2025 Track & Field State Preview: 2A Boys

2A Teams to Watch

Sycamore

For most of this season, Sycamore has been expected to be a force in the team scoring. Aiden Wyzard is the star of this show, he is expected to score a multitude of points. He is a top runner in both the 100 and the 200 with PRs of 10.66 and 21.59. His best event will be the long jump, where he was the state runner up last year. This year he has hit a cataclysmic mark of 24’ 2” and he still might not even win. However, given how back and forth the long jump can be, and given that Wyzard is much more consistent than the rest of the field, he should be the favorite in that event. Dylan Hodges will look to score ten points in the 400. His PR of 48.93 is the top mark set by a qualifying individual, so he is the narrow favorite in that event. Hodges and Wyzard will play crucial roles in the Sycamore relays as well. They have a state contending 4x1 with a time of 41.82, most of their swing points are in that event. Due to the fact that there are five other teams within a tenth of their time, they will need all hands on deck to secure as many points as possible. Their 4x4 is just as capable of scoring, with a season best and 2A #3 time of 3:22.04. They are right in the mix with a bunch of other 3:22 teams, so they need to lock and load if they want a good spot there. Will Rosenow will be responsible for big points in the field, with his marks in the throws. He has thrown 56’ 1” and 173’ 1” and is awaiting a state title in the discus. Huge points for the thrower will massively contribute towards this title run, he is a key athlete for the Spartans. Their final points will come from Braedon Shaner in the pole vault. He has hit 15 feet this year and is 2A #5 with that mark. He has control of some swing points here, he will need to be focused to make sure he can keep his spot at #5. It’s going to be a close team race between this team and Cahokia, everyone needs to do their part to make a win happen.

Cahokia

This unreal sprint program charges into the state meet ready for battle with the Spartans of Sycamore. All three of their sprint relays are in the running for a state title, they will be gunning for a sweep this weekend. Their easiest win should be the 4x2 where they lead 2A by an entire second. They ran 1:27.07 without the help of their star sprinter, Akeelan Dowell. He is currently on the relay card as an alternate, but putting him on the relay would secure them a win. Their 4x4 is also slated to win with a nasty season best of 3:18. It will be a two way race there, they have competition from their cross town rivals, East St. Louis at 3:19. Given that both Jaylen Pennington and Corrion Raiford are running sub 50 in the open 400, it would surprise me if ESTL got the better of them. The hardest relay for them will definitely be the 4x1. They ran 2A #6 with a 41.90, but they are within a tenth of the leading time. There are six teams all in the thick of the 4x1, if Cahokia can get out on top, they will seal the deal for a state title. Their individuals need to get their jobs done as well, Akeelan Dowell will look to score points in both the 100 and 200. His season bests of 10.64 and 21.61 are in contention for a title in both. Jaylen Pennington and Corrion Raiford, as already mentioned, are running under 50 seconds in the 400 and are both big scorers in that event. Pennington could potentially take home the gold, but he will have to dip under his PR of 49.05 to make it happen. Outside of the sprints, their only help comes from triple jump with Victreze Thomas. Thomas hit a big PR of 45’ 5” at sectionals, which launched him into all-state conversations. Any points he scoops up are bonus points for Cahokia, but it would be nice if he can lift the burden off of the sprints. The team title basically comes down to the 4x1, but Cahokia needs a win if they want it to happen. 

