iltoptimes – News – State shot put leader Reynolds wins Big 12 title despite technical woes

State shot put leader Reynolds wins

Big 12 title despite technical woes

By Randy Sharer

For Illinoistoptimes.com

BLOOMINGTON – State shot put leader Marco Reynolds is so good, she defended her title in the Big 12 Conference Meet at John Szabo Track on Friday (May 9, 2025) despite some frustrating technique troubles.

“I couldn’t figure it out today,” said Reynolds, who won by more than three feet with a toss of 39 feet, 1¾ inches, which still left her well short of her state-leading season best and school record of 43-6.

The 6-foot-1 Eastern Illinois-recruit used several styles – a half spin, a full spin, and the glide – but fouled on four of six attempts. One foul was intentional as she knew it wasn’t worth measuring. Her 37-9½ opening throw would have won. Her actual winner came in the second round.

“I have to figure out how to put the pieces together when it matters,” said Reynolds, who will return to this track on May 15 for the Class 3A Bloomington Sectional. “I’ll spend all of this week doing what I can.”

NCHS coach Jonathan Boenzi wants Reynolds to trust a full rotational throw.

“When you are comfortable in practice, you are comfortable throwing in meets,” he said. “We just feel we didn’t have a great week of stacking practices and sometimes that results in a not good meet. We have a chance to fix that for next week.”

The top seed in the discus at 139-1, Reynolds will also make adjustments in that event after fouling five of her six throws before finishing second at 115-8 behind Danville’s Jada Bell (118-0).

In the team race, pre-meet favorite Champaign Centennial exceeded expectations while scoring a winning 120 points.

“They did great today,” said first-year Coach Danielle Murchison of her Chargers. “There were some PRs (personal records) that I didn’t see coming.”

Normal West tallied 92 in second followed by Danville (84), defending champion Normal Community (78), and Bloomington (54) in the 10-team field.

“I think the team performed great overall,” said Normal West coach Greg Rogers, whose squad placed sixth last year and third in the 2025 Big 12 Indoor Meet. “I’m very, very happy with second place. To jump four places in one year is a big accomplishment for us.”

Among West’s stars was junior Julie Bach, who won the 800-meter run in 2 minutes, 16.28 seconds to break the recently set school record of 2:18.69 by sophomore Abigail Jackson. Prior to this season, West’s record stood at…