At York High School in Elmhurst, Illinois. Joe Newton is the founder of the Meet.
T. "IPI Track Meet Is Back After Two-Year Absence."
Chicago Sun-Times. 1996. Retrieved November 16, 2009 from HighBeam Research:
http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1P2-4329937.html It's back.
That is the theme of the 23rd International Prep Track and Field
Invitational, which will resume after a two-year hiatus on June 8 at
York High School in Elmhurst.
The meet that Olympic gold-medal winner Harvey Glance once said
was "the best track meet of all, even better than the Olympics," will
attract some of the best male and female athletes from around the
world, including Norway, Canada, Jamaica, Ireland, England and Puerto
Rico.
York coach Joe Newton, the meet's founder, wasn't able to attend
Thursday's news conference that signaled the return of the event that
once showcased Olympic medalists Carl Lewis, Greg Foster, Renaldo
Nehemiah, Dwight Stones and 51 members of the 1988 U.S. Olympic team.
Newton left earlier Thursday with his 20-member squad for the
Class AA meet in Charleston. Norwegian-born Marius Bakken, York's
oustanding runner in the 800, 1,600 and 3,200 is among the athletes
scheduled to participate in the International Prep Invitational.
The IPI has come a long way since Newton founded the event in
1969. York athletic director Al Janulis recalls knocking on doors
in Evanston to attempt to raise funds and stir up interest when the
meet was conducted at Northwestern in 1975.
Three months ago, Newton approached 1960 York graduate Lee
Daniels, speaker of the Illinois House of Representatives, and asked
for support in an attempt to get the meet started again. It closed
two years ago after Keebler dropped its sponsorship.
Daniels and Elmhurst Mayor Tom Marcucci pledged their support.
And Newton was able to secure sponsorship from McDonald's, Quaker
Oats, Walgreen's, Gatorade, American Airlines, United Airlines and
Nike, thus assuring a promising future for the event.
McDonald's showed its support by chauffeuring one of its leading
spokespersons, two-time Olympic gold medalist Jackie Joyner-Kersee,
to the press conference. Her favorite McDonald's sandwich? Double
cheeseburger with extra mustard.
"I never competed in the meet," she said. "Maybe I wasn't good
enough at that time.
"But it is important for kids to have dreams and goals. And it
is important to have support to make be become a reality.
"Kids should continue to set realistic goals. You're not a
failure if you don't achieve it. But you must keep surrounding
yourself with positive people."
M. "Keebler Meet's Future Hinges on New Money." Chicago Sun-Times. 1993. Retrieved November 16, 2009 from HighBeam Research: http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1P2-4200828.html
The Keebler International Prep Track and Field Invitational, the
high school track meet that provided a sneak preview of future
Olympic gold medalists Carl Lewis, Harvey Glance, Calvin Smith and
Mike Conley, is near death after the Elmhurst-based Keebler Co.
withdrew its sponsorship.
The move was not totally unexpected, especially after longtime
supporter Thomas Garvin was replaced as president of Keebler Co.
this year. Now meet director Joe Newton, the cross-country and track
coach at York who founded the event as the Midwest Meet of Champions
in 1969, is scrambling for a sponsor to keep the meet alive.
"I'm heartbroken," Newton said.
"That's 22 years of my life - the blood, sweat and tears and
all the guys that made it go and it's down the drain.
"It's the greatest high school track meet in the world and now
it's gone.
"I have no hard feelings toward Keebler. They put their sweat
into it and they decided they can't continue.
"That's life. We're looking for a sponsor. We need help."
Keebler's sponsorship, which began in 1979 and currently has
been around $400,000 a year, helped turn the event into the premier
high school track meet in the country.
In recent years it has brought in athletes from the former
Soviet Union, England, Kenya and Cuba and numerous future U.S.
Olympians.
"Of the 72 guys on the '88 Olympic (U.S. track and field) team,
52 got their start in the Keebler," said Newton, who was a manager
for the U.S. team in that Olympiad.