Morton

Sprinters and distance runners alike will join forces to compete for a trophy. One of the more underrated 4x8’s in the state could surprise you in the finals. Their composite time sits at a whopping 7:50.61, which would put them at 2A #2. This is with a squad of Abe Martin, Christian Harris, Boston Beyer, and Keyston Beyer, and I would count on this squad not running in prelims. Harris will be contending for a title in the 1600, he is 2A #3 with a PR of 4:15. Boston Beyer will also be in that race, fighting for a spot in the finals. Martin will be in the open 800, also contending for a title. His PR of 1:55.05 is US #4 out of freshman, he is second only to the boys from Chicago Payton. With all of these guys running in individuals, and with the depth in the 800 that Mrton has, they can afford to rest their A-team during prelims. However, during finals, they will go all out, and I would guess a second place is in their future. In the sprints, they have Cole Rinkenberger who will contend for a top three position in both the 100 and 200. His PRs of 10.71 and 21.65 are some of the best in 2A, he will be fundamental in this team trophy run. Their sprinters and distance runners will combine during the 4x4, where they will contend for third. Their season best of 3:22.40 is currently 2A #5, but they are within half of a second of 2A #3. In order to give themselves a good chance at top three, they need to place as high as they can in this 4x4. Given that a lot of their points are reliant on distance runners, they are a more secure team than most, so watch out for the Potters to snag a trophy here. 

East St. Louis

Every year, the flyers find a way to steal points where they weren’t supposed to and, every year, they roll out of the state meet with a trophy. Their elite 400 program holds the all-time state record at 3:13, and they are still just as adept today. Their 4x4 is in the running for a state title with a season best of 3:19.42. They beat 2A #1 enroute to running this fantastic time, so don’t be surprised if they take the state title here. Their 4x1 and 4x2 are looking strong as well, with 41.86 and 1:28.59 season bests. Their 4x1 is a part of the six team shabazian that is the state title race, they could steal a win on a good day. Individually, they have Darius Ivy who will be running the open 400 and the open 800. He was the runner up in the 800 last year with a 1:53.79, but his season best of 1:56.33 disagrees with that mark. He will need to be on his A-game if he wants to win in that event, but it’s not out of the realm of possibility. He has been more focused on the 400 this year, which he is also a title contender in. His time of 48.98 is 2A #3, but because Noah Feldt of Mascoutah won’t be running, he gets bumped up to 2A #2. All he has to do is beat Dylan Hodges of Sycamore, and he is home free with a state title. In the field, Shamond Mclain and Tyreke Baker will score huge points in the triple jump. Mclain has been strong in the triple all year, he has a season best of 46’ 9” from indoors. He is wildly consistent in the triple, he hit a mark of 46 or higher on six different occasions, he is the big favorite in the triple. Mclain will also be an all-state hopeful in the long jump, with a season best of 23’ 4”. In any normal year, he would be all-state without question. However, this year’s 2A long jump is insane, so he will have to hit a strong mark to get on the podium. Baker has been more focused on the 300mH this year, but he was third in the triple last year, so don’t count him out. 

Olney

Richland County should be renamed to long jump county because this team would not be the same without it. Rex Hallam and Gavyn Cothern are keeping this team afloat with cavernous long jump marks. Hallam hit an unbelievable 24’ 7” at their sectional meet which puts him at US #17 for the long jump. Cothern has hit 23’ 8” this season, but he’s the returning state champ in the long jump. Both of these athletes will be critical in Olney’s team performance, as Cothern could also score in the high jump. He hit 6’ 8” indoors to win the 2A top times championships, and he will contend for a state title in that event as well. They also have a 4x1 that will join the fray looking for a state title. They have run 41.80 this season which puts them right in the mix for a win. Their 4x2 could also take home some hardware, they have run 1:28.81 which puts them in all-state contention. This team is very star centered, but it could lead to a state trophy on the right day. 

2A Individuals

100m

The 2A 100m looks to be filled with many athletes with potential of winning the event. We have defending State Champion Harley Rizzs of St. Laurence in the field. The senior has had some issues in a few of his races this year which has left his name out of the mouths of many people as they talk about this competition. However, there have been a lot of meets this year where he has looked great so you can’t count out the defending state champion. Tyjaire Kellum of Murphysboro will enter this race as the favorite. He has been undefeated in this distance so far. He sports a PR of 10.48 (+2.8) and it will be hard seeing him lose this race with how good he has been looking as of late. Akeelan Dowell of Cahokia will attempt to challenge for the win here. He has been running extremely consistently as of late. Dowell got overshadowed in his transfer from O’Fallon to Cahokia by Omar Mims, but Dowell has seemingly grown a lot from the move. Aidan Wyzard of Sycamore will be heavily relied on in Sycamore’s hopes to win a state title. He has run 10.6 twice in the month of May. Luke Leverett of Providence Catholic took 2nd at Top Times in the 60m and hasn’t been challenged much outdoors in the 100m. He will be in the mix for the win here. Cole Rinkenberger of Morton will be fighting for an all-state finish in this event. He will be essential towards the State Trophy hopes of Morton. 

