Jimmy Sullivan succinctly described the 2009 York boys track and field team when talking after the finals of the 4 x 200-meter relay Saturday.

Sullivan was one of four seniors on two sprint relays that advanced to the finals of the IHSA Class 3A state championships in Charleston.

His teammate, John Fox, was another senior on the quartet. Last spring at state, Fox finished second in the 100 dash and third in the 200. Battling a hamstring injury this season, Fox missed out on making it back to state in those events.

He did, however, play a big role on both of the state runner-up sprint relays last weekend.

Those second-place finishes went a long way in helping the Dukes to their first state title since 2000. It was achieved through a team effort by a bunch of athletes dedicated to the program.

“This team means the world to John,” Sullivan said. “He didn’t get to run what he was hoping for, but he’s still proud to represent York in the two races that he did run.”

The soft-spoken Fox anchored the 4 x 100 relay to second (41.84 seconds) and ran the second leg of the 4 x 200 relay (1:26.06). Those two all-state medals give him six in his career, but none more important than the one that comes with the team title.

Seniors Tarrence Williams and Khara Williams also ran on the relays.

“The whole meet was everyone coming here for the team,” said Fox, who will run at Illinois next year. “No one really got to do what they wanted to do individually, so what it comes down to is a team effort.”

That was evident by the way the Dukes accumulated their points.

The meet started with the 4 x 800 relay team of senior Patrick Morgan, juniors Andrew Smith and Matt Schacht and sophomore Jack Driggs running to fifth place (7:49.43).

Seniors Steve Sulkin (9:03.91) and Jordan Herbert (9:04.83) excited the large York cheering section with a 1-2 finish in the 3,200 run. Sulkin came back with a third place in the 1,600 (4:13.35), and Khara Williams grabbed two individual medals in the 200 (fourth, 22.27) and 100 (sixth, 10.9) dashes.

“I’m really, really happy,” Khara Williams said. “We all came down here with something to do. We all had a job. It’s not like a vacation, we came here to work. We did the best we could and we handled it.”

York finished with 56 points to easily outdistance Neuqua Valley (36) and Belleville West (34).

“I don’t know yet — I’m sort of like in shock almost (over winning the state title),” Sulkin said. “It’s going to sink in maybe in a couple of weeks, I don’t even know. That was awesome.
“We had some great seniors this year. All great guys with great talent — this was our year.”

The Dukes’ 4 x 800 took a hit when David Way was unable to run after pulling his hamstring earlier in the week. Driggs took his place and anchored the relay to an all-state, fifth-place finish. Way still ran the open 800 in the preliminaries on Friday and was 25th (2:03.46).

“With a new group, things can be a little skeptical,” Morgan said. “I’m just so proud of these guys. These are three guys I’ve run with during my high school career.
“I came down here last year as an alternate, so it’s so hard to describe what a different feeling this is.”

Khara Williams said he started to understand what it meant to be part of the York track program midway through his freshman season. He left Charleston on Saturday with four all-state medals.

“Once I ran in some meets (as a freshman) I was like, ‘Whoa, this means a lot to everyone,’” he said. “And during the year it started to mean a lot to me. Now I’m just happy that I’m here and qualified in four events and got the team points.”

Sulkin and Herbert highlighted the distance events, giving the Dukes a piece of hardware in an array of events which all added up to a state championship.

“It’s very humbling,” said York coach Stan Reddel, who led Walther Lutheran to a Class A state title in 1984. “You don’t get these opportunities a lot. We’ve been ecstatic when we had third and second places. This year, we thought we could win it.
“It all has to fit together. You have to be good and you have to be lucky and I feel very blessed this year.”