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EDWARDSVILLE – The Alton High School boys track team had some very good individual performances on Saturday at the Winston Brown Invitational meet at Edwardsville High, as the Redbirds finished 10th with a score of 29 points.
“We did pretty well,” said Alton head coach Jeff White. “Deonte (McGoy) performed very well, and we had some other good performances as well.”
McGoy won the 100 meters with a time of 10.74 seconds, and was second in the 200 meters, coming in at 21.83 seconds to help lead the Redbirds.
In the 800 meters, sophomore Gerard Bruce finished fifth with a time of 2:04.42, and White feels that Bruce is a strong runner who’s already made a positive contribution.
“We ran Gerard in place of Cassius (Havis) in the 800, and he’s a strong sophomore who’s doing very well,” White said.
Havis ran in the 1,600-meter race, and did very well, ending up in sixth with a time of 4:41.56. White believes that running in the 1,600 will help Havis down the road in his regular 800-meter event.
“Cassius did run in the 1,600,” White said. “It hasn’t been a focus, but he did pretty well, and it’ll help in his 800 times.”
In addition, Jaden Singleton ran a personal-record 11.21 seconds in finishing 11th in the 100 meters, and Ju’Qui’ Womack, who recently signed with Illinois College in Jacksonville to both play football and run track, finished fifth in the triple jump, going 41’ 10”.
“Ju’Qui finished fifth in the triple jump, and he’s a strong competitor for us in the jumps,” White said.
All-in-all, the Redbirds had a very good meet, despite being hit with a minor injury and illness bug.
“We had a decent meet,” White said. “We could definitely be better, but we’ve had a minor injury and an illness bug, but nothing too severe.”
The Redbirds continue to peak towards May and the IHSA sectional meet, and White is very confident that Alton will be ready to go come that time.
“I believe that we will be very good when the sectional comes around,” White said, “which is why we’re being cautious right now. Eventually, we will be excellent. I feel real good about this team, and we have some outstanding young men.”
Dan Brannan also contributed to this story.
