement from a year ago when they placed 6th. "Members of the Frosh/Soph team are still in competition with the Varsity team for Sectional slots," said Coach Thompson. "So they are going to run hard in their primary events. But I still might have to hold time trials or enter a meet the week prior to sectionals to determine the final slots." Preliminaries are set to begin on Saturday, May 2, 10 AM at Eckersall Stadium. Finals are scheduled for Friday, May 8, 3 PM, at Hanson Stadium. Click here for entries. 04/25/09 The Harlan Varsity Track and Field team finished a surprising third place behind AAA track powers Oak Park-River Forest and Chicago Hts. (Bloom) in the 16-team field despite serious setbacks during the meet that could have adverse implications the rest of the season. Top Harlan sprinters Steven Clark and Darien Williams each had to be pulled out of events due to leg injuries sustained during their races. Williams was hurt during the 4x100 meter relay and worsened during the 100-meter dash and triple jump competitions. Harlan Coach Mark Thompson pulled Williams out of the Triple Jump finals and 200-meter dash finals despite the fact he still wanted to compete. Clark was replaced in the 300-meter hurdle final after he complained about pain in his leg during the 100-meter final. Clark attempted to race the 200-meter final and was winning with less than 50 meters to go but slowed up as he said he started to feel something pull and finished in fourth place. Clark had also led the 100 until just before the end. "Clark told me something wasn't right before his first prelim race," said Coach Thompson. "We played it one race at a time from there." Both Clark and Williams had won both their prelim races in the 100 and 200 before the leg problems surfaced. The meet did not start off any better for the Falcons. In the first heat of the 110-meter hurdles, George DeBerry ran fast enough to qualify for the finals but the automatic timing system failed and his heat had to be rerun. During the rerun he got off stride after hitting hurdles and failed to qualify. In the second heat, Brandan Presley, who has posted one of the fastest times in the state, slipped out of the blocks in the set position and was disqualified. The blocks had been wet from an earlier downpour of rain. "George had been sick all week and the rerun did him no service," said Coach Thompson. "He was in no condition to run any more races. Harlan had some great performances in the strong headwinds and rain storm which helped them place a surprising third. Most notably was the 4x400 meter relay team of Vincent Perkins (52.8), Welton Crayton (51.3), Stephen Peterson (52.2), and Melvin Johnson (53.3) who placed second with a time of 3:29.82. Crayton had earlier placed 6th in the 400 with a time of 52.31. Crayton also placed in the 400-meter run with a personal record of 52.31 but came back in the relay to split 51.3. "We are hoping that Crayton can split sub-50 by the state meet," said Coach Thompson. Johnson also placed 8th in the 300-meter Hurdles with a time of 44.02 as a last minute substitution for Clark, not long after running a 22.4 split in the 4x200 meter relay. "Guys like Melvin (Johnson), Stephen (Peterson), and Trevor (Gills) were the difference today between finishing 3rd and 7th in a tightly competitive meet like today." Gills set a personal record in the High Jump with a jump of 6' 2" and teamed with Johnson, Xavier Terrell, and Freeman Fulwiley to place 5th in 1:35.36. "Gills showed he can sprint as well and we are putting him in the Varsity 100 and 200 at our next meet in Champaign so I can evaluate who is going to be on the sectional 4x200 meter relay team with Clark and Williams." Presley shook off the disqualification in the 110-meter Hurdles to place third in the 300-meter Hurdles with a time of 42.84 in replacement of Clark. Other outstanding performances included the 4x100 meter relay team of Joseph Wright, Williams, Johnson, and Clark who finished second in 43.81. Clark's 100-meter dash time of 11.13 into a strong headwind was almost as impressive as his final time of 23.05 in the 200 when considering he had to pull up after leading into a strong headwind. The 4x800 meter relay team of Perkins (2:08.8), Damian McCormick (2:12.1), Aaron Ingram (2:13.2), and Dominique Crutcher (2:14.1) placed third in 8:48.33. "Unfortunately, we can't run this relay team at the CPS championships because Crutcher is a freshman," said Coach Thompson. "I'm not going to run any freshman or sophomore on Varsity at the CPS championships." The team's third place finish was surprising to both Harlan coaches in attendance considering the setbacks. "Coach Tommy Gouterman and I looked at each other in confusion when they kept announcing other teams in reverse order after 8th place," said Coach Thompson. "I thought for sure we had finished in 7th place or something but I had stopped counting points after the 400-meter dash. Then we thought they must of made an error in scoring but the results turned out to be legit. It was a nice consolation considering the setbacks in a very competitive meet. One team didn't even score a point." 