Shenault’s rapid rise gives Lake Park added dimension
Antonio Shenault had tunnel vision when he arrived at Lake Park.
“I had a very closed mind at the beginning of freshman year,” the sophomore said, thinking, ‘‘ ‘ I’m just a sprinter. I won’t do anything else.’ ’’
Flash forward a year, and Shenault was open to the idea of branching out. So now he’s a hurdler, and one of the best in the state.
He won an indoor state title last month and on Saturday swept the hurdles at Glenbard West’s Jim Arnold Invitational, continuing a remarkable run that has surprised himself and his teammates.
“It’s ridiculous,” senior jumper Shawn Koch said of Shenault’s rapid rise. “Antonio is a gift. He’s unexpected. He just came into this thing, started hurdling and won indoor state in the next couple weeks.”
Shenault’s emergence means the Lancers, who won the Arnold title 128-99 over Wheaton North, will have some more options when they set their postseason lineup ahead of their bid for a fourth consecutive state title.
Multi-event standout Scott Filip, who qualified first in the 110 hurdles Saturday and finished second to Shenault in the final, may now wind up with a different menu of state events ranging from the jumps to the sprints to the 400 relay.
One thing is obvious: Shenault, who ran a personal-best 14.50 in the 110s and 40.25 in the 300s is locked into the hurdles for the foreseeable future. And he’s in them to win state, an idea that doesn’t seem as far-fetched as it did when he ran “a really bad time” in his hurdles debut indoors at Oak Park-River Forest.
On Saturday, he dropped more than a half-second off his previous best in the 110s and was .18 off his fastest time in the 300s.
Koch also had a good day, winning the triple jump in a season- best 48 feet, 5 inches that also is the best outdoor effort in the state this season. He and teammate Marcus Jegede, who was second at 47-4, both scratched on jumps measured at 49-2 or better.
“I feel like with more practice and more time in this nice weather, we’ll see some 50-foots by me and Marcus,” Koch said.
Showing its usual balance, Lake Park also got firsts from pole vaulter Tim Ehrhardt (16-0), high jumper Derrick Smith (6-6) and shot putter Curtwan Evans (52-11), along with a win in the 3,200 relay.
There were two more state season-bests on one of the first decent weather days of the season. Wheaton North’s Alex Ryan won the 800 in 1:56.00 and the Falcons’ 800 relay team of Marcus Charles, Steven Connor, Zach Gordon and Nehemiah Heckler took first in 1:28.54.
Gordon also won the 200 (22.01 final, 21.93 prelim) and needed just one attempt to take first in the long jump (23-3).