Knights' Grinstead Takes Double Gold

Richwoods' Katie Grinstead struck double gold at the Prairie State Games with wins in the 3000 m. and in the 1500 m. thereby qualifying her to compete in the 2005 State Games of America in Colorado Springs, Colorado. The SGA are held biannually.

Peoria Area Scores at National Championships

June 26, 2005

Tim Broe 3-Peats as 5K National Champion

East Peoria native Tim Broe won his third consecutive national championship at 5,000 meters. Broe continued his dominance at the distance, winning in a personal-best 13 minutes, 12.76 seconds. That was plenty to best fellow adidas runner Ian Dobson's 13:15.33.
"I'm still an underdog in a lot of people's eyes," Broe said. "That motivates me. Maybe three in a row will prove to everyone that I'm the top 5,000 runner in the U.S."
Ryan Hall was third, Wheeling native Jorge Torres was fourth, and Jonathan Riley, who joined Broe in the 2004 Summer Olympics in Athens, Greece, finished fifth.
Broe ran from the front for the first five laps, then let others take turns pushing the faster-than-expected pace. With 800 meters to go, Broe, Dobson and Hall had formed a lead pack. Broe made his move and had the race in control with 400 left.
Injuries hindered Broe's conditioning heading into the national meet in recent years. Now the former steeplechaser feels strong as he shoots for a top-eight finish at the 2005 IAAF World Championships Aug. 6-14 in Helsinki, Finland.
"It's really starting to come together," Broe said. "This is the first time since 2001 that I've come in here knowing I'd done everything I could and was really prepared."
While Broe accomplished something familiar, IVC's Zach Glavash (right) basked in newfound glory. "I'm just really happy," Glavash said. "This is icing on the cake."
Glavash followed his sophomore season at Illinois by running 1:48.69 to finish fifth in a heat won by Khadevis Robinson in 1:47.53. Glavash's time was faster than all four qualifiers from the second heat, won by Jebreh Harris in 1:48.89.
"The second heat is usually faster, but from what (Illinois coach Wayne Angel) told me - and I should listen to him because he's always right - is that I could do it. And he made me believe."
Glavash, 21, is making his first appearance at a USA Outdoors.
"I'm by far the youngest guy here, so it's an experience I'll never forget," he said. "These are great guys and I'm learning a lot from them."
Glavash was not quite able to match his carrer best in the finals on Sunday. Running a time of 1:49.64 allowed Glavash to grab a 7th place finish in the National Championship. The winning time on the finish board belonged to Robinson at 1:45.27.
In women's 1500-meter action, Normal West alum and Arkansas All-American Christin Wurth (left) running for Nike was joined by East Peoria grad and Reebok sponsored Jenelle Deatherage (right), an All-American in her own right at Wisconsin, in the 1st preliminary heat as each of the central Illinoisans race earned a spot in the finals.
Wurth's time of 4:14.14 placed her second in her heat closely followed by Deatherage's 4th place heat finish at 4:14.74. The heat winner was Treniere Clement at 4:13.95. Wurth was 4th and Deatherage 7th in overall results of the opening round.
Despite substantial time improvement by both Wurth and Deatherage in Saturday's finals, neither was able to claim a top three spot which would provisionally qualify for the August World Championships. Wurth ran a strong 4:08.80 to claim 6th place and Deatherage's 4:11.02 placed her 8th. The race was won by Clement in 4:06.73, the best American time of the year.
Complete Results of 2005 National Championships

Big Numbers

June 22, 2005

Knights Went Big Game Hunting

An analysis of the competition shown in the linked chart, demonstrates that opponents whom the Knights faced during the 2005 season fully supports what the coaching staff has long told the team - they will "go and run with the 'Big Dogs'" at every opportunity. During the regular season the Knights faced the top 4 state finishing teams and an amazing 9 of the top 13 teams - numbers 1, 2, 3, 4, 9, 10, 10, 12 and 12.

Richwoods Awards Announced

On the strength of 2 state championship medals, 3rd in Discus and 9th in Shotput, Richwoods Junior throws specialist Jewel Sanders was named as the Most Valuable Participant.

Jewel now holds both Richwoods throwing event record - 145' 10" in the Discus, and 40' 8" in the Shotput. In addition to her State Meet showing, in Discus competition Jewel had the best throw at the Palatine Relays, the Rock Island Invitational, and the North Central Invitational, as well as second place at the Sectional Championship and the Galesburg Invitational. In the Shotput competition, she won the Sectional title and placed third at Rock Island, North Central and Galesburg. Jewel was also the winner of both throwing events in each of the dual meets during the 2005 season.

Brittney Wallace was the recipient of the Kim Field Award. This award is presented to the athlete who best embodies career long dedication, effort, and cooperation which allowed her to have achieved the most from her abilities. It recognizes realistic goal-setting , cooperation with coaches and teammates, daily reliability, personal integrity, and dedication, all of which allowed for personal achievement - although not necessarily winning. It is awarded to the team member who reflects achievement through personal effort and triumph of spirit in her years of women's track at Richwoods and is symbolic of ultimate respect and admiration of her coaches and teammates.

The Adrienne Moos Award was presented to Alesha Guard. This award acknowledges the athlete who through effort, cooperation, and self-sacrifice has been marked as an example of one who places her team before herself. It is a person who has shown herself to be a dedicated, inspirational leader who has accomplished through daily hard work and who is respected by her teammates, her coaches, her opponents, and the faculty at Richwoods.

Knights Sherrick McManis Claims State Long Jump Title

Richwoods Junior claims the IHSA AA Boys Long Jump Crown. Full Story

RHS Performers at PJS Honor Roll

Seniors Brittney Wallace and Shauna Wills were joined by Junior Jewel Sanders and Freshman Katie Grinstead as the only Knights to qualify to compete at the annual Journal Star Honor Roll Meet.
The event marked the career end for Wills, who is the Knights' record holder in the Pole Vault, who finished 8th at Honor Roll in her specialty event, and for Wallace who finished the 300 Hurdles at the meet in 7th position. Wallace ranks number 5 in RHS annals in the 300 Hurdles and 8th in the 100 Hurdles.
Sanders fresh from her previous weekends' double medal winning performances at the State Championships qualified to compete in both throws. The Knights' record holder in both events could muster enough to grab the 2nd place medallion in each of the throws behind Tremont Senior Sam Springer whose 144' 2'" discus throw broke Sanders' previous record of 141' 8" in the meet.
Grinstead made her debut in the Honor Roll Meet with a distance double in the 1600 and 3200 meter runs. The Meet produced quite a smile from Katie as she took home her initial Honor Roll Medallion by finishing 3rd in the 3200. She came back to finish 8th in the 1600.