The boys’ track and field dynasty at Cahokia High is ready for a run at a seventh consecutive state championship in the state of Illinois.
The Comanches will send a slew of athletes to this weekend’s IHSA Class 2A state championships at Eastern Illinois University in Charleston. The action will begin on Thursday and conclude with the finals on Saturday.
Cahokia qualified athletes in six individual events and all four relays from last week’s sectional meet in Mascoutah, which it won with 124 points. Cahokia’s individual sectional champions were Marquis Murray in the long jump and 200-meter dash, Andra Ward in the triple jump, Keondre Wells in the 110-meter high hurdles, Chris Stanley in the 800-meter run and Brandon Roberson in 400.
The Comanches also won sectional titles in the 4×100-, 4×200-, and 4×400-meter relays and finished second in the 4×800. Shunn Grace also finished second in the triple jump and Darreon West was second in the 200.
*Edwardsville and East St. Louis will contend in Class 3A
Metro east teams Edwardsville and East St. Louis will be looking to contend for team trophies at this weekend’s Class 3A state championships. Edwardsville will be taking athletes in nine individual events and one relay to Charleston. Senior A. J. Epenesa won sectional titles in the shot put and discus with winning throws of 56 feet 3 inches in the shot put and 181 feet 9 inches in the discus.
Travis Anderson won the 110-meter high hurdles in a sizzling time of 13.64 seconds. Other sectional qualifiers include DeVonte’ Tincher in the 200, Blake Neville in the pole vault, Justin White in the high jump, Bruce Wachowski in the discus, Matt Griebe in the 110-meter high hurdles, Anderson in the 300-meter intermediate hurdles and the 4×200 relay.
East St. Louis has athletes in five individual events and all four relays headed to Charleston this weekend. Deonte Anderson was a sectional champion in the 400 while Delano Anderson won the 300-meter high hurdles. The Flyers had some impressive winning times of 1:28.53 in the 4×200; 3:17.34 in the 4×400 and 7:58.73 in the 4×800.
*Missouri Class 3, 4 and 5 state meet in Jefferson City
The Class 3, 4 and 5 track programs in the state of Missouri will convene in Jefferson City for the state championships this weekend. Preliminaries will be held on Thursday and Friday with the championship races set for Saturday.
Here is a list of returning area individual state champions:
Class 5 boys: Jayson Ashford (SLUH), 200-meter dash; Austin Hindman (Lafayette), 3,200-meter run; Class 4 Boys: Rayvon Allen (Summit) triple jump; Austin Perkins (Fort Zumwalt East) 800; Class 3 Boys: Corey Carter (Principia) 200.
Class 5 Girls: Deja Ingram (Hazelwood Central) 100 and 200; Class 4: Zionn Pearson (MICDS) long jump; Cara Johnson (MICDS) 100; Syanne Johnson (Fort Zumwalt East) 200.
Other individuals to Watch: Alicia Burnett (Fort Zumwalt South) Class 4 girls 100, 200, 400; Hasani Barr (Cardinal Ritter) Class 3 boys 200, 400; Brandon Miller (John Burroughs) Class 3 boys 800; Joshua Sutton (MICDS) Class 4 100 and 200; Lance Lang (McCluer North) Class 5 boys 100 and 200; Charlie McIntyre (Parkway Central) Class 4 boys 800, 1,600 and 3,200; Laila Elliott (John Burroughs), Class 3 girls long jump, triple jump, high jump, 100-meter high hurdles; Shauniece O’Neal (Hazelwood Central), Class 5 girls shot put and discus; Octavia Cato and Raheema Westfall (McCluer South-Berkeley) Class 3 girls 100 and 200.
