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2026 Times Boys Track and Field Athlete of the Year: Ottawa’s Joey Liebhart · Illinois Valley - Shaw Local

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  Speaker 1: Twenty twenty six Times Boys Track and Field Athlete of
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  the Year, Ottawa's Joey Leehart. Written by Brian Hoxy. This
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  article is being read by an automated voice brought to
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  you by Everlett. When asked if he could go back
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  four years and tell his eighth grade self that he
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  would end up earning a medal in the three hundred
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  meter hurdles at the isassa class to a state track
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  and field meet, recent Ottawa High School graduate, Joey Leehart
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  just smiled and shook his head. I would have said
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  my future me was out of his mind. Leehart said.
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  I played baseball up until my eighth grade year, but
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  I didn't love it, and my freshman year in the spring,
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  I decided to go out for track. I just thought,
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  maybe this will help me get faster for football. The
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  thought of hurdles will be awesome, or I'll make it
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  to state, or I'll earn a medal weren't a thing.
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  I started in the sprints, but after the first couple
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  of weeks of practices, my coaches said I should give
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  hurdles a try instead. Like most hurdlers, I wasn't very
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  good at all at first, but I really liked the
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  challenge it gave me. After just missing advancing to state
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  in twenty twenty five, Liebhart, the twenty twenty six Times
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  Boys Track and Field Athlete of the Year, knew that
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  goal was well within his sights after opening this past
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  season with solid times at the Jean Shipley Invitational in Molin.
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  My junior year is where I started to feel very
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  comfortable in the hurdles and also saw my times getting faster.
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  I just missed qualifying for state, but then in my
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  first race this past season, I knew I had a
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  really good shot, he said. During the spring, Liebhart finished
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  in first place in eleven of fourteen races in the
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  three hundred hurdles and placed in the top three in
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  seven of thirteen races in the one hundred and ten hurdles,
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  including four victories. How I run the three hundred hurdles
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  is really different from almost everyone else I've ever run against,
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  Leebhart said, I'm not worried about a super fast start.
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  I'm about pacing myself. I saved my energy for the
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  end of the final curve and the final straightaway. That's
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  where I made up ground. I also never switched alternated
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  my front foot over the hurdles. I was just never
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  able to do it, so it limited my steps. In
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  the Interstate eight conference meet, Liebhart captured first place in
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  the three hundred meter hurdles in a time of thirty
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  nine point twenty four seconds while placing third in the
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  one hundred and ten hurdles fifteen point sixty six. At
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  the Class two A Pontiac Sectional, he injured his arm,
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  suffering a nasty friction rash when his extra effort sent
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  him tumbling to the track after throwing all his weight
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  forward at the finish line of the one hundred and
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  ten hurdles to ensure a state qualifying time fifteen point
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  three zero, but it didn't stop him from later finishing
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  first in a personal best time of thirty eight point
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  six to zero is to become the sectional champion in
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  the three hundred hurdles, he just missed by a half
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  of second of also advancing with the four four hundred
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  relay team with Braden Biewer, Braden Brewer and Drager Duncan.
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  Making it to state in both events was the goal,
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  but earning a medal in the three hundred was the
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  main goal. Leehart said, I wanted to do well at
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  State in both, but like I did all season, I
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  kind of used the one hundred and ten as a
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  warm up race. You're getting a good sprint and going
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  over higher hurdles. I felt like my one hundred and
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  ten at State was pretty good, not great, but I
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  was happy with it. In the ISSA State Finals at
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  O'Brien Stadium on the campus of Eastern Illinois University, Leibhart
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  finished seventeenth in the one hundred and ten hurdles fifteen
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  point four to six, but failed to advance to the finals.
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  He did move on in the three hundred hurdles, placing
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  third in the preliminaries in thirty nine point one five.
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  I knew going into the three hundred hurdles finals that
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  that race was going to be the last one I
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  run Lee Parts. I thought about that a lot the
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  hours before the race. I just wanted to make sure
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  I was mentally prepared and just wanted to make sure
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  my last race was as close to the best I
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  ever ran time wise, it almost was. Leebart placed fourth
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  in the finals, crossing the finish line in thirty eight
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  point sixty six seconds to earn a state medal. Leebart
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  will be attending the University of Illinois this fall to
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  start his path towards a degree in civil engineering. He said,
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  as of now, he's hoping to use that knowledge in
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  construction management. My best memory is walking into O'Brien Stadium
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  for the first time, Leebart said. There was hardly an
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  empty seat anywhere, and when the crowd was cheering, it
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  felt like the sound went right through you. It was
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  a little intimidating, but also just an awesome feeling knowing
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  I was going to get to compete in front of
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  that many people. The energy in that place was unbelievable.
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  It's a feeling I will never forget.