Lightning-fast performances struck the track during the Phil Brusca-Connie Strobach Invitational at Ladue.
Sprinter Havyn Smith of Pattonville won the 200- and 400-meter dashes in winning times of 23.9 and 55.88 seconds, respectively.
Cardinal Ritter standout Kyndall Spain won the 100-meter-high hurdles in 13.95 seconds. She also finished second in the 100. Alexa Adams of Timberland won the 300-meter low hurdles with a winning time of 43.91. She also finished second in the 100-meter hurdles.
Ladue’s tandem of Delaney Brinker and Laila Murray also had productive afternoons. Brinker won the 100-meter dash in 12.06 and she finished second in the 200 in 23.98. Moore finished third in the 100 and 300-meter low hurdles. The Rams also won the 4×400-meter relay in 3 minutes 53.39 seconds.
In the sprint relays, Belleville East dominated as it swept the 4×100 and 4×200. The Lancers won the 4×100 in 47.69 and the 4×200 in 1:40.02 – five seconds faster than their nearest competitors.
On the boys’ side, Henry Rohan of MICDS won the 100 and 200 with winning times of 10.59 and 21.89. In the sprint relays, Lift for Life swept the 4×100 and 4×200. In addition to being a part of those winning relay units, Dai’Shawn Houston finished second in the 100 and 200.
Earl’s World
It was great seeing two players from the St. Louis area selected in last week’s National Football League Draft. Wide receivers Luther Burden III and Dominic Lovett graduated from East St. Louis Senior High and were teammates at the University of Missouri for a year… Burden, who was taken by the Chicago Bears in the second round with the 39th pick, was a three-year standout for the Tigers. As a sophomore, he was a Second Team All-American with 86 receptions for 1,212 yards and 15 touchdowns. He caught 61 passes for 676 yards and eight touchdowns his junior year…Lovett, who transferred to Georgia for his final two seasons, was selected by the Detroit Lions in the seventh round. Lovett was Mizzou’s leading receiver as a sophomore during the 2022 season. During his two seasons at Georgia, he had 113 receptions for 1,210 yards and 10 touchdowns…A pair of former basketball standouts from Cardinal Ritter College Prep have found new homes. Forward Garry Clark is headed to Utah State while forward Nick Ellington will be playing for George Mason…Clark is a 6’8” forward, played at Texas A&M-Corpus Christi last season, where he averaged 14.9 points and 7.7 rebounds a game while shooting 54% from the field…Ellington, a 6’7” forward, averaged 10 points and five rebounds a game at Murray State in the Missouri Valley Conference. They were teammates on back–to back state championship teams at Cardinal Ritter in 2020 and 2021… A starting guard on the 2021 team was the aforementioned Luther Burden III, who was also a basketball standout at Ritter before transferring to East St. Louis…Former DeSmet standout Brian Taylor has given a commitment to East Tennessee State University. The 6’4” Taylor was a standout guard for SIUE this past season, helping the Cougars to the Ohio Valley Conference Tournament title and the school’s first ever berth in the NCAA Tournament. He averaged 11.9 points and 4.1 rebounds while shooting an impressive 44 percent from 3-point range…. Wentzville Timberland High has tabbed Arlen Harris as its new football coach. A former running back for the St. Louis Rams, Harris returns to the coaching ranks where he was the coach at Lutheran St. Charles from 2015 to 2021. Harris guided the Cougars to the Class 2 state championship in 2021 with a last-second victory over perennial small-school powerhouse Lamar.