It was a tremendous weekend for St. Louis area track and field teams at the large school Missouri state championships in Jefferson City.
There were three area schools that brought home state team championships. Ladue’s girls won the Class 5 state championship while Festus won the girls’ Class 4 state title. In the boys’ Class 4 race, St. Louis teams swept the top three spots as Webster Groves won the state title, followed by Parkway Central and Parkway North.
Ladue won the Class 5 state championship in convincing fashion as they scored 81 points, which was 20 points ahead of their nearest competitor. The Rams were led by sprinters Delaney Brinker and Laila Murray in the sprints. Brinker won the 200- and 400-meter dashes while finishing second in the 100. She posted winning times of 23.72 in the 200 and 53.73 in the 400.
Murray also finished second to Brinker in the 200 and 400 as the Rams racked up big points in those events. Ladue also won state titles in the 4×100- and 4×200-meter relays. In the field events, Zoey Brinker finished second in the high jump and sixth in the long jump.
The Festus girls continued the excellent tradition of track and field in the Jefferson County area by winning the Class 4 state title in a tight competition with second-place MICDS. The Tigers scored 61 points while MiCDS finished with 56 points.
Festus had one individual state champion in Rylie Moore in the javelin and the rest of the scoring came through several excellent finishes. Sprinter Jameishia Patterson finished fifth in the 100 and fourth in the 200. Jessica Hawkins finished fifth in the 100-meter high hurdles and third in the 300-meter low hurdles. Alexandra Yates was second in the pole vault while the Tigers were third in the 4×100, fifth in the 4×200 and third in the 4×400.
MICDS was led by sophomore standout Justyce Sanders, who won the 200 and finished second in the 400. She also anchored the Rams to a state title in the 4×400 in a winning time of 3 minutes 48.64 seconds. Nicole Green finished second in the triple jump and sixth in the long jump while Blaike Borders was fifth in the 400.
Webster Groves won its Class 5 state championship behind its outstanding work in the middle distance and distance events. The Statesmen placed three runners in the 800-meter run with Colton Richardson finishing first, Joe Wetzel-Meehan in fourth and Henry Roland in fifth. Not surprisingly, the Statesmen also won the 4×800-meter relay. Corbin Cole won the 3,200 and finished second in the 1,600.
More State Champions
Senior Kyndall Spain of Cardinal Ritter finished a stellar career by winning the 100-meter high hurdles and 300-meter low hurdles. She posted winning times of 13.37 and 40.08. She is headed to South Carolina next season.
Henry Rohan of MICDS won the Class 4 state title in the 100. Omar Hussein of Summit won the Class 5 state title in the shot put. Tomas Forman of Francis Howell won the Class 5 state title in 300-meter intermediate hurdles while teammate Cameron Cason won the triple jump.
East St. Louis Finishes Second at IHSA State Meet
The East St. Louis Flyers were state runners-up at last weekend’s IHSA Class AA state championships in Charleston. The Flyers’ lone individual state champion was Shamond McClain in the triple jump. They also swept all three of the sprint relays as they won state titles in the 4×100, 4×200 and 4×400. Darius Ivy also earned All-State medals by finishing fifth in the 400 and third in the 800.
Earl’s World
I will be returning to the radio airwaves this weekend as the host of a new Saturday morning show, “The EA Experience” which will be on the new KLIS (Lou Information Station) on 590 from 9-11 a.m. We will be talking about a lot of sports at all levels with plenty of guests and banter from the fans. It should be a lot of fun. You can also catch the show On-Demand at LouInfo.com and on our YouTube page on Social Media.
I want to send a Shout Out to fellow McCluer North alum Eugene Peebles, who is an accomplished saxophone player. Last week, Eugene performed the national anthem before Game 4 of the Eastern Conference finals game between the Pacers and Knicks in Indianapolis. Eugene and his “Talking Sax” also performed at an Indiana Fever game a few nights later. I can remember Eugene bringing the house down with his sax at our high school basketball games in the early 1980’s. He’s always been an amazing saxophone player, so it’s fun to see him still putting in his work.