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Tyler Clott advanced to the state track and field competition with a second place finish in the shotput with a throw of slightly over 56 feet at the IHSA Class 1A Seneca sectionals. Clott, a Peotone sophomore, also placed fifth in the discus but did not advance in the event.
Clott Wins Shot Put at State Competition  Share
Tyler Clott made history for Peotone High School on Saturday and all he pretty much had to do to achieve it was just sit back and watch. Thanks to his efforts in Thursday's semifinals of the IHSA Class 1A boys track and field semifinals in Charleston, Clott had the best shot put toss in the state. When no competitor was able to beat his 56-7 preliminaries mark in Saturday's finals, the Blue Devil sophomore claimed the state championship in the event. He led the competition by more than a foot and five inches on Thursday and his main challenger, Reed-Custer's Jason Baker, scratched in his three attempts. Timothy Christian's Rob Stein improved upon his first-day efforts to finish with a 55-5.75 toss in Saturday's finals to claim second place honors.
In the process, Clott becomes the first Peotone athlete to ever win a state title in track and field and his program's second placewinner. The only other individual from Peotone who earned a medal at the state meet was Connor Shaw, who took fourth place in the discus in 1966. ''I'm obviously ecstatic about doing this,'' Clott said. ''This is surreal right now and I'm sure that it's going to take awhile for it to set in. ''I wanted to hit 60 feet but I didn't throw as far as I wanted to since I had a couple of fouls where I threw it a little farther. ''I thought it could rain on Saturday so I wanted to throw pretty big on Thursday. It was a good luxury to be sitting in first place so that I could work off of everyone else's throws.'' After putting up one of the top 10 shot put throws in last year's Class A sectionals, Clott looked like he had a good chance of earning a medal. But his initial trip to state turned out to be a disappointment when he only turned in a 42-0 effort and failed to qualify for the finals. ''Last year I threw a little shy of 51 feet at sectionals and I was happy at that as a freshman,'' Clott said. ''But I didn't do well here last year but I definitely gained a lot of experience. ''I really wanted to place last year and I was in the final flight, but I didn't and it was really disappointing and it made me want to win this really badly. ''Our numbers for track aren't great but we have a real good throwing program. And I'm grateful to have a great throwing coach in coach (Lee) Coakley since he learns right along with me.'' Beside making history for his program, Clott also became just the second Peotone athlete to win a state championship in any sport. The only previous Blue Devil state champion was Joey Izzi, who captured Class A wrestling titles in both 1998 and 1999. With his first title under his belt, Clott has now set his focus on trying to become Peotone's first three-time state champion. ''I'm a little disappointed that I didn't come down in discus since I wanted to place in that, too,'' Clott said. ''But winning this title obviously makes up for that. ''Hopefully I can come back and break the state record of 63-6 next year. I'm going to work a lot this summer, keep working in football season and hit it hard in the winter. ''I want to end up with three state championships in shot by my senior year. That obviously sets the bar pretty high for what I can accomplish over the next couple of years.'' Two other Peotone athletes competed at state but neither one was able to join Clott in either the finals or on the awards stand. Senior Tucker Collins turned in a 140-1 effort in the discus while senior Ryan Lindemulder finished with a 4:57.79 time in the 1600. Curt Herron is a reporter for Russell Publications.
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