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CHARLESTON – With A.J. Epenesa setting a state meet record in the discus throw and school record in the shot put and Travis Anderson blistering the field in the 110 hurdles, Edwardsville advanced to Saturday's finals in six events at the IHSA Class 3A state track meet at Eastern Illinois University's O'Brien Stadium in Charleston.
Epenesa had a discus throw of 205-11, setting a meet record and just short of his season-best 206-5 at EHS' Winston Brown Invitational earlier this season; it was good enough for the day's best throw to get him into Saturday's final. Epenesa also had a personal best and school record toss of 60-4.5 in the shot put to also advance into the final; joining him in the event will be Desmond Chappel, who had a put of 55-5.75, putting him third in his flight. Only Lockport Township's John Meyer, with a toss of 61-2, was better than Epenesa on the day in that event.
Anderson advanced in both the 110 and 300 hurdles, Anderson turning in a time of 13.59 seconds, two-tenths of a second off the state record; the time, however, was wind-aided and will not count as a state record. Belleville East's William Session was the only other runner under 14 seconds at 13.88 seconds. Anderson also ran a 38.19 time in the 300 hurdles to move into the final, the fastest time of the day in that event.
Devonte' Tincher moved into the final in the long jump with a distance of 21-9.75, while the 4x100 relay team of Seth Jacobs, Tincher, Anderson and Tommy Giacobbe advanced into the final with a time of 41.98 seconds. The 4x200 relay team of Tincher, Giacobbe, Jacobs and Matt Swanson just missed moving into the final of that event, turning in a time of 1:28.65, while high jumper Justin White just missed moving into the final with a leap of 6-3; the height needed to advance to the final was 6-4. White did set a personal record in the event.
Granite City's 4x800 relay team of Will O'Keefe, Ron Allen, Andrew O'Keefe and Juwan Riggins did advance into Saturday's final, finishing second in their heat with a time of 7:53.81. Will O'Keefe, in the 800 meters, and Andrew O'Keefe, in the 1,600 meters, did not advance into the final in those events; Will O'Keefe turned in a time of 2:04.09 and Andrew O'Keefe had a time of 4:50.76.
Both Jersey's Ben Flowers and Roxana's Justin Hawkins both advanced to the finals of their events in the Class 2A meet Friday. Hawkins reached the final of the discus throw with a toss of 164-2, while Flowers moved into the final of the 1,600 meters with a time of 4:25.79.
Finals in all events of the meet will take place beginning at 10 a.m. Saturday.
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