“font-family: Verdana; font-size: 12px; font-weight: normal;”>The

warm and sunny temperatures that we had last Saturday afternoon

made for some impressive performances on the track and the

University City Invitational and Belleville West

Invitational.

One of the

best races of the day at University City was the boys 400-meter

dash. Senior Michael Hester of Hazelwood Central won the event in a

time of 48.7 seconds. He was followed by Alfred Larry of Jennings

in 48.9. Hester also ran a leg on Central’s 4×400-meter relay team

that finished first in a time of 3 minutes 19.4 seconds. Hester was

joined on the team by Marc Franks, Sean Wills and Cole

Davis.

Freshman

Rashod Harris of Ritenour won the 800-meter run in 1:58.9 while

Drew Padgett of Ladue swept the 1,600 and 3,200-meter runs. McCluer

South-Berkeley swept the 4z100 and 4×200-meter relays. Darion Boure

of University City won the triple jump with a leap of 46 feet 1

inch.

In the

girls division at University City, Fort Zumwalt West edged

Hazelwood East for the team title. Fort Zumwalt West was paced by

senior Dahlia Dyson who won the shot put and discus titles. The

Hazelwood East girls set a number of meet records on the day,

including a 56.18 performance by senior Shayla Luckett in the

400.

Luckett

also joined Tiana Valentine, Jazmine Johnson and Calyssia Jones to

win the 4×100 in a meet-record time of 47.8. Valentine, the

defending Class 4 state champion in the 100, set a new meet record

in the 200 with a time of 24.86. Also setting a meet record was

sophomore Whitney Adams of Francis Howell, who won the 800 with a

time of 2:19.0.

At the

Belleville West Boys Invitational, the hottest action was taking

place in the field events. There were several sparkling

performances. In the high jump, Granite City’s Marcus Mason won the

event by clearing 6 feet 8 inches. Kyle Landon of Chester (Ill.)

and Laderrick Ward of Cahokia also cleared 6-8, but Mason won the

event by having fewer misses.

Ward of

Cahokia won the long jump with a leap of 23-2 and finished second

in the triple jump by bounding 45-8. Ward finished second in the

triple jump to his teammate Vernon Carter, who won the event with a

effort of 46-2 ¾. Lebanon High standout Andrew Ellison won the

discus with an impressive throw of 188 feet.

The

indivdual standout on the track was Divonte Ridley of Belleville

West, who swept the 110-meter high hurdles and 300-meter

intermediate hurdles. Ridley’s winning times were 14.23 in the

110-highs and 38.26 in the 300-intermediates. The Maroons also won

the 4×100 and 4×200-meter relays while Jeremy Randolph of West won

the 400 with a time of 49.3.

Sophomore

Emmonnie Henderson of Edwardsville continued her dominant

early-season pace by winning the shot put and discus at the Granite

City Invitational. Henderson won the shot put with a heave of 45

feet and the discus with a throw of 140 feet.

Ladue High

standouts Samantha Levin and Montenae Roye competed in the

prestigious Arcadia Invitational in Pasadena, CA. against some of

the top athletes in the country. Levin finished third in the 800 in

the invitational division with an impressive time of 2:09.48. Roye

came through with a fourth-place finish in the 400.

On tap for

this weekend is the Henle Holmes Invitational at Parkway Central,

which will be run on Thursday, beginning at 4 p.m. The Corey

Siebert Invitational at Rockwood Summit will be held on Saturday

for boys and girls.