Senior Kaden Garland became the first Oak Park and River Forest High School boys track and field state champion in shot put since 1947. Junior Caleb Schulz captured the first 100-meter dash championship since the 100-yard dash in 1947. Junior Kwabena “Geegee” Osei-Yeboah achieved the first long jump state title since 1924.
By the end of the Class 3A state meet at Eastern Illinois University, the Huskies’ 121-year program history all came down to 1987. That was the last time the Huskies won the team state title.
Until Saturday.
“Finally!” exclaimed OPRF head coach Tim Hasso repeatedly after the Huskies’ 49 points shared the 3A state championship with Edwardsville.
Grayslake Central was third with 46.
“Nobody has an unscathed state meet. Then you just hope good things happen,” Hasso said. “For a great group of kids who work hard all of the time and believe in our vision, they came out on top and deserve this.”
“All four years, aiming for this moment, just feels amazing,” said the USC-bound Garland, an all-state fifth in discus. “We didn’t do as well [in Friday’s preliminaries] but we fulfilled it by doing everything with everybody who made [finals].”
Garland (20.05 meters/65 feet-9 1/2 inches in shot) and Schulz (100 in 10.58 seconds) won state titles while improving their school records. Osei-Yeboah, (7.19m/23-7 1/4) just missed his 23-9 school record from May 9.
The Huskies added five more top-nine, all-state performances with contributions from seniors Santiago Valle and Kevin McGovern, juniors Lukas Brauc and Kahrmelo Weaver, and sophomore Kingston Petersen.
“It’s fantastic. This team knew what we could do. We just had to put it out there this meet and we did it,” Osei-Yeboah said.
Schulz is just the second OPRF athlete to earn the maximum four all-state medals in one state meet.
“It’s very interesting because the emotions haven’t hit yet,” Schulz said. “I knew I’d have a ton of events, but I just had to push, really just push for it.”
The Huskies have 18 team state titles. Since 1987, they earned third-place trophies in 2012 and 2019.
Hasso became head coach in 2005. This season’s assistant and volunteer coaches are Keven Allen, Chris Baldwin, Tim Bannon, Ty Garland (Kaden’s father), Alex Hasapis, Harold Leonard Sr., Abel Reyes, Kirsten Weismantle, Garrett Davis, Koren Leonard, Angelo Madison and Kevin Word.
“Our coaching staff is why we’re so awesome and it isn’t me,” Hasso said. “They care about the kids and they’re really good at what they do. These people take the time from their families to give to ours.”
The Huskies lost the coin flip with Edwardsville to leave Charleston with the lone first-place trophy. They removed the panel of the Runner-Up trophy for photos and Sunday’s graduation.
“What a great weekend, right?” Hasso said.
In shot prelims, Garland’s first two throws of 64-4 1/2 and 65-9 1/2 would have won.
The second achieved another goal, finally surpassing the 65-7 best of his father when Ty starred for Matawan Regional High School in New Jersey.
“I knew I had something big in me. I didn’t know it was going to be in the 20s. It means a lot,” Garland said. “I feel like the competition makes me do a lot better.”
Seventh in the 100 last year (11.02), Schulz won Saturday by .06 and beat his second-seeded 10.62 Friday, .02 from his 2023 school record.
“I knew I just had to get out and go,” Schulz said. “I think I was last out of the blocks but the top end speed came in with the win.”
Osei-Yeboah, fifth at state last year (22-1), had the winning and second-longest jump (23-4 3/4 Saturday). He beat two jumpers who surpassed 24 feet this season.
“I still had confidence. I still had faith. I said, ‘I’m the underdog here.’ So I went out there and showed what I can do,” said Osei-Yeboah, also 44th in triple jump (11.20m/36-9).
“There’s no way I could win a state title without the team I have, the support I have. Just the energy we brought was unbelievable. We’ve never been this loud. And this is just a quarter of the team.”
Garland was fifth in shot last year and fifth in discus as a sophomore. In discus prelims, Garland’s 176-7 placed him fourth. Despite another school-record 179-10 on Saturday’s final throw, Garland was passed by a 180-7.
“I wish we could have gotten that one more team point, but it’s still a win,” Garland said.
Schulz (200 in 21.67), the 4 x 100 (Weaver, Valle, Osei-Yeboah, Schulz in 42.21) and the 4 x 200 (McGovern, Valle, Petersen, Schulz in 1:27.88) were sixth. Brauc (4.60m/15-1 in pole vault) was eighth.
While Schultz took sixth in the 200, the Tigers’ finalists were second and fifth, tying the teams at 49 for good. Neither team qualified for the 4 x 400, the final event. OPRF sophomore Brian Carter Jackson, Valle, Brauc and junior Connor Schupp were 10th Friday (3:22.12), .39 from the nine-team finals.
Grayslake Central, however, could have won by winning the 4 x 400. The Rams were fourth after being second with 200 meters left.
The title is a fitting reward for the Huskies, who have 16 sectional titles since 2004 and currently seven straight outdoor titles in the West Suburban Conference Silver Division, arguably the state’s strongest conference.
The 2023 Huskies were seventh (32 points) with seven all-state performances but only one higher than fifth.
“I never felt the pressure, but I always wanted to win a state title for the kids. With that, there is some pressure,” Hasso said.
“I felt like last year we peaked in April. We had some intelligent and intentional moves [this season]. We ran our best times at conference, sectionals and state.”
Other state entries were junior Liam O’Connor (14th in 3,200, 9:16.32), Valle (17th in 100, 10.87), senior Michael Michelotti (21st in 1,600, 4:20.81), freshman Cameren January (22nd in high jump, 1.85/6-0 3/4), the 4 x 800 of seniors Mariano Escobedo, Lewis O’Connor, Daniel Johnson and Michelotti (23rd in 8:03.20), Carter Jackson (25th in 400, 50.91), senior Khalil Nichols (33rd in 110 high hurdles, 15.55), sophomore Jonathan Sibley-Diggs (33rd in shot, 14.41m/47-3 1/2), sophomore Riley Jackson (36th in triple jump, 12.72m/41-8 3/4), Schupp (39th in 800, 2:02.06) and junior Tristan Kidd (tied for 28th in pole vault, no height).
Fenwick boys track
Sophomore Aiden Williams became Fenwick’s first all-stater in the 300 intermediate hurdles by taking sixth in 2A with a school-record 39.86 after a pervious-best 40.06 in prelims.
“I’ve been training since the summer. I’ve been ready, just waiting for this day,” Williams said.
The Friars’ other state competitors were sophomore Matt Simon (19th in 400, 51.12) and seniors Nathaniel McKillop (26th in 3,200, 10:02.54) and Dean O’Bryan (30th in 1,600, 4:36.38). Senior high jumper Avion Brown scratched.
