11 Triad Boys Competed At The Top Times Meet in Bloomington

By J.W. Campbell, Sportswriter

Eleven Triad boys competed at the Illinois Top Times Meet in Bloomington on Saturday, March 23, including a 4 x 800-meter relay team that garnered a fifth-place medal.

The foursome of Drake Bleier, Jack Hanson, Ben Walter and Luke Perry covered the two-mile distance in a time of 8:23.99, the second best time in the event in Triad history.

“These boys have a chance to run under eight minutes outdoors and we’ll see what happens in May,” Triad Coach Brian Weiss said. “It was electric, having our guys have a chance to win late in the race. We’re hungry to train well and to will our way to the front in another big meet atmosphere.”

The foursome of Jack Hanson, Carson Milligan, Marshall Boeren and Simon Covert also medaled, finishing eighth in the  4 x 400-meter relay. They clocked in at 3:38.93.

In the 4 x 200-meter relay, Triad scored a 10th-place finish with a time of 1:36.68. The team consisted of Josh Edison, Milligan, Covert and Johnnie Caswell.

Running in the 3200-meter race, Triad’s Jarod Willis finished 12th in a time of 10:15.40.

“Jarod got out well with a five minute first 1,600 meters,” Weiss said. “He moved up on runners the second mile to improve his place over what he came in ranked for this event. Jarod has a great shot of running the outdoor state qualifying time of 9:50 in May.”

Edison qualified for the meet  in the 200-meter dash but was disqualified for a lane violation.

“The line violation is one that will be enforced at the outdoor state meet as well; and we will have to be mindful of the fact that IHSA officials are looking for any way to disqualify athletes,” Weis said. “We will have his race ready in eight weeks.”