Photo: Katelynne Hart on her way to a great race in the 2 Mile Run (Laura Duffy Photo)

By Michael Newman

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The championship race in the Girls 2 Mile Run Sunday at the New Balance Indoor Nationals was what fans inside the Armory Track & Field Center had hoped for. Their area runner Katelyn Tuohy of North Rockland High School was on her way to another national title. The fans did not expect Glenbard West’s Katelynne Hart to be that close.

The last time the two runners raced against each other, Tuohy was on her way to her second straight Nike Cross Nationals Championship. Hart was 53 seconds behind in 16^th place. She was dejected afterwards saying that she was putting too much pressure on herself. The following week it was a different Hart that toed the line at Foot Locker Nationals focused but having fun at the same time just missing winning the race by under a second.

It was the same attitude that Hart had at Foot Locker when she stepped to the line where a year before she won the national 1 Mile Run title. Focus on the track with an inside smile enjoying the moment. That was all Hart on Sunday’s race.

Tuohy went through the mile in 4:52.92 with Hart a little more than two seconds behind. It was the same pace that the Glenbard junior was on when she ran 10:02 for 3200-meters in Michigan three weeks before. Tuohy kept pushing the pace slowing moving farther ahead. The gap was more than four seconds entering the final half mile of the race. Hart was still there.

“Sometimes it gets tough to run out there all alone. Today, I had Katelynne Hart out there pushing me, ” Tuohy said after the race. “I kept looking up there on the scoreboard and she was still behind me. She definitely pushed me through the race.”

The margin of victory for Tuohy was seven seconds as she ran a new meet record of 9:51.05 breaking the old record by five seconds. It was the second fastest Girls 2 Mile Run time of all-time. Hart finished in 9:58.42, an indoor personal best and second fastest 2-mile ever for her. Hart’s performance was the eighth fastest ever indoors.

In terms of Illinois records, Hart now has the fastest two times indoors for 2 Miles and 3200-meters. The old Illinois indoor record for that distance was set by Kayla Beattie at the Brooks Indoor PR Invitational in 2011 (10:17.93).

“I was just looking to come here with the competition so great,” Hart said after her run. “ I was just excited to push myself and to see where I was. Katelyn did a great job of pacing, so it helped the whole field run fast which was awesome.”

Fulton’s Chloe Lindeman surprised some in last year’s indoor championships when she finished third in the Championship Shot Put. She entered Saturday’s competition in the event with the second farthest mark in the event and the top performance in the field.

Lindeman did not disappoint as she claimed the national Girls title in the event with a 46-6.25 put in the third round of her preliminary section. She won by more than a foot ahead of Keeley Suzenski of Fleetwood, Pennsylvania (45-4.25).

“My first meet of the year was on Monday where I had that big throw (49-8, US #2). It was a big build up for me,” Lindeman said after her win. “It was a milestone for me because it gets me that much closer to 50-feet. Whenever I am competing, I just try not to take that many warmups. I had confidence in myself going into that third throw.”

Marcellus Moore captured his second and third indoor All-American honors in this championship meet. Moore, who holds the All-Time state best time for 100-meters outdoors (10.31), did not get his best start in the finals as he had to charge from the back in the final 20-meters to capture fourth overall (6.81). Micah Williams of Benton, Oregon won the championship running the fastest time of the year nationally (6.60).

Moore was one of the favorites heading into the second section of the 200 Meter Finals. Waiting for him was Mario Heslop of Somerset, New Jersey who had the fastest time in the preliminary rounds (21.13). Moore had easily won his preliminary heat running 21.46.

Moore got off to a good start in the finals, but in this day Heslop’s was just that much better. Heslop ran the fastest time in the nation this year (20.90) in winning the national title. Moore ran 21.23 to finish second.

Other Meet Highlights

It was a good opening day for Illinois athletes in the Emerging Elites Section of the Meet especially for athletes from East St. Louis-Senior. The Flyers took the meet by storm winning three titles.

Willie Johnson may have been the surprise of the day in the 400 Meter Dash. He did not have one of the top seed times in the event. In fact, he was in the first of ten sections of the event. Johnson proved his doubters wrong by running the fastest time in the state of 48.39. He easily won his race.

Johnson just had to wait to see if any of the competitors in the next nine sections would catch him.

No one could. The closest athlete was Chris Chupa of Bradenton, Florida who won Section 9 (49.04). Johnson won the title with that 48.39 first section time. His time would have finished sixth overall in the championship final.

Johnson was back as the anchor runner for the Flyers quartet in the 800 Meter Relay. In the second of six sections, Marcus Lampley, Keontez Lewis, Xavier Mix, and Johnson took home the race win (1:30.00) with Johnson anchoring with a 21.76 split. That time held up as no other team could catch them as the event champion.

The Flyers were the chaser in the fifth section of the 1600 Meter Relay trying to be the fastest time of 3:24.81. They did that with ease. Andrew Johnson was substituted for Mix with Willie Johnson, Lewis, and Lampley part of the quartet. Lewis anchored his team with a 50.38 split to give the Flyers the win (3:22.09) just ahead of DeMatha Catholic HS MD (3:22.62).

It was also a great day for Mt. Zion’s Rhiannon Held in the Girls Emerging Elite Pole Vault. Held and Abby Tershak of Roanoke, Virginia cleared 12-6.25 in the first section. Held cleared her personal best height on her first attempt. Three other athletes cleared that height in the afternoon Section. Held won the event on fewer misses.

Thomas Shilgalis of Naperville Central took the lead on the second lap of his section of the Boys Championship 800 Meter Run. He passed that checkpoint in 55.89. Shilgalis finished seventh in his section, but still ran the second fastest time this year in the state (1:55.99).

Samuel Rivera of Whitney Young finished seventh overall in the Boys Emerging Elite 1 Mile Run. His time of 4:19.51 is the fastest Illinois time this indoor season for 1600-meters/1-mile.

Zack Pluff of Freeburg had a big meet in the High Jump. He was one of nine athletes to clear 6-9 in the Championship High Jump. That clearance is the best so far in Illinois in 2019. Pluff cleared that height on his third attempt. The Freeburg senior finished eighth overall.

Latin School’s Ava Parekh was up early Sunday morning to run in the Freshman 1 Mile Run. Parekh and Juliette Whittaker of Laurel, Maryland entered the final lap of the race side-by-side. Whittaker tried to pass Parekh three times in the final 200-meters. Each time, Parekh would not let her by. Parekh ended up winning (4:59.36) by just four hundredths of a second ahead of Whittaker.