Runnin’ down a dream: Chargers’ Bentzinger puts focus on winning state track title in 100 dash

CARTHAGE, Ill. — Ian Bentzinger sees his motivation staring back at him every day.

The Illini West senior sprinter currently holds the fifth fastest time in the 100-meter dash in Class 1A across the state with his school-record 10.82 seconds, which he ran at the Lee Calhoun Invitational on April 5 in Macomb. At the top of the Class 1A heap is St. Anne senior Reece Curtis and his time of 10.66 seconds.

“I found a picture of (Curtis), and I printed it out and put it on my mirror,” Bentzinger said. “I want to run faster than him. It’s motivation. It fuels me.”

The fuel is leading to unbeatable results.

Bentzinger has won all five 100-meter dashes and all four 200 dashes he’s entered this spring, including sweeping both sprints Tuesday during the Mark Twain/Becky Thatcher Relays at Porter Stadium in Hannibal, Mo. That was despite feeling ill in the 48 hours leading up to the event.

In fact, Bentzinger vomitted multiple times the day of the relays.

Still, he went out and won the 100 dash in 10.85 seconds and followed it up by running a leg on the Chargers’ 4×100 and 4×200 relay teams that finished third behind Hannibal and Fort Zumwalt North.

After that, he discussed declining to run in the 200 dash with Illini West coach Michael Lafferty, but Bentzinger isn’t one to back down from a challenge.

“I looked at it like, yeah I’m sick, but at the same time, I’m giving up on myself, and I’m not giving myself a chance to win, and I know that would kill me,” Bentzinger said.

So the conversation ended the way you might expect.

“I told him he could scratch the 200 if he wanted to,” Lafferty said. “He said, ‘No, I’m gonna go, and if I’m gonna do it, I’m gonna win.’ “

He set a new personal record of 22.30 seconds as he won the race by .33 seconds. Bentzinger admitted he coasted the first half of the race before passing Liberty senior Keegan Sunde down the stretch.

“I even surprised myself a little bit,” Bentzinger said. “I was dogging it, but I had to kick it into gear.”

Bentzinger has a different gear than most, but that didn’t come to light until his sophomore year. Even then, he had to overcome injuries.

He didn’t run track until his sophomore year, and in the second meet of the season, he suffered a hip flexor injury. This injury ended Bentzinger’s season.

“It actually helped in the long run,” Bentzinger said. “I strengthened up and I learned from it.”

During his junior season, Bentzinger battled plantar fasciitis, just another challenge for the tough-as-nails Bentzinger to overcome. Lafferty, who is also the Illini West strength and conditioning coach, helped Bentzinger fight through and overcome the injuries.

“It’s just really fun to be able to coach ultra-competitive people,” Lafferty said. “Especially when you combine the competitiveness with everything he’s done work ethic wise to get himself where he is, it makes my job easy.”

Bentzinger ran track in fifth and sixth grade but played baseball in the spring through his freshman year. He credits Lafferty for convincing him to join the track team as a sophomore.

“If it wasn’t for Coach Lafferty, I’d be on the diamond right now,” Bentzinger said. “He saw the potential in me, and he just knew it’d be great.”

Bentzinger was a first-team All-Prairieland Conference running back for the Chargers last fall when he amassed 1,106 yards rushing on 119 carries with 13 touchdowns and a 9.3 yard-per-carry average. So far, he has kept his options open regarding which sport — or sports — he will pursue in college.

“I go back and forth,” Bentzinger said. “I don’t know what I want to do.”

Yet he knows one thing for certain.

“I’ve got my mind set on that state title,” Bentzinger said.