200m

The 2A 200m race looks to be a lot of the same names that we will see in the 100m. Aidan Wyzard of Sycamore enters with the best PR in the field. As mentioned before, he will need to do well here in order to help his team secure a state title! Akeelan Dowell of Cahokia will be another name that will be big in the team race implications. He has run under 21.8 over his last 3 races in the 200m. If he can come away with the win then that will be big for the Comanches. Cole Rinkenberger of Morton has a higher likelihood of winning the 200m than the 100m. He will be in the mix here. Tyjaire Kellum of Murphysboro took second to Akeelan Dowell at the Sectional. He has run 21.74 this year. He will fight for a top 3 finish here. 

400m

The 400m will have massive team implications with it being hard to choose a favorite in the field. Dylan Hodges of Sycamore is one of only two athletes that enter this race with a PR under the 49 second barrier with his 48.93. He ran that a month ago at the Peterson Prep Invite. He has been undefeated in the distance during the Outdoor season and had 1 loss indoors. He was the Top Times Champion in the distance for Class 2A. Darius Ivy of East St. Louis was All-State in the distance at last year's State Meet as he took 8th place. This year, Ivy will be in the mix for the win with his 48.98 PR. That happened after running the 4x800m and 800m. ESTL 4x800m looks to be an outside shot of being all-state, it would be surprising to see Ivy on that relay. This would give him some extra rest heading into the 400m which could spell success for him. Jaylen Pennington of Cahokia has been running excellent this year with a PR of 49.04. He took 4th at his Sectional, but expect that to be just a one time bad race. He was 3rd in the distance at Top Times during the indoor season and was 5th last year at the State Meet. Pennington has the experience to be successful here. Logan Smallwood of Limestone is another name to watch out for. He could potentially slip into a top 3 spot here. Same goes for Corrion Raiford of Cahokia who will be looking to help Pennington score big points in this event to help the Comanches chances of winning state. 

800m

The 2A 800m looks to be an absolute mess with many people running under 1:56 so far this season. A total of 8 athletes in this field have their PRs under 1:56. Tra’Monti Williams and Preston Ellis of Payton will be the two headline names in the field. Both have taken turns being the top dog for the Grizzlies with Ellis as of late being the better of the two. Both will be coming off a record setting 4x800m so it will just be a matter of what they have left in the tank. Abe Martin of Morton has looked amazing this outdoor season as he has run 1:55 in every single meet this year. He is also undefeated this year in the distance. Martin was a middle school star, he is now trying to cement himself as a high school star. Zach Born of Metamora finished just behind Martin at the Sectional to finish 2nd. He has been running well in the month of May after basketball made him look a little flat in April. He finished 8th place in this race last  year and will try to be in the top three finishers this year. Augustus Gaudio of Mahomet-Seymour will be a workhorse this weekend. He qualified in the 800, 1600m, and 4x400m. He will likely run on the 4x800m relay which means that he will likely come out of the 1600m. He was 3rd behind Martin and Born at Sectionals, but he has split a 1:54 before. There might be more in the tank for Gaudio, he will be in the mix for a top 5 finish. 

