Brown, Pinnick and McRath Kick-Off Illinois\' Indoor Season

While the official start to the Illinois indoor track and field season is still a few weeks away, a handful of athletes got started early with top performances this past weekend.  Shakeia Pinnick (Waubonsie Valley), Stephanie Brown (Tri-Valley) and Kenderick McRath (Cahokia) were the weekend's top performers.

Illinois T&F Weekend Summary

Arkansas H.S. Invitational (AR)

Arkansas H.S. Inv. Results

  A handful of top Cahokia athletes and Shakeia Pinnick (Jr., Waubonsie Valley) traveled down to the University of Arkansas to take on some of the nation's best this past weekend.  Pinnick finished a strong second in the girl's 400m dash, running 56.35.  Pinnick's fast early season time nearly beat that of race winner Diamond Richardson's (TX) 56.32 mark.  Pinnick's time leaves her ranked top five in the nation, less than half a second off of the top time in the country (55.93)

  Cahokia meanwhile was led by Kenderick McRath (Sr.).  McRath placed third in the triple jump with a leap of 44-06.75, finishing nearly three feet behind Austin Delany's (TX) winning mark of 47-03.75.  McRath also placed second in the high jump with a mark of 6-03, while his teammate Rudy Hayes placed fourth in the high jump in 5-08.

  In the long jump Cahokia was well represented.  Earnest Winters (Sr.) placed eleventh in 20-03 and his teammate Vernon Carter placed eighteenth with a jump of 19-00.75.  Winters also placed well in the 400m dash with a time of 51.06, good enough for tenth overall and placed fifteenth overall in the 60m dash with a time of 7.15.  Perhaps Winters top mark came in the 200m dash in 22.62, good enough for eighth place overall.

Friday Night Special (IL)

Friday Night Special Results

  Stephanie Brown (Jr., Tri-Valley), who has been one of the top prep runners in Illinois for the past three years, ran an impressive triple Friday night at Proviso West High School in Illinois.  Brown ran 4:56.46 in the 1600m run, 2:17.09 in the 800m dash and 59.97 in the 400m dash.  Brown's triple was done over a two-hour period of time.  With the start of the Illinois indoor season yet to start, Brown's Friday night performance is all the more special.