But in "the ongoing difficult business environment . . . we
simply can't continue to support" the meet, according to Brian
Chadbourne, president and chief executive officer of Keebler.
Now Newton is hoping a new sponsor will pick up the meet, but
time is short.
"Our big problem is if we don't have a sponsor by Dec. 1 the
(host) hotel will cancel all our rooms," Newton said. "We've only
got two weeks."
M. "Keebler Survives For '93 // But Future Still in Doubt."
Chicago Sun-Times. 1993. Retrieved November 16, 2009 from HighBeam Research:
http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1P2-4165684.html When Keebler Co. president and chief executive officer Tom Garvin
resigned in January, the fate of the Keebler International Prep Track
and Field Meet - considered by many the nation's top high school
track meet - was in doubt.
But the meet, which has drawn athletes from England, Ireland,
the former Soviet Union and Cuba in recent years, is on for this
year, although future Keebler meets "will be up for review after this
year," according to Keebler invitations chairman Neal Robinson, who
coordinates the meet.
"I have no inkling one way or another" whether there will be
Keebler track meets after this year, Robinson said. "But I would
think the event wouldn't die anyway."
This year's meet is scheduled June 19 at York High School.
Continuing the growing international presence of recent years, former
Cuban superstar Alberto Juantorena will be the honorary chairman.
Juantorena, one of the greatest track athletes in Olympics history,
is the only athlete to win the 400- and 800-meter runs in the same
Olympics (1976 in Munich).
Eight high school athletes from Cuba will participate in this
year's event.
This will be the 22nd year of the event. Conceived by York
track and cross-country coach Joe Newton, it began as the Golden
Midwest meet in 1969. It became the International Prep Invitational
in 1972. Keebler's sponsorship, which began in 1979, has allowed the
meet to attract top international high school track and field
athletes.
More than 30 Olympic medal winners have participated in the
event, including Carl Lewis, Harvey Glance, Dwight Stones, Renaldo
Nehemiah, Greg Foster, Calvin Smith, Michael Carter and Sam Graddy.
Illinois has not produced a Keebler champion since 1990, when
Schaumburg's Kevin Hedenberg won the men's mile and Wheaton North's
Kim Sherman won the women's 800. Candidates to participate in this
year's meet include Thornwood's Reggie Torian, St. Rita's Tony
Simmons and Stevenson's Pat Joyce.
In other track news, Simmons continued to set the early pace in
the sprints by winning the 100 (10.7) and 200 (22.0) at the Argo
Invitational last weekend. He won the 55 and 200 at the Illinois
Prep Top Times Indoor Classic the previous week.
Last year Simmons was in the shadow of Proviso West state
champion Kerwin Badie and finished second in the 200 (21.68) and
third in the 100 (10.56).
"I was kind of scared last year," Simmons said. "It was my
first time Downstate. I was running in (Badie's) shadow. . . . I
know I can win it (the state meet) without being in his shadow. I
want to be No. 1."
D. "Keebler meet is running in style."
Chicago Sun-Times. 1986. Retrieved November 16, 2009 from HighBeam Research:
http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1P2-3771688.html They're coming from near and far to compete in tomorrow's
Keebler International track and field Invitational at York High.
Near: Dave Braun of York will run in the 3,000-meter
steeplechase.
Far: Triple jumper Larry Kahn-Smith of Ewa Beach, Hawaii, and
miler Mike Kramer of Fairbanks, Alaska.
And, don't forget Norwegian exchange student Frederick Osther of
Wood River, Ore., who will throw the javelin.
The reason they're coming is the Keebler Co.'s commitment to the
meet, including airfare, lodging and meals for all competitors.
York coach Joe Newton, who is credited with nurturing the meet
in its lean years, marvels at the upgrading of the event.
"When we started we had a $300 budget and the athletes stayed at
Elmhurst College without sheets," Newton said. "Now it's like an
Olympic Games for high school seniors."
