Alton, Edwardsville have good days at Collinsville Invitational

If you asked both coaches, Alton and Edwardsville had good days Friday at the Collinsville Girls Invitational track and field meet at Kahok Stadium.

And if you look at the full body of work, you might agree, as the Redbirds took two firsts, two seconds and a third while the Tigers had two firsts and two thirds as Edwardsville tied for fourth with Chatham-Glenwood and Alton took sixth in the meet.

O'Fallon won the team title going away, scoring 156 points to far outdistance second-place Triad who had 86. Belleville West was third with 85 points, followed by the Titans and Tigers with 73 points each, the Redbirds with 70, Belleville Althoff with 44, Granite City with 41.5, Belleville West with 40.5, the host Kahoks with 25 and Columbia bringing up the rear with six points.

“We had a good day,” said Redbird coach Terry Mitchell. “We got close to the teams we've been chasing all year and that was good to see.”

Mitchell's top athlete, LaJarvia Brown, had a good day herself; she took top honors in the triple jump with a leap of 41-1, besting O'Fallon's McKenzie Ryan by nearly 4.5 feet and was nipped at the tape in the 300-meter hurdles by a quarter of a second, Brown turning in a time of 45.21 seconds to Belleville West's Miyah Dorsey, who won with a time of 44.97.

“LaJarvia just got beat at the wire,” Mitchell said, “but she had a good day overall and so did we.”

“I'm very pleased,” said Tiger coach MiKala Thompkins. “We started off with a (personal record) in the 4x800 relay, and the best part of some fo the times we had was that they were (records) or they were state qualifying times. Our relays were decent and I couldn't be more pleased with how we did today overall.”

With the Southwestern Conference Girls Championship coming up Wednesday at Granite City, Thompkins is aiming high for her charges. “If we could finish in the top three as a team, that would really be great,” Thompkins said.”

The top eight positions in each event paid points to the team on a 10-8-6-5-4-3-2-1 basis. Redbirds who finished in points-paying spots included Katie Mans, first in the high jump with a height of 5-4 and seventh in the triple jump with a distance of 31-9.5; Tyriss Holiiday, fifth in the pole vault with a height of 8-6; Alexis James, fifth In the discus throw with a toss of 103-9; Jewel Wagner, second in the shot put with a toss of 40-6; the 4x800 relay team of Anyria Goner, Tatianna Britt, Arryon Moss and Tynisha Holloway, sixth in 11:23.46; the 4x100 relay team of Holloway, Rylee Davis, Jalisa Casey and Brown, fourth in 50.45; Taylor Carpenter, third in the 100 hurdles in 15.53; the 4x200 relay team of Mans, Casey, Carptener and Davis, sixth in 1:49.90; Kimbreon Knight, seventh in the 300 hurdles in 48.60; and the 4x400 relay team of Brown, Mans, Rebecca Adney and Knight, fourth in 4:10.37.

Edwardsville athletes in points-paying decisions included Gabriella Romano, fourth in the pole vault with a vault of 8-6; Olivia Watson, fifth in the triple jump with a leap of 33-3.5; Jessie Chappel, fourth in the discus throw with a toss of 108-0 and seventh in the shot put with a toss of 35-11; the 4x800 relay team of Danielle Bohannan, Lori Cashdollar, Victoria Witzel and Melissa Spencer, first in 9:37.96; the 4x100 relay team of Watson, Rikkail Berry, Jenna Krone and Tatiana Perry, seventh in 50.01; Rachel Schoenecker, fourth in the 3,200 meters in 12:27.74; Elizabeth Lynn, sixth in the 3,200 meters in 12:38.27; Natasha Davis, eighth in the 100 hurdles in 17.02; Bailey McGuire, fifth in the 800 in 2:25.85; the 4x200 relay team of Perry, Berry, Cashdollar and Watson, fifth in 1:46.36; Autumn Harris, eighth in the 300 hurdles in 49.15; Haley Allard, third in the 1,600 in 5:30.81; Julianna Determan, seventh in the 1,600 in 5:42.44; Perry, sixth in the 200 in 26.67; and the 4x400 relay team of Cashdollar, Vegher, Harris and Bohannan, third in 4:10.05.

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