Zerrusen Claims 800 Meter State Title, Others Compete at IHSA Boys Finals

Sean Zerrusen is your state champion in the Class 2A 800 meter run.

The Effingham High School senior won the event with a time of 1:55.38 at Saturday’s IHSA state track and field finals at Eastern Illinois University’s O’Brien Stadium; his closest competition, senior Nick Harvey of Burlington, came in just 14 hundredths of a second behind.

Zerrusen’s title-winning run was nearly three full seconds faster than his qualifier at Friday’s prelims, when he won his heat in 1:58.31. It was only the fifth-best qualifier, with Gavin Hartley setting the standard at 1:57.58. Hartley ended up third in Saturday’s final.

It’s the culmination of a progression for Zerrusen; last year, as a junior, he took fourth in the 2A state finals. As a sophomore, he missed qualifying for the finals by seven hundredths of a second. On his third try, however, he was second to nobody.

Other Area Finalists

In the 1A finals, Newton junior Joseph Stone nearly made it two 800 meter titles for the area, battling to a second place finish. He missed the win by nearly two seconds, but also beating his next closest competition by the same amount of time.

Effingham’s Alec Morrissey came up one spot shy of medaling in the Class 3A pole vault; the Flaming Hearts’ sophomore cleared 12 feet, 3 inches and finished 10th.

Speaking of pole vault, Teutopolis junior Andrew McWhorter snagged fifth place in the 1A finals with a top vault of 14-3. Newton senior Brock Mammoser also qualified for Saturday’s 1A finals, but the event time coincided with the Eagles’ sectional championship baseball game in T-town. Slated to start on the mound for Newton, Mammoser made the tough choice to skip the finals in Charleston.

Cumberland senior Trevor Beard missed a medal by two inches in the Class 1A triple jump, topping out at 43-3 and settling for 10th place. His freshman teammate, Kort McClellan, took 24th place in the Class 1A 3200 meter run, navigating the two-mile race in 10:19.50.