Many of the Keebler entries were winners last weekend at the
Golden West Invitational in Sacramento, Calif.
Harlan Davis, the flash from Metairie, La., won the 100 meters
in 10.53 and the 200 meters in 20.93 and is favored to do the same at
the Keebler.
The 1-2-3 finishers in the Golden West 400-meter hurdles will be
here for the 300-meter intermediates, including winner Mark Phillips
of Seattle.
So will the 1-2-3 finishers in the Golden West 400, led by
Percy Waddle of Colombus, Texas.
Twins Eric and Mark Mastalier of Carmichael, Calif., who were
1-2 in the 3,000 meters out West, are picked to dominate the Keebler
mile, probably the best event of the meet.
Mark has a 4:04.5 mile and Eric has run 4:05.6. John Luft of
Denver has run 4:06, John Holmes of Houston 4:06.1 and Rob Muir of
Ottawa in 4:06.9.
Slowest entry in the field is the 4:13.9 by Kramer, but
invitations director Al Janulis said that's because "the snow only
melted recently up there." Kramer has promised to run a 4:06 in the
Keebler.
Field event winners from the Golden West are James Martin,
Waynersville, N.C., triple jump; Hiawatha Berry, Winder, Ga., discus
and shot put; Kevin Adkins, Garland, Texas, long jump; Steve
Henson, McPherson, Kan., high jump; Pat Manson, Aurora, Colo., pole
vault, and Darrel Roberson, Molalla, Ore., javelin.
Best among the Illinois entries may be Oak Forest's Rich Kolasa,
who won the state Class AA 800 meters and also ran a winning 1:50.33
in the Golden West.
Other state entries: Keith Thomas of Kenwood, one of seven state
champions in the 100; Lance Stewart, Tinley Park, discus; Tom
Pukstys, Stagg, javelin; Mitch McCormick, Leyden, steeplechase; Art
Sargent, East St. Louis Senior, 300 hurdles, and Bob Jelks, Decatur
MacArthur, 200.
The meet, which will benefit the Chicago-Northern Illinois
chapter of the National Multiple Sclerosis Society, begins at 12:30
p.m.
M. "Newton built meet dynasty." Chicago Sun-Times. 1990. Retrieved November 16, 2009 from HighBeam Research: http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1P2-4002873.html
Carl Lewis, Randy Barnes, Stanley Floyd, Willie Banks and Greg
Foster all have something in common. They are former Olympians who
have lost at the Keebler International.
The winners include Lewis, Foster, Renaldo Nehemiah, Calvin
Smith, Mike Conley, Harvey Glance, Michael Carter, Craig Virgin and
Jim Spivey.
Just about any list of former Keebler participants is
impressive. Football players include Carter, Vestee Jackson, Todd
Bell, Randy Cross, James Lofton, Charles White and Ron Brown.
Local athletes include Conley, Foster, Spivey, Gail Olson, Dave
Merrick, Ken Popejoy and Albert Robinson.
Even former NBA player Lonnie Shelton was a Keebler participant
(javelin and discus).
York coach Joe Newton, who founded the meet as the Golden
Midwest in 1969 and was a manager on the 1988 U.S. Olympic team,
counted 51 former Keebler participants among the 72 athletes on the
Olympic team.
"We were at the training camp in Santa Barbara and Gary Kinder
said to me, `You don't remember me, do you?' And I said, `No, I
don't,' " Newton said.
"He said, `I was just a little high school guy in Missouri when
I came to your meet and I thought I was hot stuff. I no-heighted in
the pole vault and was sixth in the javelin. That meet opened my
eyes to what it took to be a world-class athlete. I thought I was
great and I was nothing."'
Other athletes have come out of Keebler anonymity to track and
field greatness.
"When Randy Barnes came to our meet he was fourth in the shot
put," Newton said. "And now he's the world record holder and Silver
medalist in Seoul.
