ALTON - Alton head coach Jeff White felt that his charges did very well in an opening outdoor relays meet Tuesday afternoon at Edwardsville High School, despite the cold and rainy conditions.
"I think we're doing the best we can do today," White said, "given the weather. It's pretty cold, in the 40s, with a little bit of rain coming down. But our guys still came out and competed and ran well, despite those conditions. And we've seen some really promising things to work on the rest of the season."
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The Redbirds' Simon McClaine had a very good day, winning both the 110-meter hurdles (15.91) and the 300-meter hurdles (41.73), and Coach White felt many other athletes stood out for the Redbirds as well.
"Immediately, I think of our (4x100 and 4x200 meter) relays," White said. "We've got a couple of things to fix with our handoffs, but we had some pretty good raw material there to work with, with speed. And it's really fun watching those guys; they have good chemistry with each other and it's going to get better. William Harris, Sam Elliott-Barnes, Clarence Johnson, and Jared Taul. And then, Rodrick Singleton is also on the (4x200) with that group. I'm really excited to see what they do this year and I thought they showed some potential today."
White feels that the Redbirds are showing much promise for the 2023 season.
"Yes and I don't want to forget about our distance group," White said. "We've got a strong distance group going and so, they're always good to watch run, too. And we didn't load up any of our distance events, so we've got a lot of really young guys on our team this year.
"We've got about 40 freshmen, and sophomores coming out. So we've been trying to give them an opportunity to run and see what we've got with those guys. But our distance group's going to be strong like it was last year. We're going to be better on the sprints this year."
