The road to Jefferson City begins this weekend for the Class 3,4 and 5 track and field programs as district competition gets underway in Missouri.
Area Class 3 programs will be competing in district meets at Principia and Lutheran North on Saturday. The top four finishers in each event will qualify for next Saturday’s sectional meets in Hillsboro and Montgomery County.
The Class 4 area schools will be competing in district meets at Rockwood Summit, Parkway Central and Battle High in Columbia. The top four finishers in each event will qualify for sectional meets at Hillsboro and Mexico next Saturday.
Class 5 area schools will be competing in district meets at Park Hills Central, Parkway South, Parkway Central and Battle. The top four finishers in each event will qualify for sectional competition at Marquette and Montgomery County next Saturday.
Illinois girls sectionals
The girls programs in the Metro East will be participating in sectional competition on Friday in the state of Illinois. The top qualifiers will advance to the IHSA State Championships in Charleston from May 18-20.
The Cahokia Comanches will begin their quest for a third consecutive Class 2A state championship when they compete in the Springfield Southeast sectional on Friday, beginning at 4:30 p.m.
The Class 3A girls sectional meet will be held on Friday at Belleville West, beginning at 3:45 p.m. The top schools in the Southwestern Conference, including East St. Louis, Edwardsville, O’Fallon and Alton will be on hand at Belleville West.
Action hot at Lutheran South
Freshman phenom Brandon Miller of John Burroughs turned in another sparkling effort in winning at the 800-meter run. His winning time was 1 minute 52.86 seconds. Jameson Williams of Cardinal Ritter won the 300-meter intermediate hurdles in a time of 37.7 seconds while teammate Hasani Barr won the 400 in a time of 48.29. Joshua Sutton of MICDS won the 100 and 200 with impressive times of 10.76 and 21.9, respectively.
The top girls’ events at Lutheran South were the 100-meter high hurdles and long jump. In the hurdles, Laqwasia Stepney of Cahokia was first in 14.5 seconds. She was followed by Aisha Southern of Hazelwood Central in 14.65 and Valarie Whitted of Cardinal Ritter of 14.77. In the long jump, Mariya Hudson of Cahokia was first with a leap of 19 feet 0, followed by Zionn Pearson of MICDS with an 18-6 and Stepney of Cahokia with an 18-6. Lailah Elliott of John Burroughs won the high jump with a clearance of 5-5 and the triple jump with an effort of 37-0.
Conference meet standouts
Freshman Alicia Burnett of Fort Zumwalt South dominated the sprints at the GAC Central girls meet at Washington. Burnett won the 100-meter dash in 11.58 seconds, the 200 in 24.59 and 400 in 57.29.
Sophomore Lance Lang of McCluer North swept the 100 and 200 at the Suburban XII boys meet at Rockwood Summit. Lang won the 100 in 10.8 seconds and the 200 in 21.59.
The beginning of the state track and field postseason series got underway for Class 1 and 2 teams in the state of Missouri.
Most of the area’s Class 2 teams participated at the District 2 meet in Monroe City. The Cleveland Naval Jr. ROTC boys enjoyed a dominant day as they won seven events, qualified athletes in eight individual events and all four relays to Saturday’s sectional meet at Hillsboro.
Antonio Norman won three individual events to lead the Commanders. Norman won the 110-meter high hurdles in 15.74 seconds, the 300-meter low hurdles in 40.2 seconds and the high jump with a clearance of 6-feet. The Commanders also got first place finishes from James Allen in the 400-meter dash and 800-meter run, plus the 4×200- and 4×800-meter relay teams.
The Commanders also finished second in the 4×200- and 4×400-meter relays. Katron Franklin was second in the 400; Kelsey Cole finished second in the triple jump and third in the long jump, Byron Earls was third in the 200 and Anthony Craig was fourth in the 800. Sprinters Kevin Crump and James Ewing finished third and fourth in the 100, respectively.
Other boys’ district champions from Monroe City included Zach Barton of Maplewood in the 100, Kaylon Jenkins of Brentwood in the 200 and Rasheed Ricketts of McKinley Classical in the triple jump with an effort of 45 feet 4 ¼ inches. Brentwood’s 4×100-meter relay team won a district title in a time of 44.82 seconds.
On the girls’ side, Jayda Buchannon of Maplewood won the 400-meter dash and McKinlee Morris of Crossroads won the discus. College of Medical and Bio Science won the 4×100.
The top four finishers in each event qualified for Saturday’s sectional meet at Hillsboro. Other boys’ sectional qualifiers include: Rasheed Ricketts (McKinley Classical), second in the 100 and second in the long jump; Homer Dula (Crossroads), third in the 110-meter high hurdles; Kafele Wimbley (Crossroads), second in the 200; Justice Harris (Brentwood), fourth in the 200, second in the 300-meter intermediate hurdles and second in the high jump; Kaylon Jenkins (Brentwood), fourth in the 400; Kar’mel Brewer (Maplewood), second in the 800; Malik Stewart (Maplewood), third in the 800; Morenke Bettis (McKinley Classical), third in the high jump
In the 4×200, Brentwood finished in second place while Maplewood finished in fourth. Maplewood also finished third in the 4×400 and second in the 4×800 while Medical and Bio Science finished fourth in the 4×400.
The remaining girls’ sectional qualifiers include: Anijah Barringer (Brentwood), fourth in the 100; Tiffany Lomax (Medical and Bio Science), second in the 100; Faith Webster (Crossroads), fourth in the 100; Janice Lemon (Medical and Bio Science), second in the 200: Latricia Booker (Medical and Bio Science), third in the 200 and fourth in the long jump; Jayda Buchannon (Maplewood), second in the 800; Lydia Grawer (Maplewood), third in the triple jump.
In the relays, Cleveland Naval Jr. ROTC finished fourth in the 4×200 and the 4×400; College of Medical and Bio Science was second in the 4×200 and Maplewood was third in the 4×800.
In the Class 1, District 1 meet at Hillsboro, Addie Grapperhaus of Barat Academy was the top individual as she won the 100, 200 and 400-meter dashes.
