Norm Armstrong Invite Preview

The first real week of the outdoor season is upon us, and the Norm Armstrong invite is bringing the heat! Belleville West is hosting several top ten teams in the state at their annual home meet and there will be no shortage of big marks. With all this firepower, you won’t find an event that disappoints. We are going to go over the best athletes from each event group and preview the action!

Sprints

This meet could be the fastest sprint meet we will see all year. Outside of the state meet, this will be one of the only times that Chicago area teams like Kenwood and Homewood Flossmoor will go up against Belleville West and Edwardsville. Kenwood got the best of Belleville West the one time that they met up during indoor, where they walked away with several wins in individual events and relays. Guys like Armond Boulware, Logic West and Parrish Hartley are going to be big time players for the Broncos. Boulware was the runner up at the IL Indoor Championships, he has run 21.44 in the 200 and he has a 100 PR of 10.78. Hartley is similarly geared towards the short sprints, with a 100 PR of 10.67 and 200 PR of 21.57. Both of these guys are going to be strong contenders in the short events, but they will be met by Joe Owuso of Plainfield East. Owusu was 6.90 in the 60 during indoor and is a prolific short sprinter. West will hold it down in the 400 for Kenwood, he ran 48.86 over the indoor season and is in a good position to win here. He will have company from Bruce Duncan of Bolingbrook. Duncan was the 3A Top Times champ and was consistently under 50 seconds on flat 200 tracks during the indoor season. With the change to a full length 400 track, he should benefit greatly and run a big time PR. Nolan Lamoureux of Lockport was also sub 50 on a flat 200 track, he will also run fast here as well. His PR sits at 48.39 from last year outdoor, he could possibly be under that time here. Hononegah developed themselves a star in Chase Cutler over the indoor season. The sophomore ran sub 50 several times, peaking at 49.69 at indoor champs. He is a dangerous athlete and will continue to prove himself here. Don’t forget about Troy Mclean of Belleville West, the returning state champ will want revenge from his unfortunate race at indoor champs. He was cut off and sent into lane 4 and unfortunately did not have the race that he should’ve had. He has an outdoor PR of 47.82 and stands far ahead of the field with that mark. He will compete strongly with this field should he choose to run the 400. Other BW sprinters, like Calvin Nolan and Marquez Bulliner, will also be up in the mix. Edwardsville has a couple athletes sitting out, but they still have guys like Cincere Ruffin and Zach Lane who will pick up the slack. Both guys have been strong sprinters for the Tigers throughout indoor, they will compete well here at BW. Homewood Flossmoor has Zion Morrison and Joaquin Jordan who will be fighting for a medal spot as well. Morrison made a name for himself in the 60 throughout the indoor season, we should see it translate smoothly to the 100. Omar Mims of Cahokia is the returning state champ in the 100 and we could see a big time performance from him. Cahokia has been using him more in the 400 than they have in the short sprints, which has led to some middle-of-the-road 60 times. Should he return to his bread and butter, I would expect him to compete for the win in the short sprints. There are so many other guys who I think are going to pop off here, there just isn’t time to discuss everyone. So get your popcorn ready and pick a guy to root for, because the sprints are going to be insane in St. Louis this weekend.

