Six EP Panther track athletes will compete at the IHSA State Finals beginning Thursday morning at Eastern Illinois University in Charleston. The Panthers will compete in three events; pole vault, triple jump, and 4 x 800m Relay.
Senior Parker Holldorf will make his third trip to the state meet in the pole vault. “The last two years I’ve been pretty nervous but this year I have nothing to lose, so I’m going to just keep that mentality and try to do my best.” Holldorf said he had a slow start to his season but just last week attempted to clear his PR height and just missed. He is seeded fourth in the event having cleared a height of 4.12m.
Head Coach, Jonathan Schlagheck said, “Parker has been one of the best vaulters in the state all season and I feel very good about his chances to make the medal stand.” Holldorf will be looking to qualify for the finals on Thursday.
In speaking about junior triple jumper, Caleb Eads the coach said, “He PR’d by quite a bit at sectional and if he can improve on that in the preliminaries he should be able to make it to day two (finals). His effort of 12.79m has him seeded 11th.
The 4 x 800m Relay is made up of a freshman and three juniors who showed a big improvement at the sectional meet last week setting a PR. Freshman, Gus Schultz has been a rising star all season and will run with veteran juniors, Lucas Dreisbach, Wyatt Beck and Charlie Link. The quartet is seeded 15th in a field of 33 teams with an 8:31.50.
Schlagheck said he feels good about his young contingent heading to Charleston and is looking forward to seeing several panthers on the medal podium.
You can see the meet on the NFHS Network.
