Many of the area’s top track standouts were on hand at the Charlie Beck Invitational at University City. Hazelwood Central swept both the boys and girls team championships.
Standout sprinter Tianna Valentine of Hazelwood East won the 100- and 200-meter dashes in winning times of 12.24 and 24.43 seconds. Ashley Henderson of Hazelwood Central finished second to Valentine in the 100 and 200. Henderson also won the 400 in 58.73 and anchored the Hawks’ 4×100-meter relay to a first-place finish.
Francis Howell finished second to Hazelwood Central’s girls with some excellent work in the distance events.
In one of the big boys’ races of the day, Alfred Larry of Jennings edged Marc Franks of Hazelwood Central to win the 400-meter dash. Larry’s winning time was 48.3 seconds, while Franks finished in 49.5. Hazelwood Central won the team title thanks in large part to its relay teams, which won the 4×200, 4×400 and 4×800.
Junior Aaron Mallet of McCluer North continued his early-season excellence by winning the 110-meter high hurdles in 14.2 and 300-meter intermediate hurdles in 37.86.
40-year record breaker
Garrett Sweatt of Edwardsville broke a 40-year meet record in the 3,200-meter run at the Belleville West Invitational. Sweatt turned in a winning time of 9 minutes 06.07 seconds to break the record of former Lebanon star Craig Virgin. Defending IHSA Class 2 state-champion Cahokia won the team title at Belleville West for the third consecutive year. Edwardsville girls star Emmonnie Henderson won the shot put and discus to lead the Tigers to the championship of the Granite City Invitational.
Timberland talents
Junior Nataliyah Friar of Wentzville Holt won the 100, 200 and long jump at the Timberland Invitational in the girls division. In the boys division, sophomore Charles Jones of Cardinal Ritter set a new meet record in the 800-meter run with a time of 1 minute 56.24 seconds. Senior Jehu Chesson of Ladue swept the 110-meter high hurdles and 300-meter intermediate hurdles.
Fleet Flyerettes
The East St. Louis Flyerettes ran away and hid from all of the competition at last weekend’s Jackie Joyner-Kersee Relays at Jordan Stadium. Senior Joymesia Howard won the high jump and 100-meter high hurdles while Micayla Collins won the long jump with a leap of 18 feet 4 inches.
Chaney to Virginia
Nerinx Hall girls standout Peyton Chaney recently signed a national-letter-of-intent to attend Virginia next year. Chaney is one of the top returning sprinters in the state of Missouri. She is the defending Class 4 state-champion in the 200-meter dash. She also earned All-State medals in the 100 and 400 at last year’s Class 4 state championships. She is the younger sister of former SLUH track star Paul Chaney.
R.I.P. Sylvester White
Our condolences go out to the family and friends of former Normandy High star Sylvester White, who died last week after a lengthy illness. He was 41. A 1988 graduate of Normandy, White was one of the smoothest runners I’ve ever witnessed in the St. Louis area. He was a standout in the 400-meter dash and a monster on the 4×400 and 4×800-meter relays. During my first years of covering track and field in the late 1980s, Sly was one of the favorite athletes to watch. He died way too soon and he will be missed by all of us in the St. Louis track community.