04/18/09 The Harlan Freshman/Sophomore Track and Field team has lived in the shadow of the Varsity's success so deep this season that in most cases they have had to sit on the sidelines to watch, stay at home, or quit. But with the addition of the South Region meet on Friday, Harlan Coach Mark Thompson was able to ensure that everyone on Harlan's roster had the opportunity to compete in either one or both meets this weekend. "We were able to field a potential Sectional line-up for the CPS South Region meet on Friday to see who could handle what and then allow our Frosh/Soph to compete against a Varsity field on Saturday," said Coach Thompson. "Because of the lack of depth we have at the Frosh/Soph level, we were also able to allow a few Varsity level athletes to compete as well in some of the field events for various reasons and also the Shuttle Hurdle Relay." Highlighting performances at the Windy City Relays on Saturday include the Frosh/Soph 4x400 meter relay team of Welton Crayton, Brandan Presley, Freeman Fulwiley, and Dominique Crutcher, who posted the season's top time (3:39.91) in the CPS Frosh/Soph division by over 5 seconds, and good enough for 8th place out of 17 Varsity level teams. The Frosh/Soph 4x200 meter relay team of Fulwiley, Devontae Pendleton, Xavier Terrell, and Tashaun Johnson also posted the city's Frosh/Soph fastest time with a 1:36.40 clocking, more than three seconds faster then the next best time. "I've got seven different freshmen and sophomore athletes participating between two relays that have currently posted the city's fastest Frosh/Soph times and they are only getting faster," said Coach Thompson. "The 4x200 relay team did not even include our top two 200-meter runners (Crayton and Presley)." The 4x100 relay team of Welton Crayton, Devontae Pendleton, Brandan Presley, and Tashaun Johnson posted a 46.77, the third fastest Frosh/Soph time in the city, without running their top 100-meter runner Frosh/Soph runner (Fulwiley). Fulwiley ran on the Freshman-only 4x100-meter relay team with Crutcher, Jaquin Doty, and Ammon Williams that placed seventh in 50.49. Johnson also had 19-10 3/4 and 38-1 performances in the Long and Triple jumps, respectively, making him a contender for those titles as well at the CPS Frosh/Soph championships. Harlan won the only relay they entered with a true varsity - the 110-meter Hurdle Shuttle Relay. Steven Clark, Stephen Peterson, George DeBerry, and Brandan Presley finished first with a time of 1:07.59, just nipping the team from Oak Park-River Forest in 1:07.63. "We had a 20 second plus leg in there that made it close," said Coach Thompson. "But Brandan Presley did a nice job in coming from behind for the win with a 14.8 split." Trevor Gills unexpectedly participated in the High Jump as a last second substitution and placed fourth with a 6-0 jump. Oak Park-River Forest won the team title over Lane Tech.
04/17/09
The Harlan Boys Track and Field team dominated the CPS South Region meet, scoring 237 points to runner-up Urban Prep's 130 points. Fenger was third with 69.5 points in the seven team meet. Harlan was led by the dynamic duo of Steven Clark and Darien Williams who finished 1-2 in three individual events and teamed up to win the 4x100 meter relay. Clark won the 100-meter dash in 10.52, 200-meters in 22.55, and 400-meter dash in 52.06 - the first time he's run the event. Williams runner-up times in the same events respectively were 10.83, 23.22, and 53.26. The 4x100 meter relay won in 43.96. The meet was hand-timed. "Darien is not running at full strength right now," said Coach Thompson. "We need him up with Clark if we want to have any chance at a state meet trophy in late May." Harlan had a first or second in all 17 events and in most cases had two in the top three. "I've never had a team dominate a meet like this in my entire coaching career," said Coach Thompson. "Not even in a dual meet. But our team has to improve in the areas we are most likely to compete for points at the state meet, otherwise meets like this become meaningless." Those areas of improvement include the relays where Harlan won only two of the four contested - the 4x100 (43.96) and the 4x800 (8:59.5). Ironically, it is the 4x200 and the 4x400 relays that Harlan lost, that has the best chance to score big points at state. "Clark could end up anchoring three relays and dropping the 200," said Coach Thompson. "It just depends on how bad the other guys want to improve." Other winning performances for Harlan include Vincent Perkins in the 800-meter run (2:05.39), Dominique Crutcher in the 3200-meter run (11:30.36), Brandan Presley in the 110-meter Hurdles (15.28), George DeBerry in the 300-meter Hurdles (42.62) and Shot Put (45-5), Trevor Gills in the High Jump (5-10), Melvin Johnson in the Long Jump (19-3 3/4), and Sanyahte Wadlington in the Triple Jump (40-7 1/2). Other members of the winning relays teams include Joseph Wright and Melvin Johnson in the 400-meter relay, and Perkins, Damian McCormick, Aaron Ingram, and Stephen Peterson in the 4x800. Click here for full boys results. Click here for full girls results. 