Morton relay team wins school's first IHSA boys track and field title in six decades

Morton has a boys track and field state champion for the first time in more than six decades.

The Potters 4x200-meter relay team of Cole Rinkenberger, Nyamedze Maison, Kamden Aberle and Christopher Schaff won the Class 2A championship on Saturday, completing their winning run in 1 minute, 27.33 seconds.

It was one of three relay medals won by the Potters at the Illinois High School Association state finals at Eastern Illinois University. The same foursome took fourth in the 4x100 (42.22 seconds), while Christian Harris, Boston Beyer, Yonas Wuthrich, Layton Knoop ran 7:46.85 to take third in the 4x800.

IHSA state track: Live updates from the IHSA boys track and field state finals

The last Morton boys athlete to win an IHSA state championship was Allen Carius, who won the mile run in 1960. Carius went on to the University of Illinois, where he became a cross country and distance champion in the Big Ten Conference.

But Carius is best known as the iconic coach of the North Central College cross country program, which he led to 19 national titles in his 54 years as head coach; he moved into an assistant role in 2020. Carius also coached track and field for 44 years.

The last Morton girls athlete to win a state title was sprinter Lauren Doerr, who won the 100- and 200-meter dashes in 2021.

This article originally appeared on Journal Star: Morton 4x200 relay wins IHSA Class 2A boys track and field state title