Relays

We’re not done yet though, we still have all the relays to discuss! With the addition of the 4x1, teams will have to find a way to swap their guys into spots that allows them to be competitive in every event. Kenwood was unstoppable in the relays throughout indoor, not even bad handoffs could stop them from losing. They ran an unbelievable 4x2 of 1:27.61 at the Indoor Championships, they beat Belleville West by a mere .17 seconds. Belleville West will strongly contend with Kenwood, it should be interesting to see how they matchup on the outdoor track. Because the dynamics of the 4x2 are changed (there is no cut to lane 1 during the outdoor season), the rematch could have a different outcome. Kenwood will have the edge over other teams due to their extreme depth. Their “bench players” are stronger than most teams varsity sprinters, they are easily capable of running fast relays without their starters. Other teams are going to be strung out over multiple events and will have a tougher time matching them across the board. Mascoutah ran an incredible 4x1 already, they ran 42.21 at the O’Fallon relays on Monday, they will compete for the win there or in the 4x2. Edwardsville was 42.70 without Zach Lane, they could be a little bit faster there and maybe be up with Mascoutah and Kenwood. Teams like Cahokia and Homewood Flossmoor could be in the mix for the 4x1 or 4x2 as well. The 4x4 will likely be dominated by Kenwood, but Bolingbrook and Naperville Central will put in their two cents as well. Bolingbrook won the 3A top times 4x4 with a time of 3:25.83 which was run on a flat 200 track. They will benefit from the full length 400 and likely run a big season best. Naperville Central has a similar story, they ran 3:26.61 at the Mustang Relays and could better that mark on a full 400 track. Cahokia was 3:27 during indoor, they could very easily be in contention as well. It will be interesting to see how they shuffle around their lineup, as they lack the depth that other teams have. They would need to sacrifice one of their other relays or an individual event in order to stack this 4x4. Belleville West was never able to put their A relay team together during indoor, but they have all the pieces to run a quick 4x4. With Troy Mclean and Calvin Nolan alone, they should be able to run under 3:25 and claw their way to a podium finish. 

Hurdles

Arion Hill of Centralia makes this meet elite as the fastest returning hurdler in the state. He ran a straight-up evil 7.92 in the 60mH during indoor and secured himself as the man to beat in the hurdles. He has PRs of 14.22 and 39.44 in the 110mH and 300mH respectively, he will be the guy to beat in both events. He will lead a great group of hurdlers in Zion Morrison of Homewood Flossmoor, Daylin Donaldson of Belleville East and Jalyn Cole of Belleville West. Morrison ran 8.14 in the 60mH during indoor which is a hair faster than both Donaldson and Cole. He relies on his insane explosiveness to get the job done, as he blows both Donaldson and Cole out of the water in a regular 60. Cole has the fastest 110mH out of these three with a 14.37 that he ran at state last year. He has already run a PR in the 300mH this season with a 40.36 which he ran on Monday at the O’Fallon relays. Donaldson has seen a big leap in the hurdles from his freshman year and he won’t be far behind Morrison and Cole. He was 15.07 and 40.49 as freshman and is only second to Morrison out of the class of 2027.

Distance

The sprints won’t be the only events to watch here, the distance guys will bring their best and set the track on fire. Plainfield North has some of the best distance runners around and they will dominate here. Quinn Davis has really expanded his range this season with impressive times in the middle distance. He could run anything the Tigers need him too and he’ll dominate that event. Since it’s early in the season, expect some off event action, maybe an 800 or a 4x8. Aidan Connors had a terrific indoor season, he ran 9:12 at indoor champs to take fourth. He has really stepped out of his shell this season, his finishing kick is at an all-time high right now. He will be a strong force in either the 3200 or the 1600, look for him to take home big points. Thomas Czerwinski is another PN guy to watch. He ran 4:15 at indoor champs, he took third in that race. He’s a centerpiece to the PN cross country squad and he will provide coverage in areas that Davis and Connors won’t race. They have other guys, like Gavin Hall and James Maso who can score points in their respective events as well. Naperville Central has Patrick Clune who can compete with Davis and Czerwinski in the mid distance races. He was 1:56 last year and he has run a solid 4:21 in the mile during indoor. Zach Thoman of O’Fallon will also be a big name in the middle distance. He is one of the top returning runners in the open 800 with an outdoor PR of 1:54.66. The O’Fallon distance team does not traditionally run indoors, but he actually did compete in the mile in mid March, he ran 4:23 for a 10 second win. He has yet to race with real competition yet, he will benefit from the runners around him. Aiden Swanlund is another great 800 runner who could show up here. He was 1:56.33 last year in the open 800, but he split an unreal 1:52.8 to anchor his 4x8 to 9th place at the state meet. He has been a solid 4x4 guy for the Wildcats as well, that speed will come in handy if he wants to win. 