04/15/09 Harlan Community Academy High School will be hosting a Class AA Sectional Meet at Hanson Stadium, corner of Fullerton and Central, Chicago, on Saturday, May 23, 2009. Field event prelims will begin a 2:00 PM followed by running event prelims at 3:00 PM. The meet will be hand-timed. Additional information will be forwarded to participating schools soon. 04/11/09 What a difference a day of rest makes. After taking a day off from training on Friday to nurse ailing legs, sprinters Steven Clark and Darien Williams returned to the track Saturday to go 1-2 on AAA powerhouse Harvey (Thornton) in the 100-meter Dash at the 12-team Stagg Invite. Clark's hand-time of 10.67 and William's second place time of 10.70 bested Thornton's Timothy Faust (10.79) and Khiry Dukes (11.07). Dukes was third in the Class AAA Illinois Prep Top Times meet two weeks ago in the 55-meter Dash with a time of 6.58. Clark's victory was extra special because it was the first time he has ever run the event. "Steven has been doing hurdle training for the past two weeks so we've raced him in the hurdles," said Harlan Coach Mark Thompson. "However, after today, he may not want to do the hurdles anymore." Clark and Williams both also set personal records in the 200-meter prelims. Clark ran 22.33 while Williams ran slightly faster in 22.32. In the finals, Williams got behind on the curve while Clark went all out. Clark finished with another personal record of 22.22 in taking second while Williams finished fifth in 22.73. "Prior to the 200 finals Williams ran all out in the 800-meter relay with a 20.81 split while Clark coasted to hold third place with a 23.61 split for a final time of 1:33.12," said Coach Thompson. "Williams was definitely tired and that contributed to his slower start and final time." Clark has cut his 200-meter Dash time down by over three seconds since he first ran it in 25.50 at the Ted Haydon Indoor Classic in December. Freshman Freeman Fulwiley (23.9) led off the 4x200 Relay before handing off to Melvin Johnson (24.8). Williams and Clark also teamed with Melvin Johnson and Stephen Peterson in the 400-meter relay to place 4th with a "shanked" time of 45.70. Sophomore Brandan Presley ran two personal records in the hurdle events. Presley finished second in the 110-Meter High Hurdles with a time of 15.00 and second in the 300-Meter Hurdles with a time of 42.13. George DeBerry finished third in the 300-meter Hurdles in 43.02 after leading until the last two hurdles when his hamstring tightened up. DeBerry was also leading his prelim in the 110-Meter Hurdles until he was clipped from behind, sending him from first to fourth in his heat in 16.20. DeBerry placed fifth in the Shot Put with a throw of 43' 3.5". In the 800-meter run, Vincent Perkins placed third (2:06.23) while Damian McCormick finished fifth (2:10.28). Trevor Gills placed fourth in the High Jump to round out the scoring. Other athletes who obtained personal records include Peterson in the 400-meter Dash (54.27), DeBerry in the Discus (116' 7"), and Kwame Fowler in the Discus (96' 5"). "DeBerry and Fowler aren't doing the rotational spin on the Discus yet in competition," said Coach Thompson. "Once they master the spin that both of these guys will be throwing much farther." In all, the team scored 76 points to finish third behind Thorton (115.5) and Oak Forest (80). Harlan was tied with Oak Forest going into the final event, the 4x400 Meter Relay. Harlan was neck-to-neck with eventual event winner Chicago (Mt. Carmel) when 2nd leg runner Crayton had the baton knocked out of his hand into the infield trying to exchange it to Presley. Presley picked up the baton and the team finished in fourth place in 3:37 only to be disqualified for not making a proper exchange. The loss of a minimum four points allowed Oak Forest to place fourth in the event and a second place finish in the meet. "Last year we scored only 6 points in this meet," said Coach Thompson. "This year we scored 76 points with sub par performances in the relays and a horrific showing in the field events. I can't complain about the improvement in one year but we want more and we can do a lot better than what we did today."
