Jackson Breaks School Record In Long Jump, Watts Wins Two Events, Relay Teams Do Well As Tigers Win SWC Boys Track Title

EDWARDSVILLE - Aarion Jackson broke the school record for the long jump, distance runner Ryan Watts won two events, going one-two with Geo Patrylak in the 1,600 meters and the 4x200 relay team of Kellen Brnfre, Kyle Schmidt, Jackson and Jordan Bush won their race in a season's best time as Edwardsville won the boys Southwestern Conference track meet Wednesday afternoon at the Winston Brown Track Center at Edwardsville High.

The Tigers won the title with 188 points, with East St. Louis a distant second with 134 points, O'Fallon came in third with 85 points, Collinsville was fourth with 59 points, Belleville West was a very close fifth with 58 points, Alton came in sixth at 37 points and Belleville East was seventh with 32 points.

Edwardsville won both the varsity and JV meets, which made for a great day for the program and head coach Chad Lakatos couldn't have been any happier.

"Fantastic," Lakatos said. "We won the varsity division, we won the JV division. Conditions weren't that great; it's all of a sudden turned from spring to summer, but it was a total team effort today."

The weather conditions were very warm throughout, with the temperatures in the lower 90s and wall-to-wall sunshine, which made things somewhat difficult for the athletes, but the Tigers adjusted to the conditions well, and had some great performances also.

"We went one-two in the 1,600 and Ryan won the 800; he had a tough double," Lakatos said. "Geo had a tough double as well, anchoring the 4x800 and coming second in the 1,600. It was a great effort by our distance runners today."

In addition, Ryan Luitjohan and Jacob Grandone went one-two in the 3,200 meters, while Jackson had his record-breaking performance in the long jump and Jordan Brooks won the triple jump, along with the 4x200 meter team's win, topping off with Iose Epenesa winning the discus throw and placing second in the shot put, making it a very successful day for the Tigers.

In the 100 meters, the Flyers went one-two, with Kenneth Buchanon winning with a time of 10.77 seconds, with teammate Malachi Wren second at 11.02 seconds, with Samuel Elliott-Barnes of Edwardsville fourth at 11.25 seconds, Brnfre was fifth at 11.27 seconds and Alton's Gardell Ballinger II was seventh at 11.32 seconds. The 200 meters saw Buchanon and Wren go one-two again, with Buchanon coming in at 22.53 seconds and Wren right behind at 22.73 seconds. Bush was fifth at 23.62 seconds and Schmidt was seventh at 24.35 seconds. In the 400 meters, Belleville West's Ramontay Abram won with a time of 49.94 seconds, with East Side's Timothy Cross second at 50.09 seconds and the Tigers' Mason Miller came in sixth at 52.67 seconds.

Watts won the 800 meters at 1:58.49, with teammate Liam Hoeferlin third at 1:58.89, the Flyers' Darris Ivy was sixth at 2:04.16 and Alton's Christian Kotzamanis was seventh with a time of 2:04.84, with teammate John Krafka eighth at 2:05.26. Watts and Patrylak went one-two in the 1,600 meters, with Watts winning at 4:22.25 and Patrylak second at 4:22.27, with the Redbirds' Alex Macias coming in sixth at 4:59.86. Luitjohan took the 3,200 meters with a time of 10:30.42, while Grandone was second at 10:44.39, while Alton's Noah Gallivan was sixth at 11:32.07.

In the hurdles races, East Side's Demarlynn Taylor won the 110 meters with a time of 15.04 seconds, with Alton's Simon McClain second at 15.64 seconds, Edwardsville's Clayton Lakatos third at 15.97 seconds, Jake Curry of the Tigers was sixth at 16.76 seconds and the Flyers' Amonte Jones was seventh at 17.23 seconds. Taylor, McClain and Lakatos all finished in the top three again in the 300 meters, with Taylor winning with a time of 39.19 seconds, McClain second at 40.89 seconds and Lakatos third at 41.14 seconds. Curry again finished sixth, with a time of 42.87 seconds.

In the relay races, the Flyers won the 4x100 meters at 42,58 seconds, with the Tigers second at 42.89 seconds and the Redbirds sixth at 44.71 seconds. Edwardsville's 4x200 meter team won the race in a season's best 1:29.56, with East Side second at 1:29.95 and Alton was fifth at 1:34.84. The 4x400 meters saw Belleville West win with a time of 3:27.02, while Alton was second at 3:33.15, Edwardsville came in third at 3:33.18 and East St. Louis sixth at 3:37.86. In the 4x800 meters, O'Fallon won with a time of 8:09.46, with Edwardsville second at 8:10.10 and East St. Louis third at 8:42.06.

In the field events, Collinsville's K.J. Thorps-Watt won the high jump, going over at 1.90 meters, while Brooks came in second at 1.85 meters, Curtis Bownes of the Flyers tied for third with Jordan Suggs and Dallas Hopkins, both of O'Fallon, all going over at 1.80 meters, with Bownes placing third, Suggs fourth and Hopkins fifth on the fewest misses rule. Edwardsville's Deshawn Larson tied for sixth with West's Quincy Cotton at 1.75, with Larson getting sixth place points for the Tigers on the fewest misses rule. Alton's Travis Billups was eighth at 1.70 meters. In the pole vault, the winner was Edwardsville's Ethan Stukenberg, who went over at 3.95 meters, with teammate Nick Helton fourth at 3.20 meters.

Jackson won the long jump in a new Edwardsville school record of 7.25 meters, or 23 feet, nine-and-a-half inches, with Thomas Hills of the Flyers fifth at 6.35 meters, Alton's Jaylen Telford sixth at 6.28 meters and East Side's Kyle Baker-Patterson seventh at 6.16 meters. Brooks won the triple jump with a leap of 13.95 meters, while teammate Malik Allen was second at 13.93 meters, Baker-Patterson was third at 13.01 meters and Hills came in fifth at 12.31 meters.

Andrew Bownes of the Flyers won the shot put with a throw of 14.65 meters, with Epenesa second at 14.33 meters, Lymar Davis of the Flyers placed fifth at 13.56 meters and the Tigers' Nathan Chapman was sixth at 13.19 meters. Epenesa came back to win the discus with a toss of 49.01 meters, with Andrew Bownes second at 48.49 meters, Edwardsville's Dalton Brown was fifth at 43.03 meters and Alton's Gage Depew and Christian Hardin were sixth and seventh respectively, with Depew having a throw of 42.11 meters and Hardin coming in with a distance of 39.90 meters.

In the JV results, the Tigers won with 229 points, with the Panthers second at 96 points, the Lancers were third with 71 points, the Kahoks came in fourth with 65 points, the Redbirds and Maroons tied for fifth with 22 points each and the Flyers came in seventh at 12 points.

The teams now prepare for the IHSA sectional meet next Thursday, May 19 at OTHS Panther Stadium in O'Fallon, and while Lakatos and the staff still have some spots to fill, he feels the Tigers will be ready.

"We'll see," Lakatos said. "We've got a few decisions on a few events, but were about 90 percent certain on our lineup. We'll talk about where to put kids in which events, and we'll go from there."

Dan Brannan also contributed to this story.

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