Elmwood-Brimfield wins eighth state title

Photo: Wyatt McIntyre celebrates on his way to the 1A Boys individual championship (Laura Duffy Photo)

By Michael Newman

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Peoria – Wyatt McIntyre of Athens showed in the end that he had the final move.

The IHSA 1A Boys State meet race Saturday at Detweiller Park will go down as one of those races that we will talk about years from now. The three runners going after one title. The lead changing places so many times during the almost 15 minutes they were on the course. Detweiller Park was not in the best condition as rain hit the area hours before the meet started. It did not bother this group.

McIntyre and Logan Hall of Arthur-Lovington led a pack of near 10 runners through a 4;46 opening mile. McIntyre started to push the pace with Hall close to his side. It was the first move of the race. Jack McNabola of Francis Parker followed close behind not wanting to leave the front. The pace of this race was picking up. You could see it in the intensity of the faces of the runners behind them see the race ramped up a level and trying to stay within touch of the front.

Hall, McIntyre, and McNabola had started to gap the rest of the pack by the time they left the back half of the course “the triangle”. Each runner was feeling the other out regarding pace. As they made the turn coming up to the two-mile mark, McNabola made a little move to take the lead. Then Hall passed him back. As the three passed two miles in 9:40, McIntyre made a surge coming up the incline towards the finish. There was one more loop of the course that was needed to be made.

Making the left turn around the tree going behind the starting area, McNabola went in to an all-out sprint defining his mark on this race opening a 10-meter lead. With 800-meters to go, it was Hall’s turn to push the pace as he took the lead. The other two runners were not budging. They knew what was at stake.

In the Patriot Invitational on this course three weeks before state, Hall was the one to make the move at the end pulling away from McIntyre. The tables turned as the three moved through the s-turn on to the final straight away. McIntyre went into an all-out sprint with Hall and McIntyre holding on. It was McNabola who fell back first with 200-meters to go. McIntyre continued to surge up the final hill towards the finish finally created a gap ahead of his future University of Illinois teammate Hall.

McIntyre, in the final 50-meters, looked back five times to see the lead that he had. He crossed the line with his arms in the air. State champion he could proclaim.

“I thought if the first mile went out a little slow, I would have to push the second. Logan (Hall) covered that move and took the lead. I just stayed behind him,” McIntyre said. “I made a move by the finish line, then Jack did. The rest of the way was tactics just waiting for that final 300-meters.”

“Jack made a move with 1200-meters to go, but Wyatt and I worked together to track him back down,” Hall said after the race. “I just wanted to stay with them and not do anything stupid. I knew it was going to come down to the last half-mile. It came down to the final homestretch. I just did not have anything for him.”

McIntyre time of 14:25 was five seconds ahead of Hall who ran 14:30 to finish second. McNabola gave all he had in this race. He finished in third (14:40) collapsing to the ground as he crossed the finish line.

Then the pack came in led by Monticello’s Alec Helmuth in fourth (15:02). Riley Wells of Rockford Christian made one of the big moves of the race. he was close to 20^th place at 2-miles. He ended up finishing fifth

Elmwood-Brimfield starts out every season slow building to be in contention for a state championship every season. That happened again on Saturday as they won their first team title since 2013 and eighth in the program’s history scoring 150 points finishing ahead of Rockford Christian (164 points) and 2016 team champion Harvest Christian Academy (170 points). The Trojans had two all-state runners in the top 25. Cooper Hoffmann led his team by finishing 17^th overall (15:21). Four seconds later came in Trevor Dunkel placing 23^rd. There was a gap of 38 seconds before the rest of the Elmwood pack came in with Luke Hoffmann (60^th), Alex Hermann (66^th), and Jacob Brown (93^rd). The split on their top five was 66 seconds.