‘Everybody’s just winning’: Blue Devils dominate distance events en route to track team titles

QUINCY — Freshman Peyton Kuhl cannot help but marvel at the Quincy High School track and field team’s prowess in the distance events.

“Everybody’s just winning,” Kuhl said. “I’m so happy to see everyone showing off what they have.”

Kuhl is a prominent member of that group of distance dominators. She won the 800- and 1,600-meter races at Saturday’s Quincy Invitational at Flinn Stadium, helping the QHS girls team run away with a team victory. The Blue Devils’ 229.5 points were 151.5 more than Macomb in second place. The Quincy boys also won the team title with 171.5 points, 55.5 ahead of second place Illini West.

“I think we can do anything we put our mind to,” Kuhl said. “Us Blue Devils are all so fast and so amazing, and I know we have amazing things coming.”

Kuhl and Amick McClelland finished first and second in both the 800 and 1,600. McClelland was 11.38 seconds ahead of third place Addy Bottorff of Mendon Unity in the 800 and 48 seconds ahead of Bottorff in the 1,600.

“I just wanted to get out with Amick and see what happened,” Kuhl said of the 1,600 run. “The wind really helps when it’s pushing you forward, so I was like, ‘Just got to use it and keep pushing.’ You have to be careful on the back stretch back stretch with the wind against you, but I was like, ‘Just got to finish.’ The last 200 was a lot of adrenaline.”

Freshman Eli Poe blistered the competition in the boys 3,200 meters, setting a new personal record with a time of 10 minutes, 25.86 seconds. Illini West’s Bryar Rodeffer finished 29 seconds behind Poe.

Poe, admittedly not fond of the 45-degree temperatures and strong winds, was impressed with his performance.

“It feels great, especially in this weather,” Poe said. “It was very cold, and my legs were very tight. If you come around (the front stretch) it’s warm and you’re sweating, then you go on the back stretch and it’s cold and everything’s tight, and it feels very hard to run. It feels like you’re running in place.”

A trio of Blue Devils paced the field in the girls 3,200 and boys 1,600. Senior Emily Arens established a PR by winning the 3,200 in 13:06.83. Abigail MacDonough and Amelia Knapp rounded out the top three.

In the boys 1,600, senior Reed Steiner and freshmen Owen Triplett and Charles Ray took the podium spots. Steiner fended off Triplett by 1.57 seconds to win the race, while Ray finished 7.42 seconds behind Triplett.

“I love both of them,” Steiner said of Triplett and Ray. “Even though they’re really young, they work super hard. It can be kind of stressful when you have teammates next to you, but it’s also helpful because we push each other a lot. We’re not going to let any of us slack off.”

Illini West’s Chase Mudd won the boys 800 run, but Quincy occupied the next three positions. Cameron MacDonough finished second, Lane Steinkamp finished third and senior Justin Kappner’s career best time of 2:17.64 was good for fourth.

Steiner likes the Blue Devils’ chances of postseason success.

“This is the deepest year I’ve seen,” Steiner said. “I think the biggest thing is going into (the Western Big 6 Conference) having that versatility to compete and try to score points is really cool.”