COLLINSVILLE – Alton junior track sprinter Jeanea Epps has been playing a key role for the Redbird girls the past couple of seasons.
Epps runs in the 100 and 200 meters and plays a role on the 4x100 and 4x200 relay teams; in Friday's Collinsville Invitational girls track meet, Epps won the 100 in 12.31 seconds, the 200 in 25.85 seconds, ran the third leg of the 4x100 relay team that finished second in 49.01 seconds, 29-hundredths of a second behind first-place Belleville West's team and ran the leadoff leg of the third-place 4x200 team in 1:46.95.
Get The Latest News!
Don't miss our top stories and need-to-know news everyday in your inbox.
Epps began running track in sixth grade, missing her sixth-grade year with a broken ankle suffered the day before her first meet, returning to the seventh-grade team the next year. “We were at a track practice and the facility we were in wasn't up to par to be practicing,” Epps recalled. “It was just a bad fall.”
As far as goals Epps set for herself as far as the 2018 season goes, she set a goal of making to the IHSA Class 3A state track meet in Charleston (set for the weekend of May 17-19) in all four of her events; Epps reached last year's state meet in the 4x100 (reaching the final with the team, finishing eighth in the event), the 100 (where she did not qualify for the Saturday final) and the 4x200 relay (where the Redbirds did not advance to the final). “I want to make new PRs (personal records) this season,” Epps said.
“It feels great” to be a part of the Redbirds, Epps said. “I want to break records for my school so the kids who are coming up will have more goals to look and make a great name for Alton to get us on the map.”
