Sectional meets this weekend set the plate for state
Of the St. Louis American
Missouri schools have entered the sectional phase of the state series this weekend. The Class 4 sectional meets involving area schools will be held on Saturday at Chaminade, Parkway South and Camdenton. The Class 3 schools will head to MICDS and Festus for sectional competition. The top four finishers in each event will advance to the Class 3-4 State Championships in Jefferson City on May 27-28.
The Class 1-2 State Championships will be held on Friday and Saturday at Lincoln University in Jefferson City. On the Illinois side, the IHSA Class AA boys sectional meets will be held today at Collinsville and Marion, beginning at 4 p.m. East St. Louis and Cahokia will be looking to take scores of individual and relays to the next weekend’s state championships in Charleston. Both teams will be competing at Marion.
The East St. Louis girls will be loading the bus full of talented athletes to take to Charleston for this weekend’s IHSA Class AA state championships. The Flyerettes won the Salem sectional title with a whopping 200 points. Coach Nino Fennoy, who has led teams to 24 consecutive state titles during his legendary career at Lincoln and East Side, will take eight individual sectional champions and all five first-place relays to Charleston as East Side makes a bid for a state title. One of the leaders of the pack is senior Brittany Carpenter, who is a four-time sectional champion in the 800-meter run. The competition begins on Friday at 11 a.m. and resumes on Saturday at 11 a.m. Edwardsville is also taking a strong contingent of athletes to Charleston as well.
District stand-outs
Here are some of the top individual performers from last weekend’s district competition around the area.
Alishea Usery (Berkeley):
Won the 100-, 200- and 400-meter dashes at the Class 3, District 3 meet at MICDS. Usery turned in times of 11.9 in the 100, 24.0 in the 200 and 54.79 in the 400. Usery edged Ladue’s Azraa Rounds in the 400 in a photo finish in the best race of the day.
Edward Calvin (Summit):
Won the 110-meter high, 300-meter intermediate hurdles and the high jump at the Class 4, District 2 meet at Rockwood Summit.
Orie Ibe (Ladue):
Won the 100-meter high hurdles, 300-meter low hurdles and anchored the Rams’ 4×200-meter relay team to the area’ fastest time of 1 minute 40.95 seconds at the Class 3, District 3 meet at MICDS.
Lauren Fisher (Hazelwood Central):
Won the 200 (24.3) and 400 (55.7) and anchored the Hawks’ 4×400 relay to the area’s fastest time of 3:57.2 at the Class 4, District 4 meet at Parkway North.
Terry Robinson (Berkeley):
Won the 110-meter high and 300-meter intermediate hurdles and ran a leg on the Bulldogs’ first-place 4×400 team at the Class 3, District 3 meet at MICDS.
Britt Johnson (Naval Jr. ROTC):
Won the 200 and 400 at the Class 3, District 2 meet at Union.
Meridith Snow (Eureka):
Won the 800-, 1,600- and 3,200-meter runs at the Class 4, District 2 meet at Rockwood Summit.
Ashley Holmes and Efia Walls (Hazelwood East):
Finished first and second in the shot put and discus at the Class 4, District 4 meet at Parkway North.
Camille Sheppard (Ladue):
Won the shot put and discus at the Class 3, District 3 meet at MICDS.
On the College front
Lindenwood University continues to have one of the top men’s teams in the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA). The Lions won the NAIA Indoor title in March and swept all of the titles in the sprints for the first time in history. They now have their sights on the Outdoor title in the coming weeks.
Lindenwood swept the 4×100 and 4×200-meter relays in the college division at the Kansas Relays and Drake Relays. LU’s time of 38.81 in the 4×100 at Drake was a meet record. One of the top athletes for Lindenwood is former Berkeley High standout Mike Rodgers.
