Oak Park and River Forest High School senior Liam Newhart returned to the seventh Distance Night in Palatine on April 22 among the boys track elite.
Newhart’s seed time earned a spot in the fastest heat of the boys 1,600-meter run with a who’s who of several top area distance runners.
“It was really cool, looking at the list and then just in person at the start line seeing all of these all-state and great athletes all around me,” Newhart said. “It was one of the most competitive races I’ve been in, especially for track.”
Newhart responded with a personal-best time by roughly four seconds to finish ninth (4 minutes, 16.80 seconds).
Athletes with fast enough personal bests could enter the numerous boys and girls individual races for 800, 1,600 and 3,200 meters at Palatine High School. Official finishing times for one and two miles also were calculated.
Last year, Newhart won Section 2 of 4 (9:32.23) of the boys 3,200, usually his stronger distance. Since then, the University of Wisconsin recruit has improved immensely as evidenced by his second-place IHSA Class 3A finish at the boys cross country state meet last November.
Newhart was coming off a great double at the Minooka Invitational on April 15. He was second in the 3,200 (personal-best 9:14.05) followed by a winning 4:23.81 for the 1,600.
Temperatures were pretty cold April 22 by Newhart’s race time but with little wind.
“I wasn’t feeling super great. The cold didn’t help but the competition pulled me along so it kind of evened out,” Newhart said.
OPRF senior Natalie Quinn was second in Section 4 of 5 for the girls 1,600 in a personal-best 5:09.72, her first time under the 5:11.78 state-qualifying standard.
Quinn also has made great strides her 2022 state berth in the 3,200 (19th, 5:39.23) based on a top-two sectional finish. She recently committed to run at George Washington University.
This was Quinn’s first outdoor meet and first competition since the indoor conference meet March 17, when she ran a then personal-best 5:15.98 for sixth. She’s been resting a strained hip.
“Distance Night is definitely a lot of adrenaline and fast competition,” said Quinn. “I definitely wanted to break 5:10 so I was kind of right there, but I’d love to run sub-5:05 or 5:00 this season, hopefully. We’re getting there.”
Fenwick senior Grayden Rill posted a personal-best 4:20.37 for seventh in the boys 1,600 Section 3 of 4 despite a recent two-week battle with illness.
“I kind of got a little bit of a shock in the first maybe 200. It just went out real quick. But I went with it. I’m glad I did. I’m really proud of how I did,” Rill said.
The 2022 2A all-stater in the 1,600 (8th, 4:26.95) is “all healed up.” He battled a slightly torn MCL in his knee and three weeks of illness that hampered his cross country season.
“Probably the last month and a half of cross country I ran like maybe 20 miles total,” Rill said. “It just feels good to not be having sharp pains in my leg during races.”
In the final section of the boys 3,200, OPRF senior Nick Parrell ran a personal-best 9:22.47 for 11th following a fourth-place 9:28.51 at Minooka. In Section 1 of the girls 3,200, OPRF junior Anne Lynch was sixth in a personal-best 11:54.01, her first sub-12:00.
Also competing were OPRF senior Owen Augustine (9:55.65 in boys 3,200) and juniors Michael Michelotti (4:29.86 in boys 1,600), Daniel Johnson (4:31.92 in boys 1,600), Lewis O’Connor (9:57.39 in boys 3,200) and Lenny Sterritt (5:27.80 in girls 1,600) and Fenwick senior Bella Daley (11:36.10 in girls 3,200).