1600m

This has the potential of being one of the races of the weekend here. Simon Lane of Chicago University had a shocking win at Distance Night In Palatine that even shocked himself. He ran 4:10.70 which puts him as the favorite to take home this title. He will double in the 3200m and 1600m for the first time since Top Times. He will hope that this double goes better than his double at Top Times. Gabe McLain of Benton was sixth in that race at Distance Night In Palatine. McLain has been so close to a state title, as he has followed his teammate, Gavin Genesio, for so long. He took second at Top Times indoors. He was third at the State Meet last year. If McLain wins then this will be the third straight year that a Benton athlete has won the 1600m crown. Speaking of Top Times, Christian Harris of Morton was the champion there in the 1600m when he ran 4:15.70. He will be a potential winner here in the right situation. Raphie and Gabe Greer of Marion will be fighting for a top 5 finish along with Boston Beyer of Morton.  Ellery Shutt of Woodstock ran a tactical race at sectionals and will be flying under the radar. He ran 4:20 indoors and is a force to be reckoned with. Don’t count out Vaughn Collier and Declan Slavin of Payton who could turn some heads here. 

3200m

Gabe McLain of Benton will be looking to claim his first State Championship here in the 3200m. He has run 9:06.67 so far this year which is the fastest time in the classification. He ran that at the Arcadia Invitational in California. Simon Lane of Chicago University will be the other name in contention for the State Championship. He ran 9:08.68 at Arcadia to win his section of the 3200m. He was the Top Times Champion indoors and is the favorite heading into this meet. Raphie and Gabe Greer of Marion as well as Liam Bettis of Taylorville will duke it out for 3rd place in this race. Don’t count out Max Weber of Civic Memorial, as he has run in the low 9:20s this season as well. He will be a big factor in this race.

110H

With 3 returning medalists from last year's contest looking to make a splash once again, the 2A 100 hurdles looks to be an extremely close race. The returning state champ, Louis Yohannes of Triad has already topped his 14.36 mark from last year with an exciting 14.20. However Parker Campbell of Lincoln will look to chase him down this year with a close mark of 14.34 this season. Campbell finished 5th last year and is looking to move up on the podium this time around. Keaton Koch, the sophomore from Mt Vernon, is also looking for an all-state run with a 14.52 PR this season. As far as the rest of the field, it will be a toss up between Hayden Little of Marion, Patrick Fitzgerald of Marmion, and Amauree Williams of Southland College Prep, 6th place last year, who all find themselves at a 14.61 this season. The finish line will be tight between these 3 but whoever seems to be having a good day just might see the better place.

300H

Leading the field this year in the 300 hurdles, the returning 5th place finisher last year, Travis Hoffman from Mahomet Seymour clocks in this season at a wild 37.93 which is narrowing in on a 2 second PR from last finals. Hoffman looks ready to claim the gold in this event and is the only mark in the field that is under 38. Following him is an extremely close field including Cedric Kehoe of Geneseo who placed 7th in the event last year and has marked this season at a 38.63. Patrick Fitzgerald has also run close to this with a 38.73 this season, as well as Hayden Little with a 38.85. Challenging them will be the returning 3rd place finisher Amauree Williams who has already made up the gap between last year with a 38.92 this season. The surge for top places will certainly be entertaining and the close proximity of the field will make for an exciting race this year.

4x100m

The boys 4x100m will be an absolute mess to predict as it's one of the closest races in the classification. Olney, Triad, Sycamore, East St. Louis, and Cahokia all are seeded within .1 of a second of each other. When you look at the starpower of the teams, Olney looks to be the most talented team with the quartet of Ian Pianfetti, Rex Hallam, Gavyn Cothern, and Felipe Goncalves. Cahokia also has tons of star power on their squad, especially if Akeelan Dowell runs on the relay. Don’t ignore Sycamore either, as Aiden Wyzard on anchor leg can be a scary thing to go up against. This one is sure to be close and exciting!

4x200m

The Comanches of Cahokia will enter Charleston on Friday with a team best 4x200m time that is north of one second faster than the next best team, Sterling. Cahokia’s 4x200m relay card ranks as third in the state, despite being a 2A school, sitting pretty at 1:27.06. Much improved from a squad that did not make it to state last year in this event. The aforementioned Sterling Golden Warriors are slotted at the two spot, with St. Laurence also fielding a solid squad in the 4x200m and separating their team bests by just 0.45 seconds. Rounding out the competition, Prairie Central’s team had a fantastic sectional relay, which helped them earn the second seed at 1:28.74. Their team also consists of two underclassmen, unlike teams like Olney, which consist of all upperclassmen and sit beneath the 90-second mark. It’ll be interesting to see if experience plays a factor in this one. Both North Chicago and East St. Louis are slated just outside of that 1:30 mark, but both look to make noise and turn heads Friday and Saturday. None of our top contenders in this event were all-staters last year, so it’ll also be interesting to see who comes out on top. 

