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EDWARDSVILLE – Alton boys’ track and field team had some outstanding performances by Evan Rathgeb, Ronald Gilchrese and Zach Llewellyn en route to a seventh-place team finish at the Winston Brown Invitational Meet.
“We did what we wanted to do today,” said Redbird coach Jeff White. “We competed with some good teams today and ran well. We had two guys who stepped into the lineup today and did very well. I was really happy today, especially with our freshmen and sophomores and how they competed.
“Evan Rathgeb had a real good performance in the 1,600, Ronald Gilchrese had a good 400 performance and Zach Llewellyn had another (personal record) in the shot put and had a state-qualifying throw today. We're really thrilled for Zach. I feel that we've progressed well as the season has gone on and we've improved ourselves every meet we've been in.”
The Tigers' 175 points easily outdistanced defending state Class 2A champion Cahokia, who wound up with 128.5 points, a half-point better than third-place O'Fallon. Plainfield North was fourth with 113, followed by Triad with 81, Collinsville with 65, Alton (43.5), Effingham (31), Belleville Althoff (28), Carbondale (18), Harrisburg (10) and O'Fallon First Baptist (5).
Edwardsville junior A.J. Epenesa tossed the discus 206 feet, 5 inches, for the top performance of the day. It was the best through in the nation in high school track and field this season and the second best all-time in Illinois.
Here are the performances for area athletes on the day:
HIGH JUMP: Brooklyn Edison, Alton, T-sixth (5-7)
POLE VAULT: Blake Neville, Edwardsville, first (12-3); Justin Citrowski, Edwardsville, fifth (11-3)
LONG JUMP: Devonte Tincher, Edwardsville, fourth (20-11.5); Tony Dobbins, Alton, seventh (19-7); Kenneth Bond, Edwardsville, ninth (19-3)
TRIPLE JUMP: Levon Hendricks, Edwardsville, sixth (41-4); Jonathan Bumpers, Alton, eighth (40-0)
SHOT PUT: A.J. Epenesa, Edwardsville, second (54-6.5); Desmond Chappel, Edwardsville, third (53-8.5); Zach Llewellyn, Alton, fourth (53-0); Myles Marfell, Alton, 11th (41-1.5)
DISCUS THROW: A.J. Epenesa, Edwardsville, first (206-5; meet record – previous mark, 2015 - 182-0, Epenesa); Bruce Wachowski, Edwardsville, fifth (147-8); Zach Llewellyn, Alton, sixth (147-8); Kalen Samulton, Alton, seventh (144-11)
FRESHMAN-SOPHOMORE 4X800 RELAY: Edwardsville, second (8:39.20)
4X800 RELAY: Edwardsville, second (8:17.63)
FRESHMAN-SOPHOMORE 4X100 RELAY: Edwardsville, first (44.34 – meet record; previous mark, 44.36 – Edwardsville, 2015); Alton, fifth (46.30)
4X100 RELAY: Edwardsville, first (42.32 – meet record; previous mark, 42.34 – CBC, 2012); Alton, sixth (43.32)
3,200 METERS: Max Hartmann, Edwardsville, first (10:12.36); Sam McCormick, Edwardsville, third (10:25.45); Alexander Davis, Alton, ninth (11:05.27)
110 HURDLES: Travis Anderson, Edwardsville, first (14.32); Chrys Colley, Edwardsville, seventh (15.89); Rachaad Dancy, Alton, 13th (19.16)
100 METERS: Harrison Henderson, Alton, seventh (11.53); Dane Hudson, Alton, 12th (11.73); Jason Queen, Edwardsville, 13th (11.76); Zac Ballossini, Edwardsville, 15th (12.32)
800 METERS: Franky Romano, Edwardsville, seventh (2:05.63); Kelvin Cummings, Alton, eighth (2:05.66); Andrew Mang, Edwardsville, 13th (2:12.86); Nick Northway, Alton, 15th (2:18.90)
FRESHMAN-SOPHOMORE 4X200 RELAY: Edwardsville, first (1:31.58 – meet record; previous mark, 1:32.64 – Belleville West 2014); Alton, third (1:36.21)
4X200 RELAY: Edwardsville, first (1:28.92)
400 METERS: Ronald Gilchrese, Alton, fifth (53.29); Dionte Rodgers, Edwardsville, 12th (56.36)
300 HURDLES: Travis Anderson, Edwardsville, first (38.80); Chrys Colley, Edwardsville, fifth (41.23); Rachaad Dancy, Alton, 12th (51.79)
1,600 METERS: Daniel Powell, Edwardsville, third (4:42.97); Evan Rathgeb, Alton, fifth (4:44.89); Zak Wilson, Alton, ninth (5:08.37)
200 METERS: Tony Dobbins, Alton, sixth (23.18); Harrison Henderson, Alton, eighth (23.50); Seth Jacobs, Edwardsville, 10th (23.64); Chris Scott, Edwardsville, 13th (25.02)
FRESHMAN-SOPHOMORE 4X400 RELAY: Edwardsville, first (3:35.97)
4X400 RELAY: Edwardsville, third (3:29.21)
Dan Brannan also contributed to this story.