"I remember Harvey Glance won the 100 in 1975 and the next year
he got a gold medal in the Olympics. He always maintained our's was
the finest meet he's ever run in and he's been in the Olympics."
Local athletes who excelled at the Keebler include Foster, who
set a national record in 1976 when he won the 120-yard high hurdles
in :13.2 and Spivey, who set the Keebler record in the mile in 1978
when he won in 4:06.2.
But Newton will never forget the peformance of Virgin when he
won the two-mile in a national record time of 8:41. He won by 16
seconds.
"I'll remember it forever," Newton said. "It was at Prospect and
it was 95 degrees out and he just devoured the field. That was a
magical moment."
Newton considers the Keebler the premier high school track and
field event in the country and its hard to argue.
But it wasn't always like that. Bruce Saamore came up with the
idea in 1967. Newton turned it into a reality in 1969.
"In the old days we had trouble getting people to come," Newton
said. "The Golden West (in California) was the king and we were
nothing. Now they're begging to come here."
Newton readily admits corporate sponsorship has made it happen.
The meet didn't really take off, he said, until the Elmhurst-based
Keebler Co. provided sponsorship in 1980. With corporate
sponsorship, the Keebler is the only high school meet in the country
where the athletes are brought in with all expenses paid.
D. "State produces unlikely winners."
Chicago Sun-Times. 1986. Retrieved November 16, 2009 from HighBeam Research:
http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1P2-3772026.html They don't run the steeplechase or throw the javelin in Illinois
high school track. Never has there been a champion from the state in
these events at the Keebler International meet . . . until yesterday.
Enter Mitch McCormick of Leyden and Tom Pukstys of Stagg. Exit,
McCormick and Pukstys, with Keebler gold medals.
McCormick, who will enroll at Northwestern this fall, made his
first 3,000-meter steeplechase a winning one when he clocked 9:25.3
to take the event dominated the last two years by Canadians.
Pukstys, who will attend Eastern Illinois, threw the javelin
247-4, topping his previous best by about 22 feet.
Their results were as hot as the weather - a humid 91 degrees -
at York High in Elmhurst. Trainers at the 15th annual event said
"about 50 persons" were treated, mostly for heat problems.
McCormick called the steeplechase "different and strange, but
something I've always wanted to try."
"A couple of times I messed up on the hurdles. I was just
praying not to hit my hind leg. I only did my first water jump
Friday."
McCormick took the lead with 2 1/2 laps to go in the eight-lap
event. Passing the leader wasn't part of his strategy. "But I wasn't
going to slow down in order not to pass him, either," McCormick said.
"I thought, `If I die, then I die.' "
McCormick credited York coach and meet director Joe Newton for
helping him make a successful debut. "He helped me over the hurdles
part," said McCormick, who finished fifth in the state meet 3,200
meters and 10th in the 1,600 meters.
"I was terrible in the state meet. This helps a lot," McCormick
said.
Pukstys first became acquainted with the javelin in 1984 when he
visited his brother, Andrew, who was studying medicine in Lithuania.
"There were several world class throwers there and my brother
took up the sport, too. He's been my coach ever since," Pukstys
said.
In his only javelin competition last year, Pukstys threw 208-8
in the TAC Junior meet at York. His best throw in practice had been
225 feet. He worked on the event only three weeks leading up to the
Keebler.
"I'm really much better at the javelin than the discus," said
Pukstys, who was wearing a T-shirt with "The Screamer" printed on the
back. "That name is from my junior year with the discus when I
screamed all the way until it landed. It seemed to help."
Pukstys' big throw was on his third effort, following Darrel
Ro berson of Mollalla, Ore., who fired 242-10. "That got me riled
up," Pukstys said. "But I thought it might be beyond my reach."
The winning throw prompted Pukstys to start thinking about the
1988 Olympic Trials. "I think you need something like 254. But this
just brings me closer to that dream," he said.
Other noteworthy Illinois finishers included Lance Stewart of
Tinley Park, second in the discus (182-4) and Keith Thomas of
Kenwood, fourth in the 200 meters (21.95) and fifth in the 100
(10.75).
