By Michael Newman

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It seemed like yesterday that I was finishing the previews for the 2014 track & field season. That is how fast this season seemed to go by. More great things happened than negative. We had two state meets that ran off smoothly. Even though there were complaints about the weather outside during the indoor season, the weather cooperated outdoors. This is the first time in my recent memory that we had very few meets cancelled because of weather. That is always a good thing.

We will get to some of the summer action in a little. Here are some of the things that I have been watching.

Brittny Ellis on the Youth Olympic Team

One of the good things that can happen during the summer for a track and field athlete is when they are selected to represent their country in an international competition. If you ask Brittny Ellis (Warren Township HS, Gurnee) what she will be doing in August, she will tell you that she will be in China.

The two-time state champion was selected last week to represent the United States at the Youth Olympic Games to be held in Nanjing, China from August 16 to August 28. Ellis was selected to run in the 400 Meter Dash after she finished second in the Area Trials at Miramar, Florida in April. She had to wait until last week when she received verification that she would be going to China.

Good Luck Brittny! I am sure you will run a personal best and perhaps bring back at medal. What a way to start your senior year right?

Classification Changes

Last week was the week that the IHSA usually announces there classifications for Illinois schools for the upcoming school year. That was overshadowed a little last Monday when during their monthly board of director meeting, the IHSA announced the delay in the controversial Policy 17 that was passed in February.

“"The changes to Policy 17 are significant, so it is important that the membership has a strong grasp on their history and implementation," Marty Hickman, the IHSA Executive Director, said in a statement released by the IHSA. "The ‘success factor’ will affect about three percent of the membership, but the waiver changes will have a considerably larger impact. It will be a positive step to gain feedback from the membership, as well as to make sure we have a full understanding on how these changes influence other factors, such as classification cutoffs."

It was a good move by the IHSA. Hickman stated that the new waiver and success factor changes that were implemented in Policy 17 would not go into effect until the 2015-2016. It gives a chance to work on a solution that could revise the policy. The IHSA also avoided the mess of possible legal actions that could have come from opponents of the policy. I hope there can be some reason to all of this. For some of the smaller sports, the best thing that could happen is that the policy be enforced on bracket sports like Soccer, Football, Basketball, and Baseball. It is just a hope on my part.

In regards to classification changes, Chicago Jones College Prep moved up to 3A for cross country during the upcoming school year. There was a thought this would happen in another year because of the rise of enrollment in the school. Yorkville stayed in 2A for cross country this fall. With the area around their school continuing to grow, it is only a matter of time that the Foxes will make the next step up the classification ladder. Latin School, which finished third last fall in the 1A Girls State Meet, will move up to 2A this fall.

Some changes were made involving schools for the track season. Grayslake Central, Dunbar, and Springfield all moved up to 3A next spring. North Lawndale moved down to 2A. That school has gone back and forth between 2A and 3A for the last six years. For some reason, that is not fair to the student athletes.

Brooks PR Invitational

Patrick Perrier ended a successful prep career at O’Fallon High School by finishing fourth in the Mile at the Brooks PR Meet in Seattle. His time of 4:08.25 was off of his personal best set more than a week ago at the Festival of Miles.

Who would have thought that Perrier would have experienced this much success in running when he entered O’Fallon four years ago. He started his first semester playing soccer. During the spring of his freshman year, he tried track & field as a conditioning possibility for soccer. The truth is he liked it so much he continued on. The rest is history.

He earned all-state honors eight times (3 in XC, 5 in track) including a state championship in his senior year at Detweiller Park and at the end of May in the 1600 Meter Run. More importantly, he was named to the IHSA All-Academic Team for 2014. It shows that the work ethic that he has. It shows how much he has learned during his time at O’Fallon especially from his coach Jon Burnett.

Patrick will be continuing his education at Stanford University this fall where I am sure we will be reading more about his successes on the track, in the classroom, and on the cross country course.

Summer Meets

There are so many good things that we can say about summer track meets. The opposite can be said as well.

There were some good things that happened this week end at the USATF Illinois Junior Olympics Championships held at Benedictine University. Emma Spagnola, before she heads to the University of Minnesota, made some more news on the track. She won the 17-18 100 Meter Hurdles in 13.85 which is two hundredths off of her personal best. I wish there was a wind gauge at the meet. The flag at the start of the meet was flat on the pool. If a wind gauge was there, it would have been a wind legal race. The day before, Spagnola turned some heads by winning the 100 Meter Dash (11.88) ahead of 2A state champion Ryan Preacely.

