Judy Pendergast 1st ever under 16 min
Judy Pendergast 1st ever under 16 min
What is the length of this course?
Length has been disputed but supposed to be 3 miles. Craig Virgin
Is the record holder 13:49. So 15:54 is very fast and crushes the girl's state record.
Who is this Jon Davis (spell?). 13:59 at Dettweiler? What is in the air at Illinois! So like 73 Craig Virgin went 13:50. In 2007 Chris Derrick 13:52, Jorres Torrez 14:00 then won Footlocker broke 15:00 I believe. Verzbicus like 13:54 Dettweiler, won Footlocker like twice sub 15 I think. Donald Sage like 99 only second to Ritz by like 3 seconds. Anytime you got a guy headed to Footlocker you got to learn about the Illinois state champ.
1. Craig Virgin( 13:50
2. Chris Derrick (13:52
3. Lukas Verzbicus (13:54
4. Tom Graves ( 13:56
5. Dave Walters (13:57
6.Jim Spivey (14:00
7. J. Torres (14:00
8. D Sage (14:03
9. J Keelan (14:05
10 Jesse Reiser (14:11
11. MATT WITHROW!!!!!
12. Quinton Shaffer
13. Troy Maddox And a Ton I can't remember.
TODAY JON DAVIS 13:59!!! Congrats JON D. What company your in!
Way to fly Davis!
why is it so hard for people to spell Verzbicas right?
Sorry I was a bit excited about Jon's time and trying to remember Illinois greats.
Dave Walters is quite a household name in track and field lore.
Dave Walters is quite a household name in track and field lore.[/quote]
I remember him well. I'm trying to remember who the Illinois guy was in like 85 or 86 when Ruben Reina set the record. There was a Illinois runner who was shoulder to shoulder with Reina as they went 4:32 mile and like a 9:23 2 mile mark. Can't recall his name but he was an animal. Been telling everyone to look out for this young guy from Illinois.
Mark Deady?
Or Len Sitko?
Witness protection name wrote:
Dave Walters is quite a household name in track and field lore.
He just won the Chicago Marathon and New York City Marathon 60-64 division;
Chicago: 2:45:26
New York: 2:47:27
Witnessed this first hand, I'm from Riverton, Illinois. I go to school where Jon used to attend in middle school, up until mid-7th grade, it truly is amazing to see someone like that come from Illinois, and especially Riverton.
Yeah, you'd expect it from one of the western suburbs. Though the best ever, Craig Virgin, was from Lebanon.
Spork wrote:
Mark Deady?
Just found it and watched the video. It was Troy Maddux. What a insane pace!
I won't even mention a great who destroyed us all in the 70's Well maybe I will, David Merrick. What is it with ILLINOIS! In the last eight years I've had 3 guys run at Footlocker. Every year I tremble at who is rising in the state of Illinois. They will be legit, well hell look at the names...says it all, legends of the last half century. What is it with ILLINOIS!
It's a big state population-wise. And poverty hasn't been widespread in the burbs, so little food insecurity there. Also, it's hard to overstate the impact of Joe Newton. But I think it provably does punch above its weight, especially given how shtty the winters are. When I ran there, I didn't know anyone who trained through the winter. I'm sure York boys did, and so did people like Pat Joyce and Len Sitko (on either end of me age-wise). Now that I live in LA, it'd be weird to stop running after XC was over.
This list my interest you:
Spork, Interesting info! I did not know. Thanks for the article, I was looking at the honorable mention. Tim Broe, Evan Jager and Stephen Pifer are you kidding me! I was in Pennsylvania in 70's. I used to think as a kid there was something in the atmosphere in Illinois. I try not to argue Illinois as the greatest HS state legends of all time because people freak on me. Even IF I was coaching a Grant Fisher or a Andrew Hunter, today, the first state I bring up is Illinois. Hoping to God their state champion did not go sub 14:00 at Detweiller. Thanks for the reply.
Merrick ran 4:05 and 8:43 in high school for one and two miles [not 1600 and 3200] indoors at the U of IL.
"Merrick won 5 state titles including a pair of cross country a d 2-mile titles during his career with bests of 4:07 and 8:48."
The Illinois State Cross Country course run at Detweiller Park is 2.9758 miles.
No kidding.
The course is marked with permanent "monuments" buried in the ground, so nothing changes from year to year. I was there when a professional measuring team came out and measured the course with a steel tape, using the USATF Shortest Possible Route, with a 12" radius clearance on the inside of the turns. They went all three miles laying down 50 meter markers as they went.
So 2.9758 miles +/- inches.
The course has been modified slightly since Virgin ran. A couple of us were around then, and we used the best information we could find, including old pictures to recreate the original course, which had always been rumored to run slightly short of 3 miles, around 2.97 miles. When we marked the legacy course as best we could and measured it... it came up 2.9759 miles!
So in Illinois we are pretty confident that we can directly compare times going all the way back to 1971.
Jon Davis' official time is 14:00. I guess they rounded up. I would like to know the FAT time though.
And for those who care, the course consists of roughly 3 loops, with each loop descending and ascending an elevation of 30 feet. So 90 feet total drop, and 90 feet total ascent, ending at the same elevation as the start. The course is said to be "flat" because the elevation changes happen over 600 meter stretches.