Several athletes will be loading up the bus to participate in state track and field competition in Illinois and Missouri this weekend.
The IHSA Girls’ State Championships will be held at Eastern Illinois University in Charleston on Friday and Saturday. The Missouri State Championships for Class 1 and 2 schools will also be held at Jefferson City High School.
The East St. Louis Flyerettes will be heading to Charleston as prime contenders in this weekend’s Class 2A girls’ meet. The Flyerettes dominated the competition in winning its sectional championship in Herrin. East Side won nine sectional championships and qualified athletes in eight individual events and all four relays.
The Flyerettes dominated the relays in winning the 4×100 in 48.6 seconds, the 4×200 in 1 minute 42.84 seconds, the 4×400 in 3:55.59 and 4×800 in 10:07.80. Their individual sectional champions were Ahmia Dorsey in the long jump and triple jump, Evangelynn Harris in the discus, Veronica Sherrod in the 300-meter low hurdles and Shonjahnea Griggs in the 400-meter dash.
*Cleveland Naval Jr. ROTC seeks another state title
The Commanders are taking a strong crew to Jefferson City in their quest to win another Class 2 state championship. They will be taking athletes in eight individual events and four relays, including seven sectional champions from last weekend’s Hillsboro sectional. Senior Antonio Norman was a sectional champion in the high jump, 110-meter high hurdles and 300-meter intermediate hurdles. Kelsey Cole won the long jump, triple jump and 200-meter dash while James Allen won the 800-meter run.
Other area boys headed to the Class 2 state meet include Zach Barton of Maplewood (100), Malik Stewart of Maplewood (800, 1600), Chris Skaggs of Maplewood (discus), Khylan Nevils-Reed of College of Medical and Bio Science (long jump), Amir Nasruddin of McKinley Classical (shot put).
The top girls headed to state include Jayda Buchannan of Maplewood (first in 400 and 800), McKinlee Morris of Crossroads (shot put and discus), Keiosha Rogers of Valley Park (100), Jilane Pederson of Valley Park (high jump) and Yazmin Ayers of Medicine and Bio Science (400).