Josh Eiker (Galesburg HS) looked unstoppable winning the 14-15 200 Meter Dash in a meet record 21.36. Matt Aniywo won the 400 Meter Dash pulling away from the field running a comfortable 48.80. One athlete that it was good to watch run was Sami Staples (Crystal Lake Central HS) in the 17-18 1500 Meter Run. The soon to be senior has suffered through some injuries the past couple of years including a stress fracture. It looked like she was on a tempo run hammering out 77 second laps. She won crossing the line in 4:52, close to a 5:11 equivalent for the mile. I hope that she can remain healthy for her senior season.

The bad things that I saw were the usual things. You have eight year old kids with parents in the stands not knowing how to react to how their child is running. It’s not about you mom. I hope the kids learn to love the sport by the time they get to high school.

The good things that I love to see is how former Illinois athletes give back to the sport. Marcus Jegede, the 2014 Triple Jump state champ from Lake Park, and Joey Pacione, who was the CCIW Triple Jump champ from Illinois Wesleyan as well as Lake Park, were helping out in the Long Jump pit on the weekend. They also assist the DuPage Track Club during the summer months. It’s all about giving back to a sport that they received so much from. That’s a cool thing.

And finally…

There are so many things that were good about the recent track season. I went to so many meets this year that were run efficiently in which I left with an excellent feeling.

There was an issue that I had to deal with towards the end of the year that still troubles me. I was at the DuPage County Meet at Naperville Central. Just let me say to start out with that the people at the school did an excellent job with the running of the meet.

My son was helping me do the video taping of the meet. He did a great job during the year. This night he was having problems. Whenever I went down to the track, I would notice he would have issues with people getting in the way. I would have to run back up and usually the people would disperse. We were on the deck behind the stands. It got to a point where I started to take pictures of the people blocking our view and put them on Twitter. On my part, it was not the best way to handle of it but it was kind of funny. After the meet was over, I removed all the pictures.

Right after the 400 Meters, I went down to the track to interview Matt Burns who was the 2013 state champ in the 400 from Willowbrook. I get done with the interview and I look up at the stands. There was a helpless look in my son’s eyes. There were more people in the area including on the deck. We did not have a clear view for the 300 Hurdles as they came off the curve. I ran back up the stairs. There was one particular coach that was standing just to the left of where we were set up. I do not buy the idea that he did not see my son who is 6-2 and about 210 pounds. He took advantage there was a kid videotaping. Screw it. I am going to get a spot to tape MY kids who are racing.

I was frustrated. I asked the coach if he could move and told him that we were trying to tape the races for DyeStat. He took two steps to the left and that was it. He was still in our sight lines. Consider the fact that we had been up there since the meet started. If this coach wanted to piss me off, well he did so perfectly.

I muttered under my breath “I thought we were going to have this area to ourselves.” I had my press credentials on and my DyeStat shirt on. Hard that I was not being noticed. I went in the press box and got permission to go on top to tape the remaining race. Maybe I should have done that before. I took a picture of the coach and put it on Twitter.

10 minutes later, I was climbing down the stairs and heading for the track. The 1600 had just ended and there was controversy as York’s Matt Plowman was disqualified. I was talking to coaches getting perspective of what happened. I went to a group of York coaches to get their opinion. Right in the middle of the conversation, the coach that had blocked our view jumped into the conversation.

I would not have been writing about this now if he would have said, “Can I talk to you for a second?” That did not happen.

As I was talking to one of the York coaches, this coach barges in and says “Why did you put my picture on DyeStat?” In my mind I was thinking Why would I put your picture on DyeStat. I replied, “You mean Twitter?” He told me that it was a bush league way how to handle this. I replied I asked you to move. He said he did not hear me. Yet he moved two steps over. I was trying to do my job and coach I was told by him. I wanted him out of my hair. I told him I would delete the picture. I had no problem doing that. I was the one that put it up there.

Like I said, if he would have pulled me aside, we do not get to this point now. The moment that he barged in to a private conversation, it was all about him. It was all about his ego. It did not matter how he looked at that point. Yes, it was not professional of me to put that picture up there regardless if it was funny. At the same time, I doubt he thought what he did was unprofessional. He blocks a high school kid videotaping. This is a man who coaches and teaches kids? How does he treat the kids that he knows? Look at actions of someone he did not know. I call that totally classless. If that is offensive, it is just the truth.

I thought I may see him again perhaps at Charleston for the state meet. I thought to myself as I was driving down to EIU, “Why would he be there?”

I get along with 98% of the coaches in the state. We have some great coaches in Illinois. I’m pretty easy to get along with which makes things easier. There are a handful of coaches that I have no respect for. It comes down to integrity and ethics. I saw one coach on their twitter account using profanity. How do they talk to their kids that they coach? It is pretty sad.

It was the first time that I had ever dealt with this coach before. It will be the last time also. It is just not worth the aggravation.

The one simple thing that comes from this: You only get one chance to make a first impression.

If I have ever had a bad impression on you, please let me know. I’ll try to correct that. I promise I won’t put your picture on Twitter.