Batavia Distance Madness- 3/8/24
Cormick Buti
3/9/2024
On Friday March 8th, John Ihrke (Sr) competed at Batavia Distance Madness at Batavia High School. John had qualified in the 800m and was seeded in Heat 1 of 9 (the fast heat). John was placed in the super alley along with two of his other competitors. After the gun went off, John immediately surged to the lead of his alley and once he was able, he cut into the lead of the main pack. John went through the 200 around 27 seconds and after another lap of holding the lead his 400 split was around 56 seconds. John continued to push himself as he remained in the lead through his third lap. After the bell went off announcing his final lap, another runner made a powerful move up to second and it looked like he was coming for John’s position as well. But of course John held him off on the back stretch and around the curve so that once they got to the final stretch John could put the race away, running a second 400m split of around 58. John ran a 1:55.72, which is now the #5 High School time in Illinois and the #99 time in the entire United States. Well done, John!
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