04/09/09 While Harlan sprinters were ailing and limited to two events, the jumpers and frosh/soph relay teams stepped up to help solidify a second place finish in the 24-team Mather Invite at North Park University, Chicago. Lane Tech, led by Chris Kyle's sweep of the 100, 200, and 400-meter dashes, won the meet 143-111 over Harlan. Mather (78), Northside Prep (65), and De La Salle (62) rounded out the top 5 teams. George DeBerry and Melvin Johnson were individual winners for Harlan. DeBerry took first in the 300-meter High Hurdles (42.47), second in the Discus (114' 4"), and third in the Shot Put (43' 2"). Johnson placed first in the Long Jump (20' 4") and third in the Triple Jump (39' 11"). Trevor Gills and Sanyahte Wadlington also scored in the jumps - Gills placing second in the High Jump (5-8) and Wadlington placed fourth in the Triple Jump (39' 6.75"). Kwame Fowler added a sixth place in the Shot Put (41' 9"). In all, Harlan scored 46 points in the field events, the most of any team. "The field events, particularly the jumps, are always events you don't want to count on individuals for sure points because you can be off by inches and score zero points," said Harlan Coach Mark Thompson. "Today, most of the guys were on but that can change overnight. Meet experience helps since we don't have jumping pits at Harlan." With Harlan's top sprinters Darien Williams and Steven Clark ailing and limited to two individual events, the Frosh/Soph relay teams stepped up to place in three relay events despite racing against Varsity level teams. The F/S 4x400 meter relay team of Welton Crayton, Devontae Pendleton, Brandan Presley, and Dominique Crutcher won their heat and placed third overall with a time of 3:44.53. The F/S 4x100 relay team of Freeman Fulwiley, Devontae Pendleton, Xavier Terrell, and Tashaun Johnson placed seventh in 47.03 and the same group placed sixth in the 4x200 meter relay with a time of 1:38.52. "Overall, our F/S relay teams did outstanding given they've rarely had the chance to race in meets this year," said Coach Thompson. "They were thirsty and we didn't even run our top two sophomore sprinters in the 400 or 800 relays (Crayton or Presley) as they were focused on individual events." Sophomore Crayton set a personal record in the 400-meter dash to finish runner-up to Kyles. Crayton's time was 52.96 while junior Vincent Perkins wasn't too far behind in 53.44 for fourth place. Sophomore Presley placed 4th in the 300-meter Hurdles with a time of 44.37. Perhaps the most improved performance came from senior Damian McCormick in the 800-meter run. McCormick finished sixth in 2:07.46, an eight second improvement in six days. Darien Williams was hoping to challenge Kyles in the sprint events but a strained groin kept him out of practice for three days. Steven Clark was also ailing with shin splints but elected to race anyway. Williams ran 11.23 for third place in the 100-meter dash, while Clark ran 16.90 for 7th place in the 110-meter Hurdles. Williams and Clark came back to finish fourth (23.08) and fifth (23.14) in the 200-meter Dash, respectively. "I gave the whole team a day off on Friday to help them fully recover from their ailments," said Coach Thompson. "Williams and Clark should be running half a second faster in the 200 and the best way to deal with athletes running slower than expected is to rest them." Coach Thompson was also disappointed in the final results of the 110-meter Hurdles where they were expected to finish much higher. "Presley and DeBerry had problems getting through the first hurdle and were out of the race from the beginning. Hopefully we can race much better Saturday at Palos Hills."
04/03/09 The Harlan Boys Track and Field team knew they would have their hands full with Class AAA power Plainfield North in their first outdoor meet of the season but they knew they could keep the meet competitive by performing well in the jump events. The jumpers did not disappoint as they went 1-2-3 in the Long Jump, and first in the Triple Jump and High Jump. Melvin Johnson, Tashaun Johnson, and Sanyahte Wadlington went 1-2-3 in the Long Jump, respectively, with Darien Williams and Trevor Gills winning the Triple Jump and High Jump, respectively. Other meet winners include Dominique Crutcher in the 3200-meter run, Brandan Presley in the 55-meter High Hurdles, and the 4x400-meter Relay team of Damian McCormick, Welton Crayton, Brandan Presley, and Vincent Perkins. Crutcher also placed second in the 1600 (5:03.5). Other notable performances include Darien Williams, who placed second in both the 100-meter dash (10.8) and 200-meter dash (22.8). Steven Clark also ran a fine time of 22.9 to place right behind Williams in third place. Williams and Clark also teamed with Joseph Wright and Melvin Johnson to place second in the 400-meter relay in 45.1. Freshman Freeman Fulwiley replaced Williams in the 4x200-meter relay to place second in 1:35.9. "Darien had to run the 200 right after the Triple Jump and not only did it impact his 200 time but he also tweaked his groin. He may