The remarkable history of the Macoupin County Boys and Girls Track Meets is told in two new booklets that will benefit the high school track teams of the county.
The 80-page booklets complete an ongoing project on the history of the meet, which is one of the oldest high school sporting events in the state of Illinois.
The Macoupin County Track Meet: Milestones and Memories, Volume 2, covers the boys’ meet from 1979 to the present. Volume 3 details the girls’ meet from its inception in 1973 to the present.
Presenting sponsors for the project are The Goodman Agency; Carlinville Eye Care; Plaza Truck Service; and Carlinville Truck Equipment Manufacturing, Inc.
All proceeds from sales of the booklets will be given to the track teams of Macoupin County high schools. Each booklet costs $10.
The project was conceived by Dave Jokisch, who led the Carlinville High School boys’ track team to a record-setting 21 county team track titles in a 25-year coaching career. Tom Emery, a freelance writer and historical researcher, created the narrative for the booklets.
Emery used many of the records compiled by the late Andy Easton, the beloved Carlinville and Gillespie coach who was the unquestioned authority on Macoupin County sports. In addition to the narrative, the booklets have a nearly-complete list of individual county champions in each discipline, and include memories of some of the stalwart names in county track history.
The perennially tough Gillespie boys program, led by such legendary names as Jerry Grandone, receives a lot of narrative in the boys’ booklet, emphasizing standouts like Scott Wyatt, Mike Rekart, and the storied battles for county supremacy with Carlinville.
More recent stars like Austin Semplowski, Drew Crook, and state champions like Matt Rush and Kyle Johnson are also covered. Interviews and photos with Grandone are included in the work.
The lasting success of the Gillespie girls track program is captured in both booklets, including the remarkable run of the 1990s with the golden generation of Kristine Polo, Amber Lewis, Margo Girardi, and Jodi Ottersburg. The Gillespie county title teams of 1999, 2007, 2008, the three-peat of 2012-14, and 2016 receive emphasis.
More recent stars like Tateum Rosentreter, Marissa Link, Sarah Bussman, Kim Kravanya, Amanda Schmidt, and others are also highlighted in the work, as are many others.
Volumes 2 and 3 complete a project on the history of the county meet, which began with the first volume in 2013. That installment covered the boys’ meet from 1904-78.
To purchase either Volume 2 or 3 of the booklets, contact Mike Bertagnolli at Gillespie High School at 217-839-2114 or mbertagnolli@cusd7.org.