4x400m 

Cahokia comes in as the favorite for the 4x400m relay as well as the 4x200m. PR’ing with a 3:18.78 at the Collinsville Invite, they are anchored by open 400m contender Jaylen Pennington, looking to bring home a potential 2A state meet record, which is currently 3:17.57 and was set by the Cahokia Comanches in 2015. Not far behind them, however, are the Flyers hailing from East St. Louis. 3:19.42 at the Civic Memorial sectional slates them as the first seed with the second-best team PR. It seems like the battle for the top three should be extremely competitive as well, with Sycamore and Sterling separated by three hundredths of a second with 3:22.04 and 3:22.07, respectively. Sycamore’s card consists of open 400m favorite Dylan Hodges at anchor as well. Watch out for Morton, though. Their card sits in fifth but is only behind Sterling’s personal best by 0.33 seconds. The battle for the top spot will most likely come down to Cahokia and East St. Louis, but the rest of the field will have to duke it out for the third-place finish, unless massive team bests ensue on Saturday. 

4x800m

After a spectacular finish at state last year, setting the IHSA 2A record of 7:42.68, Payton will return to defend their title. So far this season, they earned 5th at NBNI, running 7:43, won the CPL Championships, and enter the meet with a SB of 7:44. Keep an eye on them; there is a high chance that they will break their record from last year given that each runner’s best open time or relay split add up to the record. Next, the Mahomet Bulldogs have vastly improved since last year, as they currently run 7:53, and 2 out of the 4 runners individually qualified for the 800m by time in their sectional race. However, the battle for 3rd is up in the air, with Lincoln, Metamora, and Herrin all falling within 0.7 seconds of each other’s SBs. Although Lincoln leads in time between the three, I think Metamora will be the ones to win 3rd as they have Zach Born on their squad, the 8th place 800m finisher from state last year. Payton will inevitably win and may break their record, so be sure to watch them at the Finals.

High Jump

The boys high jump looks to be an epic competition between some of the states best, regardless of classification. Gavyn Cothern of Olney shares the best mark of the year from his 6-8 win at Top Times. His best outdoors has been 6-4.75, but if he can replicate that 6-8 then he will be in the conversation for the win. Mason Watts of Carterville was 2nd at the State Meet last year and has jumped 6-6 already this year. If he has a big day like he did last year, then he also could walk out with the State Title. Matt Pluff of Freeburg will also be in the mix to win. Pluff jumped 6-9.5 to take 3rd last year at New Balance Outdoor Nationals. He jumped 6-8 earlier this season and has looked great all year as he has only lost one time outdoors. Jack Tilton of Rochelle has jumped 6-7.75 at the Northern Illinois Invite and will be in the mix for a top three finish. Kaedon Phillips of Sterling has gone over 6-6.75 this year and will be looking to finish in the top three. Same with Griffin Schlenbecker of Wheaton Academy, he has been undefeated all year. 

Long Jump

This is one of the deepest long jump competitions that we have seen in a long time at the 2A level. There are seven competitors that will enter this competition over 23 feet. Rex Hallam and Gavyn Cothern of Olney have been a dynamic duo for the Tigers this year in the sand. They have jumped 24-7 and 23-8 respectfully. Cothern was the State Champion in this event last year. Both will be big parts to Olney’s trophy hopes. Chris Nelson of Herrin had a massive jump at the Sectional when he leaped 24-5.5 for the win. Nelson is no stranger to winning State Titles as he won the 100m and 4x200m as a freshman. He then won the 4x100m and 4x200m as a sophomore. Aidan Wyzard of Sycamore was the favorite heading into the State Meet last year but got injured and couldn’t grab the State Title that he hoped he would. This year will be big for Wyzard as he needs to win this LJ to score big points for his team. 