not Triple Jump again the rest of the year." George DeBerry had a nice day in individual events as he placed second in the 300-meter hurdles (43.2), third in the 110-meter High Hurdles (16.2), third in the Discus (104-0), and fourth in the Shot Put (42-9). Stephen Peterson placed fourth in the 400 (55.4) - just edging out Welton Crayton (55.5). "Welton has some consistency issues that have to do with preparation," said Harlan Coach Mark Thompson. "He came back to run a sub 52.9 split in the 4x400 so we know he is okay both mentally and physically." Other individuals who placed included Perkins in the 800, McCormick in the 800, Presley in the 300 Hurdles, Gills in the Triple Jump, Wadlington in the High Jump, and Melvin Johnson in the 100 (11.2). Other performances include: 100 Meter Dash: Joseph Wright (Jr.) 11.4; Freeman Fulwiley (Fr.) 11.6; Tashaun Johnson (So.) 12.1; Devontae Pendleton (So.) 12.2; Keith Porter (So.) 12.2; Xavier Terrell (So.) 12.2. 200 Meter Dash: Joseph Wright (Jr.) 24.5; Tashaun Johnson (So.) 25.2; Xavier Terrell (So.) 25.4; Devontae Pendleton (So.) 25.4. 400 Meter Dash: Jaquin Doty (Fr.) 62.3 800 Meter Dash: Aaron Ingram (Jr.) 2:19.3; Jamar Craig (So.) 2:55.0. 03/29/09 They kept going...and going...and going. That was the theme for the Bolingbrook Fast Times Invite that saw four athletes compete in three track meets in a 30 hour time frame without sleep. Brandan Presley, George DeBerry, Melvin Johnson, and Steven Clark capped off a marathon weekend by placing 1st in their heat and 12th overall in the 4x200 meter relay in 1:38.60. "They didn't drop the baton as they did the past two meets but their splits reflected a very mentally spirited yet physically tired group of athletes," said Harlan Coach Mark Thompson. "You will see a lot of improvement out of this group as the season progresses. They are in-tune mentally with the type of character you need to become the best." DeBerry also competed in the Triple Jump (7th place, 40-0), and Long Jump (7th, 19-10.5). Freshman Freeman Fulwiley competed in the 200-meter dash and placed 30th with a time of 25.59. The meet was non-scoring. The team had entered several other events but did not get to the meet on time due to the team also competing at the CPS Relays. 03/29/09 By the time the seven Harlan athletes and one alternate arrived home from the Illinois Prep Top Times (IPTT) meet in Bloomington early Saturday morning, it was almost time to get ready for their first outdoor meet. "I should of just taken them straight to Hanson Stadium," said Harlan Coach Mark Thompson jokingly. "I told everyone before we got back to Chicago that they didn't have to compete in the CPS Relays but they all wanted to compete. I think everyone was still in euphoria after competing in a track meet after 1 AM earlier that morning so I guess they just wanted to keep going." Although the Harlan stars from IPTT competed as if they were asleep and pulled out with two events remaining, the team still managed to score 117 points to outdistance runner-up Kenwood's 47.5 points to win the 34-team CPS Relays. "Between no sleep, cold weather, and another meet we had to go to, I had to pull the team out early. I also had to let go three varsity team members who let the cold weather dictate their level of competitiveness. As a result, we may no longer have a 4x800-meter relay team and our 400 and 800-meter relay teams may be impacted as well. But when you get on a Harlan bus or step to the line representing Harlan, you either compete to win, compete to score points for the team, or compete to set a personal record. Anyone who gives anything less than that won't find their name on the roster anymore." Several first place finishes were recorded by Harlan led by George DeBerry's individual double wins in the Shot Put and Discus. Other individual winners include Dominique Cruther (3200-meter run), Brandan Presley (110-meter High Hurdles), Tashaun Johnson (Long Jump), and Darien Williams (Triple Jump). Williams teamed with Joseph Wright, Melvin Johnson, and Steven Clark to win the 400-meter relay. Lamonte Moore added a second place in the High Jump. Bronze medalists include Steven Clark in the 110 Hurdles, the 800-meter relay team of Tashaun Johnson, Presley, DeBerry, and Clark, the 800-meter Medley relay team of Wright, Williams, Clark, and Vincent Perkins, the 1600-meter Medley relay team of Joseph Wright, George DeBerry, Stephen Peterson, and Trevor Gills, and the Frosh/Soph 1600-meter Medley relay team of Tashaun Johnson, Brandan Presley, Welton Crayton, and Dominique Crutcher. 