O'FALLON – Friday's weather conditions for the 50th anniversary edition of the O'Fallon Relays track and field meet could be described as less than ideal.
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As in temperatures were in the low 50s and a stiff wind was blowing during the biggest part of the meet, creating rather uncomfortable conditions. Edwardsville, the defending IHSA Class 3A state champions, shook off those tough conditions to win the meet's large-school Gold Division with 170 points, well ahead of the host Panthers, who finished second at 112. Rockwood Summit of St. Charles County, Mo., took third with 106.5 points, followed by Belleville East (100), Belleville West (88), Collinsville (75) and Granite City (73.5).
Mascoutah won the small-school Blue Division with 204 points, followed by Triad (138), Freeburg (115), Highland (112), Salem (68) and Mount Vernon (65).
“I thought the kids responded well,” said Tiger coach Chad Lakatos. “It's a cool evening, the kids didn't complain; they came out and competed. I think we've got a lot that we can build on.
Edwardsville came out 1-2 in both the discus throw and shot put, A.J. Epenesa winning both events with Bruce Wachowski taking second in the discus throw and Desmond Chappel second in the shot put; that gave the Tigers a huge lift, Lakatos felt.
“We swept both shot and disc,” Lakatos said. “We came out of that with 36 points (10 points each for first, eight each for second); those guys are doing well, more consistent. It wasn't great conditions to throw; there were better conditions in the disc with the wind coming coming a little bit into their face.
“We were pretty consistent in the field events. I thought we had a pretty good day on the track; we got to see some young kids compete with the (freshman-sophomore) relays.”
“We had some really good performances today,” said Warrior coach Tom Miller. “I was really happy with our distance team; we won the (4x800 relay) and we took first in the distance medley (relay) as well and we still had a third place finish in the sprint medley (relay) with some of our other guys. It was a great finish for them and our hurdlers did real well today.”
Here are the full results for Edwardsville and Granite City athletes on the day; overall placements are shown, with teams separated out for scoring purposes in their respective divisions:
DISCUS THROW: A.J. Epenesa, Edwardsville – first (190 feet, 11 inches – meet record); Bruce Wachowski, Edwardsville – second (152-9 – personal best); Nathan Gassell, Granite City - 16th (99-8)
SHOT PUT: A.J. Epenesa, Edwardsville – first (53-4); Desmond Chappel, Edwardsville – second (52-3.5); Steve Jenkins, Granite City - 12th (39-7); Nathan Gassell, Granite City - 24th (30-10.5)
LONG JUMP: Tariq Minor, Edwardsville – fifth (20-2); Niklaus Wilkins, Granite City - 17th (18-0)
TRIPLE JUMP: Levon Hendricks, Edwardsville – second (41-6); Torrey Deal, Granite City – fourth (40-4)
HIGH JUMP: Justin White, Edwardsville – third (6-0); Ron Allen, Granite City – fifth (5-10); Levon Hendricks, Edwardsville – sixth (5-10); Torrey Deal, Granite City – eighth (5-8)
POLE VAULT: Blake Neville, Edwardsville – second (12-0); Jackson Warrer, Edwardsville, fifth – 10-6; Wilyonde Bell, Granite City - 11th (9-0); Kristian Nicard, Granite City - 12th (9-0)
3,200 METER RUN: Daniel Powell, Edwardsville – sixth (10:26.76); Max Hartmann, Edwardsville – seventh (10:29.09); Leo Nikonowicz, Granite City – ninth (10:44.73); Tyler Farrar, Edwardsville - 17th (11:24.99); Kariem Ali, Granite City - 20th (11:49.97)
FRESHMAN-SOPHOMORE 4X800 RELAY: Edwardsville, first – 9:13.60
4X800 RELAY: Granite City, first – 8:25.09; Edwardsville, fifth – 8:41.61
110 HURDLES: Chrys Colley, Edwardsville – sixth – 16.12; Raishon Bobo, Granite City – eighth (16.35); Daval Torres, Edwardsville - 10th (16.57); Tyler Tindall, Granite City – 13th (17.77)
FRESHMAN-SOPHOMORE 4X100 RELAY: Edwardsville, second – 45.82
4X100 RELAY: Edwardsville, first – 43.85
4X110 HURDLE SHUTTLE RELAY: Edwardsville, second – 1:08.93; Granite City, fourth – 1:12.11
100 METER DASH: Wilyonde Bell, Granite City – seventh (11.56); Justin White, Edwardsville – eighth (11.64); Cameron Pedersen, Edwardsville - 17th (12.03)
1,600 SPRINT MEDLEY RELAY: Granite City, eighth – 3:57.52; Edwardsville, 10th – 4:00.37
FRESHMAN-SOPHOMORE 4X200 RELAY: Edwardsville, first – 1:33.67
4X200 RELAY: Edwardsville, first – 1:30.29
300 HURDLES: Juwan Riggins, Granite City – second (41.43); Raishon Bobo, Granite City – fourth (41.73); Chrys Colley, Edwardsvlle – seventh (43.38)
4,000 DISTANCE MEDLEY RELAY: Granite City, first – 10:58.82; Edwardsville, third – 11:08.66
4X400 RELAY: Edwardsville, eighth – 3:39.72: Granite City, ninth – 3:40.00
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