CHARLESTON – Edwardsville's Franky Romano turned in a 1:54.99 time in moving into the final of the 800-meter run of the IHSA Class 3A Boys Track and Field Championship at Eastern Illinois' O'Brien Field Friday; Romano, however, finished 12th in the final, covering the distance in 1:57.08. Romano finished second in his heat behind Wes York of Aurora Waubonsie Valley, who had a time of 1:54.91.
Blue Island Eisenhower's Joshua English won the state title in the event with a time of 1:51.94.
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“It felt pretty good,” Romano said after Friday's qualifying run on his future home track; Romano will be running for the Panthers beginning next fall. “I probably could have pushed a little bit harder at the end. It was a pretty good run – there are some good high-quality guys out here.”
The experience of running in the state meet was a good one for Romano. “It's kind of cool coming out here and seeing my name on the board underneath (the EIU sign on the O'Brien scoreboard); I know I'll run a lot of hard workouts here too,” Romano said. “It is a good atmosphere out here, definitely.
“Coach (Panther assistant Brad Butler) came out and said 'good job', so that's cool.”
Romano also ran on the Tiger 4x400 relay Friday along with Dan Powell, Ben Ryan and Brandon Battle, but the team did not advance to Saturday's final, turning in a 3:22.22, good for third place in their heat.