Triple Jump

Similarly to long jump, the triple jumpers are on a whole new level compared to last year with our top picks all jumping farther than the top marks from last year’s state. Shamond McClain of East St. Louis leads the finalists with a jump of 46’ 3.25” and has done very well this season such as in his 12th place finish at Nike Indoor Nationals. He finished 2nd at state last year to Jamarion Bardwell of Sacred Heart-Griffin who outjumped him by almost a foot. Although his SB of 44’ 4.5” is lower than some of the others in this group, he’s a “wait until the last moment to PR” type of guy, so definitely keep an eye on him. Next is Victreze Thomas of Cahokia, who is currently ranked #2 in 2A with a jump of 45’ 5” and got 7th last year. He has consistently jumped in the 44’s but I think Bardwell still has the edge over him due to his performance at state last year. Chikere Anyamele of Southland College Prep is a new addition to the qualifiers this year; he had a mark of 45’ 5.75” during indoors but hasn’t gotten back up to the 44-45ft range since, so we will see if he can bring that level of performance to the finals. Xavier Mayfield of North Chicago has also done great this season with his SB/PR of 45’ 4.25” putting him 3rd in 2A. Treylin Couch of Charleston is right behind him, jumping 45’ 3.75” and is returning to state after earning 5th last year. If McClain is able to win this, he would score a very important 10 points for the Flyers to keep them in contention to be back-to-back state champs and finally claim the triple jump title as his own.

Pole Vault

Andrew Nuyen of Rochelle will be looking to challenge Logan Pflibsen of Streator’s 17-1 back in 2010. He has vaulted over 17 feet twice this year. He took 3rd at the State Meet last year and will be looking to come home with a state title and a state record. Kyle Quaid-Bowman of Glenbard South has been one of the best in the classification as well. He has gone all outdoors being undefeated. It will be a hard test to beat Nuyen, but he could potentially pull off the upset. Ty Clark of Mahomet-Seymour has surpassed the 15 foot barrier so far this year. It will be him, Jacob Ross of Sandwich, and Zane Meier of Triad who will battle it out for third. 

Shot Put

The favorite to win (again) this year is Andrew Kinsman of Benton who has dominated 2A this season. His best mark of the season is 60’ 9” but that is already enough to push him to the top of the scoreboard. Ryan McCombs of Jacksonville has slowly made his way up the ranks since last year when he got 10th at state and will come into the meet with a SB/PR of 57’ 5.75”. Will Rosenow of Sycamore has a huge responsibility to fulfill in the throws to help keep his team in the running to be state champions, but he is certainly prepared for the challenge as he has a SB/PR of 56’ 2” and the motivation to push him even further than that. Sam Gentz of Byron with his mark of 55’ 9.25” will be in a close fight for 4th place against Luke Barnhart of Carterville, who throws 55’ 9”. Either could also potentially get 3rd depending on Rosenow’s performance though since he might be tired after doing discus too in the prelims the morning before.

Discus

Leading the field on Saturday in discus will be Will Rosenow of Sycamore, the current 2A#1 and IL#16 with his throw of 173’ 1”. He will be trying to earn points for the Spartans in both throwing categories, and is currently ahead of his competitors by a margin of around 4 feet! Aaron Culbertson of Galena started the month off with a mark of 168’ 11” and is predicted to make the podium following his strong performances all year. Anthony Beckman of Williamsville will likely join him since he throws 167’ 9” but could be surpassed by Andrew Kinsman of Benton with his 166’ 10” and who throws more consistently in the 150’-160’ range in the second half of the season. Jackson Thomas of Monmouth-Roseville will also make our top 5, throwing 165’ 4” to claim his school record. Sycamore is counting on Rosenow to help get points for the team, so his performance in the discus will be vital in determining which team walks away with the state title.