Rochelle senior Landon Mickley was stunned when he heard the result of his first throw in the shot put during the IHSA 2A Sycamore Sectional on Thursday evening.
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SYCAMORE — Rochelle senior Landon Mickley was stunned when he heard the result of his first throw in the shot put during the IHSA 2A Sycamore Sectional on Thursday evening.
With his eye on the state-qualifying mark and with friends and family behind him, Mickley entered the circle and made a safe attempt on his first toss, using the standing technique that requires little movement inside the circle. What resulted was a new personal record for Mickley, who landed a heave of 15.10 meters on his standing throw to not only make the shot put finals, but more importantly, qualify for the IHSA State Championships in Charleston next weekend.
“I had them measure out 15 meters before warmups and when I did a standing throw passed that mark, I decided to go in with a standing throw during the event,” Mickley said. “Once I heard the 15.10, I knew I could just have fun because I already qualified. It’s an amazing feeling. I was really close during my first season last year, but I didn’t end up making it… I wasn’t expecting to make it to state today, but I had great friends around me and they helped me through a lot.”
Mickley immediately set an even greater personal record soon after qualifying for state, ultimately finishing third in the shot put with a final heave of 15.44 meters. The senior’s sectional meet wasn’t over, however, as he moved into the discus throw and easily surpassed the state-qualifying standard, securing another third-place finish with a PR of 44.69 meters.
Mickley is the Rochelle Hub track and field team’s first state qualifier in the shot put since Zach Sanford (2022) and the first state qualifier in discus since Ben Worthington (2015). Mickley also became the program’s first athlete to qualify for state in both discus and shot put in the same season since Joey Johnson (2007), who currently holds Rochelle’s school record in discus.
“I’m excited for the experience because it’s my last high school season,” Mickley said. “It’ll be a fun time down there and I’m looking to bring a couple of friends down there with me.”
Mickley was one of two Hubs to clinch their spots in the IHSA State Championships at Eastern Illinois University next weekend. Sophomore Andrew Nuyen remained red hot in the pole vault, winning the sectional title with a final height of 4.48 meters (14 feet 8 ¼ inches). In a sectional meet that sent four vaulters through to the state meet, Nuyen emerged victorious, becoming the Rochelle Hub track team’s first state qualifier in the pole vault since Colton VanKirk (2009).
“It feels great,” Nuyen said. “My speed was the key to success and I was able to stay calm and relaxed. I’m looking forward to having fun and enjoying my time at the state meet. There was great competition today and I had a lot of fun. I was definitely motivated to compete today.”
The Hubs finished ninth out of 16 schools in the sectional meet, scoring 32 points. Junior Jack Tilton took seventh in the high jump with a clearance of 1.80 meters, while freshman Hunter Bivins finished seventh in the 300-meter hurdles with a PR time of 43.58 seconds. Sophomore Wyatt Worthington recorded two top-10 finishes Thursday, placing ninth in the 110-meter hurdles with a time of 17.06 seconds and the 300-meter hurdles with a PR of 44.02 seconds.
Senior Caleb Wyssbord landed a top-10 finish in the 400-meter dash, placing eighth with a PR time of 51.98 seconds. Rochelle’s strongest relay finish during Thursday’s sectional was in the 800-meter relay (Caden Goodwin, Reece Harris, Virgil O’Dell and Jackson Smith), where the Hubs took sixth with a time of 1:35.37. Rochelle finished eighth in the 400-meter relay (Caden Goodwin, Reece Harris, Hunter Bivins and Aaron DeClerck) with a time of 45.18 seconds.
The Hubs took 10th in both the 1600-meter relay (Pedro Rosales, Irving Escalante, Jackson Smith and Caleb Wyssbrod) with a time of 3:35.74 and the 3200-meter relay (Pedro Rosales, Irving Escalante, Elijah Mayen and Caleb Wyssbrod) with a time of 9:11.83. Junior Colton Czekala earned two top-10 throwing finishes for the Hubs, taking eighth in the shot put with a PR mark of 13.97 meters and ninth in the discus throw with a PR distance of 38.87 meters.
