Marion relay places second at 2A state meet

CHARLESTON -- A beautiful thing about track and field is that while your best might not be good enough in other sports, it's always rewarded and remembered in this one.
The 4x800 relay team from Marion High School qualified for the IHSA Class 2A boys state track and field meet with a school-record time at sectionals, then posted the best time of the day in the state preliminaries Friday at O'Brien Stadium.
While they didn't claim the top spot on the awards podium in Saturday's finals, Marion's foursome most certainly did their absolute best. And it was rewarded. And will be remembered.
The Wildcats' relay of Levi Bryant, John Bruce, Tim Surburg and anchor Michael Rutkowski finished second in a time of 7:53.32, which improved their own school record by five seconds.
"We ran an amazing time," said Marion coach Eli Baker. "This is our school's best group of distance runners in the 4x800 and they definitely proved it today."
Bryant and Rutkowski, the team's senior leaders, provided the start and finish. Bryant got the baton to Bruce in good shape and Bruce stayed in contention and gave to Surburg, whose third leg allowed Rutkowski to be near the front pack.
Rutkowski was in about fifth place for a stretch on the first lap but within striking distance. With about 300 meters on the second lap he turned on the jets and passed four runners and was in contention heading down the final stretch.
"I was a little behind but I overdid it and then overcame it," Rutkowski said. "I saw a lot of them moving out on the outside so I just followed them and went with them."
Normal U-High's anchor was out of reach and won in 7:52.17, but Rutkowski held off familiar foes from Mascoutah and Waterloo to claim second.
"Oh man. My team helped me out big," Rutkowski said. "Coming down that straightaway, if I had been just a little behind I would've gotten third. I got second by just an inch or two."
After crossing the line, Rutkowski appeared angry about coming in second. Then he saw the time and place and his mood quickly changed.
"I wanted to get first really bad but for the first year at state to get second and break the school record again?" Rutkowski said. "We're going to hold that record for a long time."
Bryant had no doubt his fellow senior would bring it home. Rutkowski's split time was a ridiculous 1:56.6.
"I knew he was going to kick it," Bryant said. "I trusted that he was going to do the job. We have so much faith and bond in our team as a family. I knew we'd pull it off."
Baker also had no doubt.
"We've seen throughout the season that Michael has the ability to finish a race strong," Baker said. "We want to get out strong with Levi and get the baton around and stay close enough in contact where Michael can close on guys. When he got the baton, I saw where he was at and he's smart enough to know when to attack. You could just see he was going to move at the right time."
Marion's 4x800 relay wasn't the only event to do well Friday nor the only event to win a medal on Saturday.
Stuart Adkinson advanced in the 300-meter hurdles and then placed sixth in the finals with a time of 40.31 seconds. Adkinson is a junior.
Josh Schmid advanced in the discus with a mark of 154-1 that came on his very first throw. That mark moved over to Saturday and ended up placing the sophomore in seventh place for a spot at the podium.
And in the mile run, Rutkowski and Bruce both qualified for the finals and came back and ran three hours after running in the 4x800. Rutkowski placed seventh in 4:23.46 to get a medal, while Bruce placed 10th in 4:26.54 and missed out on the final medal by 0.38 seconds.
In the shot put, Carterville's Jack Currie finished fifth with a mark of 53-1.5 and Herrin's Gage Wells was eighth at 51-6.5. Carterville's Austin Knight placed second in the 800 with a time of 1:54.04.
In the Class 1A meet, Johnston City's Luca Gualdoni advanced to the finals in the long jump but placed 12th at 21-0. Du Quoin sophomore Dasani Edward placed second in the triple jump at 44-4.25.