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West runners will set pace for East; Effinger and Otten could be among area’s best

August 31, 2010 By Leave a Comment
belleville_east

BY DEAN CRIDDLE – News-Democrat

BELLEVILLE — Veteran Belleville East cross country coach Bryan Mitchell heads into the 2010 season with what again should be one of the top girls teams in the area.

But it will rely heavily on two runners: seniors Maria Effinger and Mackenzie Otten.

Three-year varsity starters and two of the metro-east’s elite runners, both have yet to reach their potential due, at least in part, to nagging injuries.

But, at least in the preseason, both are relatively healthy.

“Maria put in a lot of time and miles this summer and right now she’s having a slight problem with her shins. Nothing serious. We’re just being careful,” Mitchell said. “I’ve been very impressed with Mackenzie so far. She’s healthy and looks very, very strong.”

So does the rest of the Lancers’ girls squad, which hopes to compete with Southern Illinois’ powers O’Fallon and Edwardsville for the Southwestern Conference championship.

Senior Jade Salama also returns and will combine with junior Keanna McIntyre and highly touted sophomores Gabi Lopez and Madeline Gaul to provide a strong supporting cast for Effinger and Otten.

Mitchell also is high on a large group of freshmen.

“Those other four girls all ran on the varsity a year a year ago and I’m expecting a good season,” Mitchell said. “The freshman class is a very good one. I’m hoping they will, but it will take a meet or two to see if any of them will make an impact this season.”

On the boys side, Mitchell must replace Belleville city champion Kip Kuldell, but returns two of his top three harriers from a year ago in juniors Joe Cheatham and Ben Thomas.

“Again, both Ben and Joe put in a lot of miles this summer and that’s what it takes,” Mitchell said. I’m expecting both of them to have good years and that they’ll be leaders on this team.”

Seniors Rashaun Farmer and Justin Jones, along with juniors Deonte McNary and Isaiah Hagood, are among those Lancers competing for a spot in the lineup.

East will compete in the Granite City Invitational on Saturday.

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Tigers and Flyerettes are in hunt for Class 3A trophies

May 22, 2010 By Leave a Comment
edwardsville

Competition proved tough at O’Brien Stadium

It was a good day to be an Edwardsville Tiger and an East St. Louis Flyerette on Friday during Friday’s preliminaries of the Class 3A state track and field meet in Charleston.

Edwardsville’s Emmonnie Henderson, a freshman, and Shanice Rice, a senior, qualified for the finals in two events while East St. Louis qualified in three relays and got an outstanding effort from junior Ashley Gaston to lead the way for metro east athletes at a windy O’Brien Stadium.

Rice qualified in the 100-meter hurdles (14.77 seconds) and also earned a trip to the finals in the 300 hurdles (44.22), while Henderson and Gaston continued their year-long battle in the weight events.

Henderson came up with the third best throw of the day in the discus (137-feet-2-inches), while Gaston is fourth heading into the finals at (133-9).

It’s the other way around in the shot put, where Gaston is second after the preliminaries at 41-9 and Henderson is third at 40-11.

The two will continue their battle today when the finals in all three classes take place at Eastern Illinois University. The first final is set to begin at 10 a.m.

And while neither the Tigers or Flyerettes head into the final day of competition as a favorite for the state title, both could make a run at a trophy with a good second day of competition.

In addition to Gaston, East St. Louis got the second-fastest time in the 100 hurdles from junior Timeka Watkins (14.38), while teammates Joymesia Howard and Kerryonna Green both advanced in the high jump. But if the Flyerettes are to make a run at a state title, they will need a great day from their relays. East St. Louis posted top seven times in the 400, 800 and 1,600 relays.

Edwardsville is in the finals of the 800 and 1,600 relays, while senior Hannah Faulkner made the finals in the pole vault.

O’Fallon suffered through a rough day, advancing only Sarah Rautio in the triple jump while also making the finals of the 400 and 1,600 relays.

Belleville East junior Jessica McKaskill made the finals in the 100 hurdles. The Lancers also qualified for the finals of the 400 and 800 relays.

Class 2A

If the Cahokia Comanches are to be in the Class 2A trophy hunt this afternoon, senior Rontacial Rogers will have to lead the way.

A key member on a Comanches squad which placed third in the 2009 Class 2A state finals, Rogers will have a chance at three state championships.

Rogers posted the ninth best time in the 100 (12.96) and also is on Cahokia’s 400 and 800 relays.

Cahokia also has freshman Joslyne Jones in the finals of the 300 hurdles. Junior Jessica Long is in the finals of the shot put.

The surprise performance of the day was turned in by Mater Dei’s Merideth Kloeckner in the long jump.

Kloeckner, a freshman, qualified for the state finals with a jump of 16 feet 10 inches at the Triad Sectional.

On Friday, after scratching on her first two jumps, Kloeckner came through with a pressure-packed leap of 17-3 to make the finals. She is in ninth place heading into the final round of jumps.

Triad junior Elizabeth Hampl is sixth in the shot put after a throw of 37-6.

Filed Under: News, Southwestern Tagged With: ,

Team effort: Edwardsville scores in every event en route to winning SWC championship

May 13, 2010 By Leave a Comment
edwardsville

BY DEAN CRIDDLE – News-Democrat

EAST ST. LOUIS — Edwardsville track and field coach Chad Lakatos knew it was simply a matter of time. And on Wednesday at Clyde Jordan Stadium, the Tigers time arrived.

Sophomore Garrett Sweatt set a meet record in the 3,200 meters and also captured the 1,600 as Edwardsville eased to an 18-point win at the Southwestern Conference Track Meet.