03/28/09 Darien Williams set three personal records in medaling in all three events he competed in at the Illinois Prep Top Times meet, the unofficial Illinois indoor state track and field championships, held at Illinois Wesleyan University in Bloomington, Illinois on Friday night. His time of 22.90 in the 200-meter dash just after midnight led to his highest finish of the meet - placing second behind Justin Smith's 22.58 of Springfield Lanphier. Smith was also named the IPTT's Athlete of the Meet as he also won the 55-meter dash and Long Jump events. Williams also placed 6th in the 55-meter dash with a time of 6.61 after qualifying for the finals with a 6.75. "Darien did not get out fast in the prelims of the 55. He stood straight up at the gun. Fortunately, he was still fast enough to qualify for the finals and correct his start," said Harlan Coach Mark Thompson. William's capped off a outstanding meet by placing 8th in the Triple Jump with an effort of 42-2, a personal record by nearly two feet. Sophomore Welton Crayton was the only other Harlan medalist at the meet. Crayton's time of 53.92 in the 400-meter dash to place eighth. Several other Harlan athletes competed in the meet but did not medal. George DeBerry matched his personal record in the 55-meter hurdles with a time of 8.26 and also jumped 40-4.75 in the Triple Jump. Brandan Presley set a personal record in the 55-meter hurdles with a time of 8.29. Presley teamed up with Vincent Perkins, Melvin Johnson, and Crayton to run 3:38.01 in the 4x400-meter relay. Steven Clark was disqualified in the 200-meter dash with a false start. The meet did not end until after 1:30 AM. "The IPTT meet was the best meet I've ever been a part of solely for the fact that it is once in a lifetime you got to see the top athletes in the state compete after midnight," said Coach Thompson. "The meet was a true track and field fan's dream." 03/21/09 The Harlan Track and Field team didn't exactly open up any eyes at the 34-team Charleston invite with their 22nd place finish but their objective wasn't to score points anyway. Harlan did not enter several of its best athletes in their best events including Darien Williams in the 200 who ran 23.24 last week at the CPS championships. What the team was looking to do was qualify several athletes and relays for the Illinois Prep Top Times (IPTT) meet next Friday and they did exactly that, despite a disastrous beginning. Transportation issues caused the bus to arrive at a time too late for the 4x200 relay team to warm-up or practice hand-offs prior to their race. As a result, the relay team dropped the baton during the final exchange after leading their heat by two seconds and on pace to run sub-1:35 and a state auto-qualifying time. "Our third leg runner's (George DeBerry) hamstring tightened up at the end of his run and as a result he fell and dropped the baton before the exchange to Steven Clark," said coach Mark Thompson. "That was definitely due to lack of preparation. It also hurt our long jumper's chance to qualify as he was unable to get any run-throughs and he missed the take-off board." The 4x200 relay team had also dropped the baton the week prior at the CPS championships and will not be able to run the event at the indoor state meet. The 4x800 was looking to qualify for IPTT as well but the team's #2 runner, Damian McCormick, sprained his ankle on the track's aluminum curb during warm-ups and ended up limping more than 10 seconds slower than his time from last week. This negated Vincent Perkins 2:03 lead-off leg which would have given him an auto-qualifier in the 800-meter run had he run the open race. The other two runners ran through the motions to finish in 9:04.62 - well off the state qualifying auto time of 8:35 and provisional time of 8:45. Despite the disastrous start, the rest of the meet went as planned. Steven Clark qualified for the finals and finished 7th place in the 200-meter dash with a PR time of 23.86 - qualifying him for the indoor state meet next week. It was Clark's third 200 of the meet and fourth race as he had to run the 4x200 first, then the 200-meter prelims, the 55-prelims, and then the 200-meter finals. Clark also ran the 55-meters dash in 6.78. "Darien Williams had already qualified for indoor state in the 200-meter and we wanted to give Clark a chance to qualify as an individual. He came through." said Coach Thompson. Clark has improved his indoor 200 time by 1.64 seconds since his first track meet. He is training for and planning on competing in the hurdle events sometime soon for the outdoor season and could end up on the 4x400 meter relay team. Darien Williams proved he can compete with the state's best as he placed fourth in the 55-meter dash with an automatic indoor state qualifying time of 6.63. His effort bested the state's #3 returnee and All-Stater Tommie Hopkins of East St. Louis (Sr.) who was 5th. "Darien should have been third in that race because the third place runner visibly started before the gun but for some reason the referees missed it," said coach Thompson. Williams will compete in the 55, 200, and Triple Jump next week at indoor state. Since his first meet this season, Williams has improved his FAT 55-meter time from 6.94 to 6.63 and his FAT 200-meter time from 24.50 to 23.24. Sophomore Brandan Presley had a great day as he ran an automatic qualifying time of 8.30 in the 55-meter hurdles. Presley was unable to run the hurdles last week at the CPS championships due to entry limitations. "This was a major step for Brandan