Highland High School star Rosen ends senior season on high note at state track meet
In three straight seasons, Highand’s Easton Rosen had not made the cut for the IHSA Class 2A state track meet.
Rosen, the Bulldogs recently graduated top middle-distance runner this spring, saw to it he indeed would advance to state as a senior.
On June 18, Rosen ended his Bulldog track career on an ultra-high note as he competed in the Class 2A track meet at Eastern Illinois University in Charleston.
Rosen ran a strong wire-to-wire effort in the 1,600-meter run and finished a respectable 15th place overall with a solid time of 4:34.02.
“I was pretty happy with my time and place,” Rosen said. “I was seeded in the exact spot that I finished (15th) and my time was a second off my PR (personal best). It wasn’t a bad performance.”
Rosen produced his personal best on a hot and humid 90-plus degree day at EIU’s O’Brien Field.
“It was still about 90 degrees when he ran. They had pushed it back (the race) about five hours and that was probably the hottest day of the year at that point, and I know it had to have an affect on the distance runners, especially,” said recently retired Highland coach Bob Vance.
Rosen started the race strong as he bolted to the front of the pack and led throughout the first lap of his heat. Rosen decided to throttle down his pace for the middle two laps and then picked his pace back up on the final lap with a strong finishing kick.
His finishing time was just one second off his personal best of 4:33.
“I think he was satisfied with his performance, and, under those conditions, I consider that a personal best for 90 degrees,” Vance said.
An outstanding performer throughout the regular season for the Bulldogs in the middle distance events, Rosen punched his ticket to the Class 2A state meet by winning the 1,600-meter run at the Class 2A Mascoutah Sectional on June 9.
Rosen, running on another hot day in Mascoutah, powered his way past the field to win the race with a time of 4:40.
“It was really hot at the sectional meet, and I think that affected all the kids, too, because we all had fairly slow times for what it takes to make state,” Rosen said.
The state experience for Rosen was very special thanks to teammates and friends coming up to see him compete. As an added treat, Rosen — who is heading to Heartland Community College this fall to run cross country — had Ty Wolf, his college coach from Heartland, also there to encourage and support him during the race.
“It was really cool, and a lot of teammates came out and came up and supported me, so that was nice,” Rosen said. “Having coach Wolf there was super exciting.”
Ideal end to Highland career
After coming up just short of state his first two years and then losing his junior season to COViD-19, finishing his career and senior season at state was the perfect cap to Rosen’s HHS career.
“I’d have to say getting to state with it being my last shot and just to get the experience to go up and sort of have the day be about me a little bit was pretty cool,” Rosen said. “Getting to bring some friends and family there and hang out before and after was cool.”
Rosen will head to Heartland Community College in early August to begin his freshman season with the men’s cross country team.