CHARLESTON – Edwardsville's boys track team may be poised for a big finish Saturday after Friday's qualifying results from the 123rd IHSA Class 3A track championships at Eastern Illinois' O'Brien Field.

Most of EHS' entries advanced to Saturday's finals, which get under way at 10 a.m. at EIU's stadium in all three classes; qualifying for the final also took place in Class 2A, while Class 1A's finalists were determined Thursday.

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The Tigers saw Blake Neville advance to the final with a vault of 14-6, one of six from his flight to advance to the final and Justin White move on in the high jump with a 6-4 effort, one of six in his flight to move on to the final in the event. However, A.J. Epenesa did not advance to the shot put final, his 53-0.25 toss just missing out on moving into the final; Epenesa did move into the discus throw final, where he will be defending his 2016 state championship, with a throw of 184-8. Teammate Bruce Wachowski, however, did not advance to the final, his 151-4 falling just short of moving into the final. Both Travis Anderson and Matt Grebe moved into the 110 hurdles final, both winning their heats – Grebe running a 14.35 in his heat to upend East St. Louis' Delano Anderson, who had a 14.59 to move into the final, while Anderson won his heat in 13.67; Travis Anderson also advanced in the 300 hurdles, winning his heat in 37.89, while Grebe just missed moving on, turning in a 40.12.

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Franky Romano did not advance in the 800 meters, turning in a 1:59.83 in his heat, while the 4x200 relay team of DeVonte' Tincher, Kendall Abdur-Rahman, Jacob Morrissey and Darryl Harlan did not finish their heat. Tincher, however, did advance to the final in the 200 meters in a time of 22.33. Roland Prenzler will be in Saturday's 3200 meter final; that event did not have qualifying Friday, with the final being run in two sections Saturday.

Alton's 4x800 relay team of Kelvin Cummings, Evan Rathgeb, Cassius Havis and Arie Macias did not move on to the final in the event, running a 8:13.44 in their heat, while Kalen Samuelton had a 50-2.75 toss in the shot put and did not advance to the final. Granite City's Torrey Deal failed to advance in the high jump, leaping only 6-1 before being eliminated and also was eliminated in the triple jump with a 45-6 placing him fourth in his flight. The Warriors' Will O'Keefe advanced in the 800 meters with a time of 1:55.72 while brother Andrew just missed out in the 1600 meters, turning in a time of 4:19.74 in his heat.

In 2A qualifying Friday, Jersey's Ben Flowers moved into the final with a 4:21.13 time in his heat for a fourth-place finish, one of seven in his heat to advance, but the 4x200 relay team of Lucas Ross, Kevin Hall, Jackson Kight and Jake Ridenhour was disqualified in their heat and did not advance to the final; Austin Kimbrel had no height in the high jump and turned in a 42.41 in the 300 hurdles, just missing out on advancing to the final. Roxana's Jordan Hawkins advanced to the final in the discus throw with a 168-11 throw to finish second in his flight of the event.

The finals in all three classes begin at 10 a.m. today, preceded by the traditional parade of competitors at 9:15 a.m.

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