Edwardsville, which also got a pair of wins from Pat Pranger in the pole vault and discus and an impressive triumph from Daniel Mazar in the 800, hadn’t won the SWC title since 2003, when national-caliber distance runner Stephen Pifer led it to a second straight championship.

On Wednesday, led by second-year coach Lakatos and another superb distance runner, the Tigers young squad turned the trick once again.

“When I was hired last year a reporter asked me what it was going to be like competing with East St. Louis, Belleville East and Belleville West. My response was we compete with them in the other sports and so there is no reason why we can’t compete with them in track,” Lakatos said following the win. “The SWC, along with the sectional and state meets, are the ones we build toward all year. I just can’t say enough about the kids effort and the way they competed today.

“We scored in all 18 events. It was a team effort.”

Edwardsville finished with 149 points as they edged the host Flyers (131) for the title. West (101), defending champion East (86) and O’Fallon (83) rounded out the top five schools.

Sweatt, who placed 10th at the Class 3A state cross country meet last fall, won the 3,200 in a time of 9 minutes, 16.8 seconds, well ahead of second-place Craig Munie, of O’Fallon.

Munie finished in 10:03.

“Coach and I talked about me trying to run a sub 9:20 in the 3,200 in order to get in the fast heat for the sectional meet next week and then run qualifying time in the 1,600 meters to see if I can double for the sectional and do them well,” Sweatt said. “Then coming back with a 4:24 in the 1,600 without as much of a break as I would get in the sectional. I’m really happy with how I performed.”

Pranger added a pair of wins with a rare double. The Tigers standout won the pole vault by clearing 14-feet-6-inches, then came back and took the discus with a throw of 157-7.

Mazar captured the 800 in a time of 1:54 as he edged East’s Kip Kuldell for the championship.

Deonte Anderson captured the Tigers other win in the long jump with an effort of 21-3.

Second-place East St. Louis got wins from junior Keonte Minor in the 200 and 100, while Demarius Thomas took the 400 in 49.71 seconds.

Flyers coach Roscoe Whitfield wasn’t disappointed by what he saw from his team.

“I’m not disappointed in the least,” East St. Louis coach Roscoe Whitfield said. “The effort was there and we got a couple of excellent performances out of Keonte (Minor) in the 100 and 200 meters.

“We’re still piecing things together and we’ve got eight days to get ready for the sectional. We’ll be ready.

West got wins from Divonte Ridley in the 300 hurdles and Jarvis Patterson in the 110 hurdles.

Other winners included Granite City’s Branden Tanthavong (triple jump) and Marcus Mason (high jump) and Collinsville’s Andrew Bartsch in the shot put.

Filed Under: Conference, News, Southwestern Tagged With: , ,

Panthers retain hold on SWC track and field crown

May 8, 2010 By Leave a Comment
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Sweep of top two spots in 400 meters played a key role

BY DEAN CRIDDLE – News-Democrat

COLLINSVILLE — With a second consecutive Southwestern Conference title possibly hanging in the balance, the O’Fallon Panthers needed a big-time performance to get them over the hump Thursday at Collinsville High School.

Instead, the Panthers got two.

Brooke Hall and Hilary Conrad finished first and second in the 400 meters and the Panthers scored enough points down the stretch as they repeated as champions of the SWC girls track and field meet.

With only a few points separating four teams — O’Fallon, Belleville East, Edwardsville and East St. Louis — the Panthers went with their top 400 runners, who responded. Hall finished with a time of 58.97 seconds and Conrad was right behind at 59.33 as O’Fallon opened a cushion by scoring 18 points in the event.

“A lot of teams strategically put their best runners in different events, depending on the situation, and we decided to put our best 400 runners in the 400 meters. We were hoping to go high. I don’t know if we expected to go 1-2 though,” O’Fallon assistant coach Ryan Massey said. “The girls responded. That finish put us over the top.”

Massey took over the reigns after head coach Neil James left the meet because of a family matter.

Sarah Rautio won the triple jump and the Panthers 3,200 relay team also won as O’Fallon finished with 145 1/2 points, 20 more than Belleville East (125 1/2). The Lancers were led by a pair of wins from Maria Effinger in the 1,600 and 3,200.

Edwardsville, getting a pair of wins from freshman Emmonnie Henderson in the shot put and discus, placed third with 123 points, one more than East St. Louis.

“I thought there were four or five teams that had a legitimate shot of winning this meet. I really did,” Massey said. “We were sluggish early and I wasn’t sure this was going to happen.

“But our girls were resilient, they kept their composure and they kept fighting through the last event. The level of competition in the SWC is just phenomenal.”

As was Effinger, who ran a time of 5:16.3 to win the 1,600 after turning in a personal best of 11:40.5 in the 3,200.

“It was a good day to run and a good weather to run good times,” Effinger said. “I felt good today and I was in the right mindset to run good times. It’s a physical sport, but it’s just as much mental.

“You have to have you mindset and be ready to go. Today, I was.”

Jessica McKaskill also claimed a win for East, taking the 100 hurdles.

Henderson had a personal best of over 151 feet to win the discus to go along with a win in the shot put. Hannah Faulkner claimed a title for Edwardsville in the pole vault.

Fourth place East St. Louis got wins from Markita Rush in the 300 hurdles and Kerryonna Green in the high jump.

Winning titles for Belleville West were Kristyon Tolliver in the 200 and Jessica Oranika in the 800.

Stephanie McClure of Granite City won the long jump.

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