Throws

Collinsville is going to wipe everybody off the face of the planet in terms of team scoring here. The dynamic duo of Devin Habermehl and Shane Box will take away most of the points here. Habermehl had a strong indoor season, he threw 57’ 0” in the shot and is the most talented shot putter here. He threw 56’ 8” in the shot and 162’ 5” in the disc at the O’Fallon Relays on Monday. His teammate, Shane Box, threw a monstrous PR of over 20 feet when he threw 167’ 5” at O’Fallon to take the win over Habermehl. The only thing stopping these two is Iose Epenesa of Edwardsville. His shot put PR of 55’ 5” doesn’t quite compete with Habermehl but that’s not his focus event. The star discus thrower is the returning 3A state runner up in the disc and he is going to rattle these Collinsville boys in that event. He threw a gigantic 189’ 10” at the state meet last year and he will be seeking out the win in the discus. 

Jumps

There are a couple superstars that will be far ahead of everyone else, it should make for an explosive time in the field. In the high jump, it looks like Machi Nelson of Proviso West standing alone at the top. He upset Will Nohren of Shelbyville at indoor champs with a PR leap of 6’ 6.75” (2 meters exact, that’s why they didn’t go to 6’ 7”). Nelson is in his first season of track and he’s making big moves, this will be another notch on his belt. Logic West of Kenwood will be the only one to challenge him, he jumped a towering 6’ 7” last year, but has been stagnant at 6’ 3” for quite a while. I would expect him to be a close second to Nelson. Larry Wills of Chatham Glenwood will look to join them as well. He has not been higher than 6’ 4” during indoor, but last season he cleared the 6’ 6” bar. If he can clear his old PR, he will be right with Nelson and West in the high jump. In the triple jump, we will see a close fight between Alex Austin of Normal West and Treycen Bownes of Plainfield North. Austin has been very consistent at 45 feet, he hit his season best of 45’ 7” at the Big 12 Conference meet. Bownes hit a truly unbelievable 48’ 1” at the Plainfield North invite, but he has not been within 3 feet of that mark for the rest of the season. He took fourth at indoor championships and he has been in Austin’s vicinity for most of his other competitions. I would expect Austin to come out on top due to his consistency over Bownes, but Bownes could absolutely piledrive this field if he can get back up to 48 feet. Braden Missey of Belleville West will lead the stacked long jump field. He got a good win in long jump at indoor champs where he beat Kwabeni Osei Yeboah of Oak Park River Forest. He has the furthest season best in the field but he is not without competition. Parrish Hartley of Kenwood and Larry Wills of Chatham Glenwood will be hot on his heels. Both of these athletes have been in the 23s before and both will look to beat Missey. Wills has shown that he can be solid in both the high jump and long jump, his 6’ 6” compliments his 23 foot leap nicely. Alex Austin will also be a force in the long jump, his PR grew by a considerable amount during indoor. His 22’ 6” could definitely shake things up. Don’t forget about the Homewood Flossmoor boys as well, Kellin Maclin, Nolan Lewis, and Anthony Edison are all seasoned long jumpers with big PRs. Maclin was 23’ 11” last season and has one of the top returning marks in the state. Lewis has also been in the 23s in the past, both could make a return to their previous glory and take a spot from Missey, Wills, and Hartley. The pole vault will feature Parker Owens of Edwardsville and Cooper Bowman in a showdown between underclassman and upperclassmen. Owens is the top freshman in the state, he vaulted 15’ 1” on Monday with relative ease. Bowman was 15’ 0” only once during the season, which gives Owens an advantage over him. Owens’ consistency exceeds Bowman’s, I think he will get the win pretty handily here.