Coaler coach Collin Keppner has “high hopes” for his track and field athletes as they prepare for the Illinois High School Association Boys Track and Field State Finals this weekend at Eastern Illinois University.
Julian Micetich is making his second consecutive trip to Charleston, and this time he’ll be joined by teammate Parker Jacovec. Both athletes earned their spots at the state meet after advancing from the sectional, with competition set to begin on Friday.
Julian will take to Eastern’s signature blue track to compete in the 110 meter and 300 meter hurdles, while Parker will be in the pits for the long jump.
Parker holds the school long jump record of 21’ 10.25.” The distance beat the previous record set by Asa Cooper in 2019. This season he was named All-Conference and is currently ranked as the number three sophomore in Class 2A for the state.
“Parker is one of those guys who has been battling injury throughout the season so what he is capable of is across the entire spectrum. His last jump in sectionals—which was a scratch—was the new school record,” Keppner said, adding, “we are excited to see what he is able to show us. This is the first of several trips [to state] for him I’m sure.”
Julian enters the state meet seeded fifth in the 110 meter event with a qualifying time of 14.77. This is his second time running the event at state, last year he finished the meet in 14th place. As Keppner said, “this year we have a little bit of a different story.”
Julian entered the sectional meet with a time of 15.12 and crossed the finish line at 14.77, setting a new school record. “Julian ran a heck of a race and he blew away that old record,” Keppner said. The record time of 15.01 was set in 1985 and was the oldest record left on the record books at Coal City.
His preliminary run in the 110 meter event is slated for 11:05 a.m. on Friday—the second heat of the day. A win would automatically advance him to the finals on Saturday, but a top five best time would also get him into the final race.
“Julian has a very, very good chance to compete at finals for a medal. I know that is what he wants and I think he will be able to get that done,” Keppner said.
In his second qualifying events, the 300 meter hurdles, Julian’s rank is not quite as high and his coach admits this event will be a tough one, but he’s confident Julian will make something of the run. “His goal is time, it’s PRing at state and he wants to get under 41 seconds to shoot him up the records boards and we think he can do that,” the coach said.
Julian is currently number five all time in the school record books with a 300 meter hurdle time of 41.52.
“What’s exciting about these two guys is they both represent the best Coal City has ever had,” Keppner said.
Julian and Parker, and state tennis qualifier Martin Ramirez were recognized with a send-off celebration Wednesday morning, the final day of classes for the school year.
“With today being the last day of school it is kind of a fitting ending to be able to send three kids to state today to cap things off,” Athletic Director Brad Boresi said.
The IHSA State Boys Track and Field Meet is held at Eastern’s O’Brien Stadium. Coaler fans planning on attending can purchase tickets in advance HERE