Athletes face less than ideal conditions
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| LaMoille senior Alyssa Hopps lets the shot put fly in Friday's 1A Sectional track meet at Oregon. She qualified for state with a second-place effort. |
OREGON — “It’s 90 degrees and sunny, Whitney,” Amboy coach Bob Hallberg said to Whitney Schultz before the start of the 800 relay. “Keep thinking it’s 90 degrees and sunny.”
Psychological tactics such as these were commonplace at the Class 1A Oregon Track Sectional, one of the few high school sporting events to go on as scheduled Friday. Cold, rainy and blustery conditions for most of the night put athletes in even more of a survival mode than usual – with state meet berths on the line.
Oregon athletic director Kip Crandall made the decision at 10:30 a.m. to move the pole vault competition to Byron, where it could be held indoors. Those athletes started about 1 p.m. and were back in Oregon in time for the start of the running preliminaries, at 4 p.m.
The rest of the meet was in jeopardy, and Crandall considered calling it.
“At one point I did call the IHSA and say, ‘Do I have any latitude to do anything earlier,’ and I didn’t hear back from them until it was too late to call people,” Crandall said. “I guess that kind of turned out in our favor.”
By 3:15 p.m., when coaches convened for a scratch meeting and athletes began warming up, the weather had improved and it was decided to procede. Making that decision was IHSA meet referee Dale Thomas, Crandall and a trio of coaches on the games committee, which included Polo’s Terry Jenkins.
The preliminaries were held under blustery, but dry conditions, but by the time the finals began, about 6 p.m., things began to deteriorate. Athletes who didn’t finish in the top two had little chance to meet state qualifying standards in the cold, rainy conditions.
Of the 18 events, only four (the 100, 1,600 relay, 3,200 relay and discus) had more than two qualifiers.
Oregon boys track coach Jim Spratt, one of the timers near the finish line, said athletes need a mindset when competing on a night like Friday.
“The toughest teams always win,” Spratt said. “If the weather’s going to stop us, we’re not going to do very well down at state. You need to go out and get it done because everybody else has to do it at the same time.”
The final few events were actually held under more optimal, if not ideal conditions. The rain stopped, the wind died down and Oregon’s 1,600 relay team took advantage to set a school record in the event. Crandall was all smiles about that, as well as getting the meet completed. He had avoided an early Saturday morning meet time, something other host sites will be dealing with.
“We’re very fortunate, all things considered,” Crandall said.
• In competition, the Amboy/LaMoille Clippers placed fifth as a team, qualifying two individuals and one relay for state, including LHS senior Alyssa Hopps, second in the shot put (36-4 1/2).
Ashley McCoy led the Clippers with a first in the 200 (27.71) and anchoring the 4x100 relay to a runner-up finish in 52.9. LaMoille’s Tricia Tuntland also took part in the effort.
LHS sophomore Lorraine Stamberger placed third in the 800 (2:30.07), but did not qualify. Avery Barrett was fourth in the 300 low hurdles.
Byron ran away with the team title with 142 points, doubling runner-up Winnebago (70). Amboy had 59.,
