Friendly rivals Hepburn, Gordon dash to state titles
GBS senior wins 100, Evanston senior takes 200
May 31, 2010 12:15 PM
CHARLESTON - Before the last race of their high school careers Saturday, Glenbrook South’s Colin Hepburn and Evanston’s Tremaine Gordon had a quiet moment together.
In the tent where the finalists for the 200-meter dash gathered at the Class 3A state track and field finals at Eastern Illinois University, the two friendly rivals wished each other luck.
Glenbrook South's Colin Hepburn, shown competing earlier this season, became only the 14th sprinter to win back-to-back state championships in the 100-meter dash Saturday in Charleston. (Photo by Jon Durr/www.DurrPhotos.com)
For the last three years, Hepburn and Gordon have gotten to know each other trading wins in the sprints. They have been each other’s biggest rival, but in the process have become friendly competitors who respect and admire each other.
They both ended their prep careers with state championships.
Hepburn became only the 14th sprinter to win back-to-back state titles in the 100-meter dash, capturing his specialty in 10.74 seconds. Gordon had a rough weekend with his Evanston teammates until his final race when he ran down Hepburn in the final straight to win the 200-meter dash in 21.72 seconds. Thornton’s Tim Faust was second in 21.79.
Hepburn finished third in the 200 in 21.88 and now has two more medals for his bulging trophy case. He has earned four individual state medals the last two years.
Last year, Hepburn finished fifth in the 200 after winning the 100 in 10.50 while being a bit under the radar. This year, as defending champ, he has been a marked man all season.
“I think last year I was more nervous, but this year there was a lot more pressure,” Hepburn said. “Last year, I was very unknown. This year everyone kind of knows who you are. But it was a lot of fun. It’s great to be running in front of so many people. It’s a great feeling.”
In the 100, Hepburn took control of the race by the 50-meter mark and maintained his edge over Darius Smith of Chicago Vocational, who finished second in 10.81 seconds. Santiago Ochoa of Niles West finished fifth in 11.10 seconds, but helped the Wolves win both sprint relays.
“I didn’t really pull away as much as I did last year,” Hepburn said.
Gordon wasn’t in the 100 finals because he had false started in the preliminaries Friday. Earlier Friday, he was bitterly disappointed when the Wildkits’ 1,600 relay team missed qualifying for the finals by just .007 of a second.
Before the 200 Saturday, Gordon anchored Evanston’s 800 relay team that finished fourth in 1:27.7, just a couple of strides behind champion Niles West, a team that Evanston had beaten a week before at sectionals.
Gordon and his teammates weren’t happy with the result.
“It was an emotional meet,” Gordon said.
A former teammate told him he had to put the disappointments behind him and focus on his next race.
In the 200, Gordon put all his disappointments and his competitors behind him. Although Hepburn blasted out of the starting blocks, Gordon caught and passed him on the straight.
Crossing the finish line, Gordon finally had the state championship he has sought ever since moving to Evanston from Jamaica for his sophomore year in high school. Last year, Gordon finished third in the 200.
"My name is down in the book,” an emotional Gordon said after the race. “It feels good. Since the day I came to America, that was my goal.”
Growing up in track-mad Jamaica, the home of double Olympic champion Usain Bolt, Gordon was always the fastest kid around. Then he met Hepburn.
Evanston's Tremaine Gordon, shown competing in a relay at sectionals, won the state title in the 200-meter run. (Photo by Jon Durr/www.DurrPhotos.com)
““To tell you the truth, racing against Hepburn, it’s been one of the greatest things because through my younger age I was always one of the fastest guys,” Gordon said. “Every school I went to, I was always the fastest guy.”
Then he met Hepburn and all of a sudden he wasn’t always the fastest guy around. The two Central Suburban League rivals have had many great races against each other.
Hepburn typically has the edge in the 100, while Gordon often rules the 200.
“The reason why Colin Hepburn and me are so competitive, I have pick up speed, he has blast out speed,” Gordon said. “He can l go like that. It takes me about five steps to get my speed.”
“I have a lot of respect for him,” Hepburn said. “He’s a great runner. He works really hard. We push each other back and forth. He wins one race, I win one race. It makes us both better so it’s been a lot of fun.”
As happy and relieved as Gordon was to win the 200, Hepburn was just about as happy with the race.
“Third place is a lot better than what I was aiming for,” Hepburn said. “I was real happy for Tremaine. He had a little bit of a rough weekend at times, but had the big moment at the end. It’s just a great way to end my high school track career.”
Hepburn scored all of Glenbrook South’s 17 points, which left the Titans tied for 16th with Prospect in the team standings.
Glenbrook South’s 3,200 relay of Tommy Cowhey, Charlie Reighard, Sam Stanek and Zak Avila finished fourth in their preliminary heat Friday and did not qualify for the finals. Their time of 8:01.60 was the 17th best time of the 37 teams that ran Friday.
The Titans 400 relay team of Kyle Kwasniewski, Rob Wegly, Chris Kostrzewski and Robert Chuchro finished seventh in their preliminary heat. Running without Hepburn, the Titans’ quartet had the slowest time of the 29 teams that competed in the preliminaries but one team was disqualified.
Matt Davis finished eighth in his heat of the 300 intermediate hurdles and had the 19th fastest time of the 20 athletes that competed in the preliminaries.
Gordon and 800 relay team that he anchored accounted for all of Evanston’s 16 points, which earned the Wildkits a three-way tie for 19th in the team standings.
DeVandrew Johnson finished tied for 11th in the high jump with a jump of 6 feet-5 inches and also ran the second leg of the 800 relay team. The other two members of the relay were seniors Ray Gibson and Antonio Sanders.
Johnson failed to make the finals in the triple jump, in which he had the 14th-best preliminary mark of 44-7 ½. He ran leadoff on the 1,600 relay, teaming with Elijah Henry, Sanders and Marion Stoby to run a 3:23.07 that missed qualifying for the finals by .87 of a second. Still, the time was the 13th best time of the 34 state qualifiers in the event.
Gibson, Sanders, Gordon and sophomore Victor Bordo made up the 400 relay team that barely missed qualifying for the finals in 42.469 seconds. York qualified for the finals in 42.462.
Another near miss for the Wildkits was the shot put, where Jeffery Shelton’s preliminary throw of 51-0 was 11 1/4 inches short of making the finals and the 13th best throw of the day Friday.