A.J. Montoya took 27th in discus at the 3A IHSA State Track & Field meet last season as a sophomore. The junor is primed to fill a void left by the graduation of Alex Sohn, Community’s throws school record holder. Photo Courtesy: Mr. Jeff Christopherson

The boys track & field team placed 10th at last season’s 3A IHSA State meet, Community’s best finish since 2010’s three-way tie for eighth place, without scoring a single point on the track. 

And while the Iron sent two relays and six individuals to compete at Eastern Illinois University, points came solely from podium finishes in field events. 

Alex Sohn placed second in shot put (18.47m) and third in discus (51.72m), while Chris Taylor took second in the high jump (2.04m). 

But last year’s state scorers are no longer on the Ironmen’s roster: Sohn, the school’s throws record holder, is competing for DI University of Illinois’s track program while Taylor is playing football for the Illinois State Redbirds.

But after a season of successes, which included the team’s first Intercity title in over a decade, head coach Mr. Bryan Thomas doesn’t see the team taking a step back but bounding forward. 

Returning State Qualifiers  

The underclassmen 3200-meter relay team–Joey Yaros, Drew Patterson, Nate Witzig and A.J. Ince–returns intact after last season’s State showing, qualifying to race on Eastern Illinois’s blue track after posting a Sectionals time just six seconds off the school record. 

Yaros has yet to race in the 3200-meter relay this indoor season. The sophomore is recovering from a collarbone injury he suffered in a January skiing incident.    

Junior Caden Nyman, last season’s State alternate, and sophomore Colin Heath boast competitive 800 splits and could fill the void while Yaros is on the mend. 

The team of Witzig, Juan Rojas, Ethan Fisher and Andrew Eisfelder are all returning after their State qualifying Sectional run of 3:27.76 in the 1600-meter in 2023.

Sophomore Dane Whitaker also returns for the Iron after finishing 21st in the state 100-meter race last season. Notably, Whitaker was the only freshman to toe the line in 3A in the event.

Whitaker is also a threat in the 200-meter, taking sixth in Sectionals in the sprint, falling short of the state-qualifying standard by two-tenths of a second. 

While Whitaker’s “main goal,” he said, is to “make State in the 100 or 200,” he believes the Ironmen can qualify a sprint relay for the state’s largest stage.

“Hopefully, we can have a team make State in a relay,” Whitaker said. “I want to take some people [to] State that haven’t been there, so they can have the opportunity to show their skills.”  

Junior A.J. Montoya is ready to show off his throwing skills for Community again this season after his throw of 38.73 meters placed him 27th in the State meet last year.  

Last season at Sectionals, Montoya threw a personal record of 14.32 meters in shot put. While the mark was 1.25 meters shy of State qualifying, Coach Thomas expects the junior to compete in both throws in Charleston.  

Losses and Additions

In addition to the losses of Taylor and Sohn, the Iron are without Zion Russell this season. The horizontal jumper transferred to West ahead of his senior season, where he looks to be a consistent points scorer in the triple and long jumps for the Wildcats.

Jacob Weeks joins Russell across town, bolstering West’s short sprints and jumps. 

Kayden Hardeman will look to fill those voids in the horizontal jumps.  

Hardeman first long jump competition, the Trinity football commit jumped 20 feet 4 inches, good for 11th place at the First To The Finish Charger Invite.

Hardeman’s mark fell 20 inches shy of the State qualifying point, but Thomas is confident that with coaching and more practice with the technique, Hardeman will be a State contender. 

Brody Roberts traded in his baseball uniform for track spikes this season; the junior looks to add strength to the team’s sprint relays.

Mar’Quan Gary is also wearing a track singlet for the first time. The junior football standout will compete in the sprints this season. In his first high school competition on Feb. 24, Gary edged out Whitaker in the 60 meter by one-hundredth of a second, with a time of 7.20 seconds.

Athletes to Watch 

With a roster that boasts 102 athletes, the Ironmen team’s talent is deep, and Thomas believes as the Iron head into the heart of the season, it will only continue to develop. 

Thomas expects Whitaker to post a strong sophomore season, something attributed to the sprinter’s training.

“I don’t think I’ve ever trained this hard—or worked this hard—in my life,” Whitaker said, as he has added technique-work and weight training to his training regiment this season. 

Thomas expects Cameron Rask to have a breakout season this year in the sprints. 

At the season’s first indoor meet, the Coach Basting Invitational, Rask was part of a winning 800-meter relay lineup, including Roberts, Whitaker and Michael Mavec, that clocked in at 1:35.47. 

Those times will only improve as the season progresses, Thomas said. 

Sophomore Michael Mavec, in addition to sprints and short relays, will look to be a points-scorer in the hurdles for the Iron, Thomas said. 

Mavec will have competition in Kamden Reynolds.

Reynolds, a senior, will compete in the 110 and 300-meter hurdles, looking to best his personal record, a record just 1.92 seconds short of Community’s school record. 

Andrew Eisfelder, who anchored Community’s Intercity title-winning 1600-meter relay last season, can be a consistent contributor his senior season in the short and middle-distance races– if he can stay injury-free. 

In previous seasons, Eisfelder has been limited in competition by a nagging hamstring injury.

Eisfelder, Thomas said, along with the team’s other veterans, play a key role even when they are off the track: mentoring the underclassmen. 

Underclassmen like Ethan (E.J.) Fisher. As a freshman, Fisher ran the third leg of the team’s 1600-meter relay in the State Prelims.

Fisher, Thomas said, is an underclassmen who will be competing for a spot in varsity competitions — something that will push him, and his teammates, to peak performances.   

Fisher is eyeing a spot again in the 4×400; his teammates are looking to keep theirs. This past weekend, the quartet of Nate Witzig, AJ Ince, Caden Nyman and Drew Patterson posted a 3:35.32 finish in the event at the First To The Finish Charger Invite. 

Distance Darkhorse?

Training alongside the State qualifying 4×800 squad is Illinois Wesleyan commit Jack Thomas. 

The senior has shown steady improvement over the 1600 and 3200-meter distances over his career. His training consistency and experience are key factors that could give Thomas an outside chance to qualify for State in the 3200. 

Must See Meets

The boys will take to the track on March 12 in the Big 12 Indoor Conference meet, looking to improve on last year’s third-place finish.

Cirlce Intercity, April 23, on the calendar as the annual meet, Thomas said, is primed to be exciting. 

When Community returns to Bloomington High School, the Iron will look to defend last season’s Intercity Title, their first in a decade. 

“That’s where we’re probably [be] running our best,” Thomas said. 

Come April, Thomas said, “you know exactly who you have in your program and who is going to be running what leg of your relays.” 

That is a challenge the coach must conquer with the talented roster and only so many races for those athletes to run in.

The boys cap their indoor competitive season at the University of Illinois’s 54-team Gene Armor Invitational on March 16. The team opens the outdoor season on April 2 in a tri-meet against Bloomington and host Pontiac.