CHARLESTON — The ankle injury that plagued St. Laurence senior Harley Rizzs last football season never really went away.
But he persevered and won three more Class 2A state medals during the IHSA state finals on May 31 at Eastern Illinois University’s O’Brien Field.
That means Rizzs will leave as the Vikings’ most decorated track and field athlete ever with nine state medals across four seasons, including the 100-meter title in 2024.
This year, Rizzs was fifth in the 2A 100 with a time of 10.70. He joined Monroe Thompson Jr., Isaiah Little and Joey Pphilip to finish fifth in the 2A 4×100 relay at 42.45. And he teamed with Little, Jacob Diaz and Philip for eighth in the 4×200 relay at 1 minute, 29.87 seconds.
“It’s really bittersweet,” Rizzs said of the end of his high-school career. “It’s hard (overcoming) an injury from football season. … If it’s a tear in your ankle or whatever, it’s really hard to overcome that. And to even get to where I was is a bigger accomplishment than to win state.”
Getting one more weekend in Charleston with his teammates was worth the pain for Rizzs.
“It’s a great time to be with my guys,” he said. “… Because if I was injured for the whole season, I wouldn’t have this opportunity to be running with them and be able to build that bond that I got with last year’s team as a junior.”
Up next for Rizzs is heading off to Arizona State, where he plans to run track and walk on for football.
“It still hasn’t hit me yet,” he said. “But I’m starting to get that nervous feeling like, ‘Wow, I’m out of high school already, it’s on to college already.'”
Also winning a medal for St. Laurence was senior Luis Flores, who was ninth in the 2A 1,600 at 4:31.13. The Vikings tied for 18th with 13 points.
Also in 2A, Chicago Christian junior Zachary Van Wyk had a pair of fifths, running a PR of 14.73 in the 110 hurdles and clearing 6-5 in the high jump.
“I really had to improve my start (in the hurdles),” Van Wyk said. “My form was all good. It’s just my start — I made it a lot faster.”
In 3A, Sandburg junior Mateo Ramirez-Garcia took fourth in the 800 at 1:54.34. He also teamed with Matthew Miller, Damien Martinez and Gavin Smalarz to take fifth in the 4×800 relay with a season-best 7:46.91.