EDWARDSVILLE - Edwardsville’s Sophie Shapiro and Joi Story set the tone early Friday, April 3, 2026, delivering wins in hurdles and throws that helped power the Tigers to a dominant team title at the Lady Maroons Invite at Belleville West High School. Edwardsville finished first with 131 points. Belleville East was second with 89, followed by O’Fallon with 77, host Belleville West with 73 points, and Normal University with 71.
Shapiro blazed to a time of 13.66 in the 100 hurdles to win. The next finisher was Hannah Safrannek of Normal University with a time of 14.68. The Tigers' Adara Martin came in fourth with a time of 14.87. In the 300 hurdles, the Tigers' Shapiro won with a time of 41.96. Edwardsville's Martin was sixth in the 300 hurdles (47.23). Shapiro is a junior standout for the Tigers.
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Story won the shot put (12.22 meters), with Edwardsville's Jayla Gathing seventh (10.20 meters). Story tossed the discus 43.25 meters to take first, while Gathing also had a strong performance for second (41.12 meters). Gathing and Story are both seniors.
The Tigers' varsity 4 x 800 relay was also fantastic in the meet, with a first-place time of 9:48.92. That relay consisted of Willow Jackson, MacKenna Kerpan, Morgan Popelar, and Madison Popelar.
Other top finishers for Edwardsville were:
100 meters - 5. Joslyn Springman, 12.11.
200 meters - 2. Joanna Anoke, 24.32.
800 meters - 4. Madison Popelar, 2:24.39; 5. Serena Shapiro, 2:24.86.
1,600 meters - 2. MacKenna Kerpan, 5:21.23; 3. Madison Popelar, 5:22.44.
3,200 meters - 5. Cara Kietly, 13:04.26.
Edwardsville was third in the 4 x 400 relay with Jaylinn Bell, Serena Shapiro, Ainsley Goodwin, and Sophie Shapiro with a time of 4:03.61.