competitive wise because this was his only chance to run an indoor state qualifying time with FAT (Fully Automatic Timing). His hand-time of 8.34 wasn't going to be good enough because of the large number of hurdlers making the auto-qualifying time," said Coach Thompson. Presley also anchored the 4x400 relay team to an indoor state auto-qualifying time of 3:36.95. Presley's split was 54.1, a personal record by over 1.5 seconds. Sophomore Welton Crayton (53.7), Perkins (52.9), and Melvin Johnson (56.0) were the other members of the relay team. It was Perkins' third race, having run a provisional qualifying time in the 400-meter dash in 54.10 between his 4x800 and 4x400 relay races. "Hopefully Perkins can get into the 800 meter field at IPTT," said coach Thompson. "If the race conditions are right he is ready to challenge the 2:00 barrier." In High Jump action, junior Trevor Gills duplicated his performance from the previous week by barely missing 6-2 and an auto-qualifying mark to the indoor state championships. His 6-0 jump provisionally qualifies him for state. "Outside some minor injuries, this meet shows that we are still improving rapidly as a team. There is still plenty of training time for our athletes to make significant improvements for the sectional and state meets." 03/15/09 It wasn't pretty but the outcome would have been just the same. Harlan overcame several miscues including a dropped baton, inexperienced racing tactics, and even a faulty FAT system to win its first indoor city title since 1974. The miscues left several individuals short of indoor state qualifying marks expected to be obtained and, as of result, the team must now travel to Charleston to again face the defending state champion East St. Louis (Sr.) along with Cahokia - the #1 ranked Class AA team and favorite to take the Charleston team title. Senior Darien Williams led the champion Falcons with a winning 6.67 time in the 55-meter dash. He also won the 200-meter dash with a time of 23.24 but the fully automatic timing (FAT) system failed and showed he only ran 24.74, thus nullifying his win and the places of the other competitors in his heat. Williams also led off the 800-Meter Relay team in first place but a dropped baton on the 3rd leg prevented the team from winning instead of their 3rd place. Senior Stephen Clark was the anchor on that relay team and brought the team back from last to second place in his heat with a sub 23 second split. Other members of the relay team were juniors Melvin Johnson and Joseph Wright. Senior George DeBerry also had a big night by securing two second place finishes and a fourth. DeBerry finished second in the 55-Meter Hurdles and also the Shot Put where he set a PR of 46' 6.5". He was also fourth in the Triple Jump with a jump of nearly 40 feet. Other second place finishers including Trevor Gills in the High Jump with a PR jump of 6-0 - a provisional state qualifying mark. Gills had not competed in the High Jump since last year at the Frosh/Soph outdoor championships and just barely missed at 6-2. In the boys 800-meter run, junior Vincent Perkins was boxed in at the waterfall start and could not get around to his main competition until the 3rd lap. By the time Perkins caught the leader he did not have enough left to sprint in and secure the win. He finished second in a PR of 2:05.79. Perkins also teamed with Sophomores Welton Crayton and Brandan Presley, and senior Damian McCormick to finish second place in 3:39.64 - a provisional state qualifying time. McCormick replaced Melvin Johnson in the relay after he was injured running the 800-Meter relay. McCormick also led off the 6th place 3200-Meter Relay team with an 800 split of 2:11. His teammates included junior Aaron Ingram and seniors Stephen Peterson and Rasaan Williams. Other athletes who placed in the top 8 include Tashaun Johnson in the Long Jump and Dominque Crutcher in the 1600. "It wasn't pretty and we didn't perform as well as we expected but a win is a win and it feels good to bring back a city track title to Harlan after a 35 year absence" said head coach Dr. Mark Thompson. "But this meet showed that we have a lot of work to do if we want to be competitive against schools like Cahokia and Hillcrest by the state meet in May. That is what's important to us right now." 03/07/09 In a tune-up race for the CPS City Indoor Championship, the Harlan Falcons Boys Track and Field team cruised by its competition by scoring 146 points in only 12 events. Runner-up Fox Lake (Grant) scored 61 points while De La Salle's limited A squad/JV team finished 3rd with 44 points. Senior George DeBerry led the Falcons by finishing in first place in the Shot Put (45-8) and Triple Jump (40-6 3/4), and second place in the Long Jump (19-9) and the Hurdles (8.07). DeBerry's Triple Jump automatically qualifies him for the Indoor State Championship. Senior Darien Williams also had a stellar night by finishing first in the 55 Meter Dash (6.30), second in the Triple Jump (40-4), and second in the 200 (23.50) - all personal records. His Triple Jump