Edwardsville's girls track team has outstanding day at Southwestern Conference Girls Meet

Edwardsville's girls track team, as far as coach MiKala Thompkins was concerned, had an outstanding day at the Southwestern Conference Girls Track and Field Championship at Granite City's Memorial Stadium Wednesday.

The Tigers came away with two firsts, two seconds and four thirds on the day on their way to a third-place team finish with 104 points, trailing only team champion O'Fallon, who had 180.5 points, and second-place Belleville East, who had 108 points. East St. Louis finished fourth with 93.5 points, Alton was fifth with 71, the host Warriors were sixth with 45 points, Belleville West was seventh with 42 points and Collinsville brought up the rear with 28 points.

The junior varsity Tigers also took third with 112 points, trailing O'Fallon, who had 176 points, and East St. Louis, who had 140 points. Belleville East finished fourth with 70, Belleville West had 69, Alton had 28, Granite City had 10 points and Collinsville had nine.

“We did darn good today,” Thompkins said after the meet. “We fought all day, had some good finishes. We still have a few things we need to clean up, but overall, we did great.”

One of the Tigers' wins came in the 4x800 relay, which consisted of Danielle Bohannan, Bailey McGuire, Victoria Vegher and Lorie Cashdollar. “That relay did a spectacular job today,” Thompkins said. “They set a goal for themselves, battled for it and got it done."

“They've been together for a bit now, but we brought in some different legs. Bailey had been wanting to run on the team, so we gave her a shot at it and she did well.”

That O'Fallon dominated on the day was no surprise. “O'Fallon's a deep team,” Thompkins said. “They have some great athletes there.”

Also taking first on the day for Edwardsville was Gabrielle Romano, who won the pole vault with an vault of 8-0. Second-place finishes came from Autumn Harris in the 100 hurdles with a time of 15.60 and Cashdollar in the 400 with a time of 1:00.72, while thirds came from Kennison Adams in the 3,200 meters wth a time of 12:00.98; Bohannon in the 800 with a time of 2:22.65; Lizzy Lynn in the 1,600 meters in a time of 5:36.42; and the 4x400 relay team of Cashdollar, Rikkail Berry, Vegher and Bohannon in a time of 4:05.23.

Other Tigers who finished in points-paying positions (the top seven or eight, depending on the number of entries, in individual events and the top six in relays) included Olivia Watson, seventh in the triple jump with a leap of 30-4 and seventh in the 100 with a time of 13.42 seconds; Jessie Chappel, fifth in the discus throw with a toss of 111-11 and sixth in the shot put with a put of 35-10.5; the 4x100 relay team of Watson, Berry, Jenna Krone and Tatiania Perry, fifth in 50.12 seconds; Julianna Determan, fourth in the 3,200 with a time of 12:42.95; Natasha Davis, seventh in the 100 hurdles in 17.69 seconds; Melissa Spencer, fifth in the 800 in 2:29.26; the 4x200 relay team of Perry, Berry, Krone and Watson, fifth in 1:49.78; McGuire, seventh in the 400 in 1:04.00; Baley Allard, fourth in the 1,600 in 5:39.94; and Perry, sixth in the 200 in 26.98 seconds.

Tiffany Clark, in the discus with a throw of 87-6, was the only JV Tiger to win an event.

Individual champions included Alton's Katie Mans in the high jump; Alton's LaJarvia Brown in the long jump and triple jump; East St. Louis' Aaliyah Herron in the discus throw and shot put; the O'Fallon 4x100 relay team of Kersten Douglas, Dartrenetta Holman, Mya Blake-Watson and Nautica Lockett; O'Fallon's Sam Tidwell in the 3,200; O'Fallon's Douglas in the 100; Belleville East's Miyah Dorsey in the 100 hurdles and 300 hurdles; O'Fallon's Tami Cardenas in the 800; the O'Fallon 4x200 relay team of Douglas, Lockett, Holman and Watson-Blake; Collinsville's Brea Marshall in the 400; O'Fallon's Noelle Gilster in the 1,600; Belleville East's Sidne' Williamson in the 200; and the O'Fallon 4x400 relay team of Cardenas, Caitlyn Clinton, Taliah Reese and Douglas.

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