By Kaleb Schuppner, Reporter
Charleston, Ill. hosted an elite group of track athletes from Kaneland last spring at the State meet, including standout Tommy Whittaker.
Whittaker, who was a junior then, qualified for State in all four of his events: the 4 x 100 meter relay, the 4 x 200 meter relay, the 100-meter dash and the state-winning 4 x 400 meter relay, which he ran with teammates Logan Markuson, Edgar Valle and Derek Bus, all of whom graduated last year.
Now a senior, Whittaker is the only one left from the record-breaking relay team. He’s no stranger to success-he was brought up to Varsity track as a freshman. His sophomore year he tore his ACL in basketball practice, but he was still able to participate in track. Whittaker says that he has no problems with his ACL now.
By junior year, Whittaker was back in action and set several personal records: 11.1 seconds in the 100-meter dash, 22.8 seconds in the 200-meter dash and 50.3 seconds in the 400-meter dash.
“He’s blessed with speed, but it’s his work ethic that really makes him a tremendous athlete,” Coach Joe Thorgeson said.
Thorgeson said he believes it is the Kaneland track tradition that makes Whittaker and the runners around him better.
“He’s improved every year and has a great work ethic. He’s a type of kid that is very enjoyable to coach because he gives 110 percent every day. In sprinting, it’s pretty easy if you’re one of the fastest kids; you’ll be immediately on the varsity level,” Thorgeson said.
Whittaker and his training partner, senior Sydney Bilotta, have been training at places like the Vaughn and Club 47 to improve their track skills since the summer after their eighth grade year.
“He pushes me hard, and he’s faster than me so I have to keep up,” Bilotta said.
Whittaker is planning on focusing on the 200-meter and his favorite event, the 400-meter dash. He and his coaches both said that they are hoping for individual medals at state for those events. Thorgeson said he’d like to see the school’s 4 x 100 relay and the 4 x 200 relay records broken this year. When he graduates this spring, Whittaker plans on pursuing his track career in college. He said he’s looking at a lot of colleges, including St. Louis University, University of Illinois at Chicago and Augustana.
“The reason I do so well because the team pushes me; we all push each other. The coaches are the best you could ever have in high school,” Whittaker said.
Contributions by Jess Corbett
