IHSA BOYS TRACK & FIELD
Lincoln boys 4x800 relay team finishes in second place at State
Railsplitters take 12 athletes to State

 

[May 31, 2023] 

Members of the Railsplitters Track and Field team competed in the IHSA Class 2A Boys State Track and Field Championships at Eastern Illinois University in Charleston over the weekend and it was the 4x800 relay team from Lincoln coming home with a second place finish among an insanely talented field of competition.

The 2nd place 4x800 relay team: Brenden Heitzig, Jude Toft, Luke Jones and Ben Crombie. Photo by Kim Heitzig

The team of Ben Crombie, Luke Jones, Jude Toft and Brenden Heitzig ran their best time of 7:54.94 and they earned the silver medal in the 4x800 relay race. Chicago Payton won first place with a time of 7:53.59. Bethalto Civic Memorial finished in third place with a time of 7:57.54.

In addition, several LCHS athletes competed in the Prelims on Friday but did not make it to Saturday’s finals. There were also runners that went along to serve as alternates.

The 4x200 relay team, featuring Brady Crane, Ki’on Carson, Ethan Dehner and Kani Carson, finished in 20th place on Friday with a time of 1:31.17. The splits were not available for this race.

The 4x400 relay team, featuring Brady Crane, Eli Boyd, Ben Crombie and Jude Toft, finished in 30th place in the Prelims with a time of 3:36.0. The splits for that race were: Crane :52, Boyd :57, Crombie :51 and Toft :56.

The 4x800 relay team made qualifying for Saturday’s final a little too close for comfort during Friday’s Prelims. The team of Ben Crombie, Luke Jones, Brenden Heitzig and Jude Toft ran the race in 8:11.99, which was a 7th place finish. Those splits were: Crombie 2:03.2, Jones 2:04.2, Heitzig 2:00.6 and Toft 2:03.9.

Kani Carson also ran the 200m Prelims in a time of 22.65 on Friday. He finished in 23rd place in a field really full of lightning fast competition.

Railsplitters Track and Field head coach, Jenna Crombie, was obviously very proud of her team’s showing in Charleston.

“Friday’s preliminary experience was a really good one for our team,” said Crombie. “Of our 12 runners and alternates, only two had actually competed at IHSA state before so there were some nerves. The 4x800 ran first and qualified in the middle of the pack, running a smart race. We didn’t need to win our heat but just run a qualifying time, allowing us to preserve some energy for the next day.”

Hence, the big difference in the times between Friday (8:11.99) and Saturday (7:54.94), making some fans in the stands at O’Brien Field a little nervous.

“The 4x200 had a good shot to get to the finals in a very strong field, but came up short,” said Crombie. “Coach Silkowski did a great job with these four guys this season, working on handoffs and perfecting their chemistry. Senior Brady Crane, Junior Ki’on Carson, Senior Ethan Dehner and Junior Kani Carson set school records this season in both the 4x100 and 4x200 relays. And it’s definitely been a while since a 4x200 relay from Lincoln made it to state.”

Individually, Kani Carson represented Lincoln in the 200m and that was one heavily talented group of elite athletes taking the track for this race. Carson is lightning fast on the football field and on the basketball court at LCHS, but he came up short on Friday and will definitely have his eye on improving his time for next year.

“When Kani qualified for the state meet in the 200 we were all so excited,” said Crombie. “Our sectional was very fast and he finished in 6th with a time of 22.25 to qualify for state. In the Prelims at state, he finished 23rd overall. Kani showed so much growth this season, we are very excited for his senior year.”

With the Lincoln Railsplitters Track and Field team really showing significant improvement over the last several years, they also put together a 4x400 relay team that was aiming for a shot on Saturday. They fell short on Friday but with the amount of talent overall on the team, it’s a good bet Lincoln will return in this race next year. The 4x400 team, featuring Brady Crane, Eli Boyd, Ben Crombie and Jude Toft, ran in the Prelims and finished in 30th place.

The Railsplitters Track and Field Team
Front Row: Elijah Crawford, Garrett Lacefield, Zain Hubrich, Ethan Dehner and Kani Carson.
Back Row: Assistant Coach Matt Silkowski, Ben Crombie, Eli Boyd, Brenden Heitzig, Brady Crane, Ki’on Carson, Luke Jones, Jude Toft and Head Coach Jenna Crombie.

“We tried a lot of combinations in the 4x400 throughout the season,” said Crombie. “Brady Crane became a very solid first leg for us. He was always steady and consistent out of the blocks and had a huge improvement on his 400 split, cutting about 8 seconds throughout the season. He ran a 52 second split in each race the last few weeks of the season. Junior Ben Crombie was a staple in the 4x400, running consistent 51 splits. Jude Toft, Luke Jones and Sophomore Eli Boyd all shared time in the 4x400 this season, each dropping their PR by over three seconds.”

Finally, Crombie described Saturday’s 4x800 race so perfectly, it’s almost as if the readers are running right along with the athletes.

“The 4x800 team was locked in on the final day,” began Crombie. “These boys had their game plan and were ready to execute. Having been part of last year’s championship 4x800 team (Jude Toft and Brenden Heitzig as runners and Luke Jones and Ben Crombie as alternates) they knew victory was possible. The plan was for Ben to take it out in the lead, Luke to hold that lead, Jude to make up any ground if necessary and Brenden to hang on!”

“Ben ran a really smart leg, avoided getting boxed in and took the lead at 550 meters,” continued Crombie. “As a runner tried to pass him he got bumped into the rail and twisted his ankle a bit at the 600 meter mark which took him out of his rhythm but he still handed off to Luke in a close fourth with a split of 2:01. Luke then got pushed off the track by a finishing first leg runner and had to regain his balance before starting his leg. Luke kept a cool head and ran a really solid leg of 2:02.7 to hand off to Jude in 6th place just four seconds back from the leader, Chicago Payton. Jude ran like a man on a mission, picking runners off one by one and taking us from 6th place to 1st place in a smoking 1:55.1 split. Brenden took on the tough anchor role as our lone senior and battled against an excellent Chicago Payton runner. Even with a great 1:56 spit, we ended second. But we ran a season best 7:54.9, hard to be mad about that and a silver medal!”

Awesome run, guys!!

It’s appropriate now to close with some words about Brenden Heitzig. The senior is headed to run for Mizzou in the fall and he will undoubtedly do great things in Columbia, Missouri and throughout the Southeastern Conference. This past track season Heitzig was recovering from knee surgery that he had just had in January. While maybe he did not have the senior season he dreamed about, he had one that all athletes dream about. He competed on the last day of the season and stood on the podium with teammates at the IHSA Class 2A Boys State Track and Field Championships at O’Brien Field. He took home a silver medal, or as his younger sister, Becca, says, “A necklace.”

Jenna Crombie, who was in her first year as the head coach of the track and field team, wanted to offer some final words about Heitzig.

“Brenden had knee surgery in between his senior cross country and track seasons,” said Crombie. “At times, we didn’t know if he’d even be back on the track this spring. But he worked hard, found other ways to lead the team and pushed through a lot of adversity. Brenden will be missed by his coaches and peers and we can’t wait to see him shine on the college stage.”

Congratulations to the Railsplitters on a spectacular season!

Coaching staff:

Jenna Crombie, head coach
Matt Silkowski, assistant coach

Athletes:

Elijah Crawford
Garrett Lacefield
Zain Hubrich
Ethan Dehner
Kani Carson
Ben Crombie
Eli Boyd
Brenden Heitzig
Brady Crane
Ki’on Carson
Luke Jones
Jude Toft

[Teena Lowery]