was actually over 42 feet but he jumped well behind the board. Junior Melvin Johnson long jumped 19-8 but was 17 inches behind the board in capturing third place. Johnson also finished 5th in the 400 in 56.22 and had to come right back for the 200 meter dash due to switch in the order of events and finished 3rd in 24.87. Senior Steven Clark finished third in the 55 meter dash in a personal record of 6.56. He was also a member of the second place 4x160 meter relay team with Freeman Fulwiley, Tashaun Johnson, and Joseph Wright, and the winning Mile relay team. The 4x160 meter relay team had won their heat but after a rerun of another heat with clear lanes, they were bumped to second place by time. Brandan Presley finished in 8.38 for fourth place in the 55-meter Hurdles. In distance running news, Vincent Perkins won the 800-meters in a solo effort PR of 2:06.5. He also anchored the winning Mile relay team with a split of 52 seconds, bringing home the team in 3:42.44. The time converts to a 3:41.15 1600-meter relay. Dominque Crutcher won the 1600 meter run in 5:09 and also anchored the second place Mile+ Medley relay team which included Rasaan Williams, Kyle Flowers, and Cameron Maloney. Damian McCormick finished the 800-meter run in 2:16.81 for 3rd place, a personal record. Aaron Ingram finished in 5th place in the 1600-meter run in 5:17. The team used the meet as a tune-up to prepare for the city indoor championships this Sunday, March 21 at 4:00 pm at the Henry Crown Pavilion, University of Chicago. It will be the first time this season that the Harlan Falcons will be running on a 200-meter track. Despite having decent efforts, the team has not run in spikes all season. TEAM SCORES:: 1. Harlan 146, 2. Fox Lake Grant 61, 3. De La Salle 44, 4. Marshall 43, 5. Hyde Park 28, 6. Dunbar 25, Hubbard 25, 8. Elmhurst (Immaculate Conception) 19, 9. King 18, Steinmetz 18, 11. Fenger 13, 12. Kelly 11, 13. Manley 9, 14. CICS-Longwood 4, 15. Kelvyn Park 2, 15. Taft 2, 17. Sullivan, Hancock, Prosser, Washington, CICS-Northtown 0 02/21/09
In what will most certainly be billed as the state's biggest shocker of the season, the Harlan Falcons Boys Track and Field team (minus several of their stars) defeated the defending state champion and #1 ranked Class AAA perennial powerhouse East St. Louis (Sr.) 131-104.5 at the De La Salle North-South Showdown in Chicago. Seniors George DeBerry and Darien Williams led the short-handed Falcons with several indoor state qualifying performances. DeBerry won the Shot Put with a provisional state qualifying throw of 45-6, finished second in the 55 High Hurdles with a automatic state qualifying time of 7.7, second in the long jump with a provisional state qualifying mark of 19-9, and was a member of the winning 1600-meter Medley relay team. Williams finished second in the 200 with an automatic state qualifying time of 23.54, fourth in the Triple Jump, sixth in the 55 meter dash, and was the leadoff runner on the winning 640-meter relay team. Several other team members contributed significantly in the victory. Sophomore Brandon Presley ran an automatic state qualifying time in the 55-meter High Hurdles by placing 7th in a time of 8.12. Sophomore Welton Crayton ran a automatic state qualifying mark of 53.1 in the 400-meter run to place second. Sophomore Tashaun Johnson placed third in the Long Jump with a mark of 19-8, just missing the provisional state qualifying mark of qualifying mark of 19-9. The distance squad proved to be dominant despite no qualifying marks for state. Vincent Perkins anchored the 1600-meter Medley relay to a come-from-behind victory, won the 800-meter run in 2:10, finished fourth in the 1600-meter run in 5:05, and anchored the 1600-meter relay to a second place finish in a provisional state qualifying time of 3:46.0. Freshman Dominique Crutcher ran 4:59.0 in the 1600-meter run to finish second, was a member of the winning frosh/soph 640-meter relay team that ran 1:21, and was a member of the second place frosh/soph 1600-meter relay team that finished second in 3:55. Junior Aaron Ingram placed 7th in the 800-meter run with a time of 2:18. The Freshman/Sophomore team excelled against East St. Louis as well. Freeman Fulwiley (Fr.) won the 55-meter dash with a personal record of 6.72. The 4x160 Meter Relay team easily won over East St. Louis in 1:21 and the 4x400 Meter Relay team finished second after leading until the last lap. The victory over East St. Louis would seem improbable given Harlan's top sprinters Melvin Johnson (Jr.) and Bernard Chalmers (Sr.) were unable to compete, as well as several talented members of the basketball team whose season has yet to be completed. East St. Louis was without several of their top stars as well but the outcome would have most likely remained the same had both teams been at full strength. Harlan's next meet is at De La Salle on March 7. |
ANNOUNCEMENTS 2010 PRACTICE SCHEDULE Pending ARCHIVES NEWS PICTURES South Region VIDEO CLIPS DeLaSalle Showdown Training |
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