R. "Collins Gets 2nd in 200 To save day // York's star Bakken settles for 5th place in 800 meters."
Chicago Sun-Times. 1996. Retrieved November 16, 2009 from HighBeam Research:
http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1P2-4336214.html It was billed as one of the dynamic duels of the meet, but
circumstances conspired to work against Jermar Collins on Saturday.
Collins, the state 400-meter champion from Wheaton-Warrenville
South, was supposed to hook up with Houston's Derick Brew in one of
the top races at the International Prep Invitational at York High
School in Elmhurst.
But things started to go wrong from the outset. First, after
the runners took their marks, nature called for Michael Campbell of
Warwick, R.I., who had to use the toilet.
Then, Collins suffered a false start when his blocks - which
did not have spikes on the bottom - slipped on the wet track.
Collins injured his left hamstring and knee on the false start.
The race took place on the third try, and Collins stormed to the
lead after 200 meters. But Collins' injury took its toll and he
was fifth. Brew won in 46.74 seconds.
"I just cramped," Collins said. "I hadn't been in the blocks in
a week. "But it's no big deal."
Collins thought he was done for the day, but he returned. He
had applied to run in the 200, and since there were two open lanes,
he was called to duty shortly before the race. It turned out well
for Collins, who finished second (21.53) to Roy Bailey of Kingston,
Jamaica, (21.20).
"I wanted to redeem myself," Collins said. "The leg's all
right. I'll be dancing tonight."
York coach Joe Newton, who founded the meet in 1969, probably
felt like dancing as well. The meet had taken a two-year hiatus
after Keebler pulled its corporate sponsorship.
However, when Speaker of the House Lee Daniels (R-Elmhurst)
became involved in April, the meet was resurrected with joint
sponsorships, including McDonald's, United Airlines and American
Airlines.
"It was imperative we put this on this year," Newton said. "We
didn't want to go three years without this meet.
"We had 180 athletes. We usually have 225. But we put this on
in 3 1; 2 weeks where we normally have five months. We had the
talent; we just didn't have the depth."
Newton said the meet will be on for the third Saturday in June
for next year, and Daniels is hoping to get a major commitment from
McDonald's.
York's Marius Bakken, who won state titles in the 1,600 and
3,200, tried the 800 but failed to recapture his form. He made a
move and took the lead after 400 meters, but he ran out of gas at
600 meters and ended up fifth at 1:53.80. Chris Waddle of Yakima,
Wash., won the event in 1:52.37.
"I don't want to make excuses," said Bakken, who's been sick in
recent days. "It was not my day.
"Everyone tries to peak at state, and I peaked perfectly at the
state meet. But today, my actions speak for themselves."
Bakken was supposed to battle Lincoln-Way's Kyle Leonard, who
beat Bakken for the 800 state title. But Leonard struggled to a
10th-place finish in the time of 2:02.08.
Bakken said he felt tired, and he wasn't the only Illinois
athlete who claimed fatigue. Glenbard West's Nell Shields, also a
double state champ in the 3,200 and 1,600, said she felt tired three
weeks after the state meet.
But Shields still ran well enough to finish second
(4:57.75) in the 1,600. And second was all that was left with Kim
Mortenson, of Thousand Oaks, Calif., in the race.
Mortenson, who holds the national 3,200 record of 9:48, wanted
to do something different so she ran the 1,600. As a result,
several other girls who were scheduled to run the 3,200 backed out
and ran the 1,600 to compete against Mortenson.
But Mortenson was in a race by herself as she finished in
4:47.73.
"She was awesome," Shields said. "I just couldn't catch up."
The Illinois winners included: Travis Specer-Coye of Arlington,
14-6 in the pole vault; Decatur's Deanna Simmons, 40-10 1; 2 in the
triple jump, and Herscher's Erin Anderson, 5-9 in the high jump.