SPRINGFIELD – Jersey's Ben Flowers will attempt to close out his high school career on a high note as he won the 1,600 meters in 4:25.07 in Friday's IHSA Class 2A Springfield Lanphier Boys Sectional track meet, advancing to next week's IHSA Class 2A state track meet in Charleston and helping the Panthers to a fourth-place finish with 48 points.
The host Lions won the team title with 141.5 points, followed by Decatur MacArthur with 57 points, Highland with 55 points, the Panthers and Rochester rounding out the top five with 46 points. Among other area teams in the meet, Piasa Southwestern finished 12th with 15.5 points, Roxana was 14th with nine points, Civic Memorial was 15th with seven points and East Alton-Wood River failed to score.
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Besides Flowers, JCHS' Austin Kimbrel advanced to the state meet in the high jump (leaping 6-5 for a third-place finish, qualifying on state standards) and 300 hurdles (finishing first in 42.15 seconds); the 4x200 relay team of Lucas Ross, Kevin Hall, Jackson Kight and Jake Ridenhour also advanced in winning the event in 1:32.24.
"The kids had a great meet," Jersey head boys track and field coach Harold Landon said. "It was a hot meet. We haven't run under those type of temperatures, but they kids did a good job. Ben Flowers is really ready to go for state."
Roxana's Jordan Hawkins finished second in the discus throw with a toss of 160-9 to advance to the state meet.
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