TROY - East St. Louis had a big day overall, qualifying several athletes for next week's IHSA Class 2A state track meet as the Flyers overwhelmed the field in winning the Triad sectional Thursday afternoon in Troy.
East Side won with 167 points, while the host Knights came in second with 79 points, Rochester was third with 53 points, Civic Memorial was fourth with 51 points and Springfield Lanphier rounded out the top five with 41 points. Highland came in eighth with 24 points, Roxana was 11th with 17 points, East Alton-Wood River was 13th with six points and Jersey came in 15th with one point.
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Aslan Henderson of the Eagles won the 800 meters with a time of 2:01.78, with East Side's Darris Ivy also going through to state with a time of 2:04.23. In the 1,600 meters, CM went one-two as Justice Eldridge won with a time of 4:27.05 and Jackson Collman qualifying at 4:32.66. Collman also went through in the 3,200 meters, winning with a time of 9:50.04, with Triad's Andrew Pace coming in second and qualifying at 10:07.59.
A pair of Flyer runners qualified in the 100 meters, with Kenneth Buchanon winning with a time of 10.98 seconds and teammate Malachi Wren second at 11.11 seconds. In the 200 meters, Buchanon and Wren again went one-two as the only qualifiers, Buchanon winning at 22.13 seconds and Wren second at 22.98 seconds. In the 400 meters, the Flyers' Timothy Cross won with a time of 50.13 seconds, with Marcus Price of Breese Central second at 50.30 seconds and Rochester's Spencer Loy also qualifying with a time of 50.90 seconds.
In the hurdles races, Demarlynn Taylor of the Flyers won the 110 meters with a time of 15.36 seconds and Austin Robinson of Lanphier was second at 16.09 seconds. The 300 meters was won by Taylor at 40.32 seconds, with the Knights' Chase Harmon second at 41.75 seconds to qualify.
In the relay races, Triad won the 4x100 meters with a time of 42.74 seconds, with East Side second at 42.83 seconds and Jacksonville qualifying in third at 43.43 seconds. The Flyers and Knights reversed roles in the 4x200 meters, with East St. Louis winning at 1:29.97 and Triad second at 1:30.28. In the 4x400 meters, Breese Central won at 3:27.04, with Triad second at 3:27.90 and Rochester qualified in third at 3:28.62. The Eagles won the 4x800 meters, coming in at 8:16.84, with Taylorville placing second and qualifying at 8:25.12.
In the field events, Caleb Smith of Salem won the shot put with a throw of 16.57 meters, with Samuel McClain, Jr. of East Side coming in second at 15.64 meters. Roxana's Ashton Noble won the discus throw with a toss of 47.95 meters, with Andrew Bownes of East St. Louis second at 47.57 meters and a pair of Salem throwers, Cole Johnson and Smith, also qualified for state, with Johnson getting off a throw of 45.07 meters and Smith going through with a distance of 44.68 meters.
In the high jump, the winner was Jamarion Suggs of Lanphier, who went over at 1.87 meters, with both Curtis Bownes of the Flyers and Tashon Crockarell of the Knights tying for second, both clearing 1.83 meters, with Bownes coming in second and qualifying for state of the fewest misses rule. In the pole vault, Evan Alexander of Rochester won, going over at 4.27 meters, while Drake Howard of Taylorville was second at 3.96 meters.
Juliano Cigliana of Triad won the long jump, going 6.45 meters to qualify for state, with second place going to the Flyers' Thomas Hills at 6.42 meters. In the triple jump, Hills won with a leap of 13.04 meters, with teammate Kyle Patterson second at 12.73 meters.
All qualifiers will compete in the Class 2A state meet next weekend, with the preliminaries on May 27 and the finals on May 28 at O'Brien Stadium at Eastern Illinois University in Charleston.
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