BELLEVILLE – Despite chilly and windy conditions, Alton’s girls track team turned in what Redbird coach Jada Moore termed a solid performance at Friday’s Belleville West Lady Maroon Invitational meet.
Conditions for the meet were cloudy with temperatures in the 40s, but the Redbirds got a win from Katie Mans in the high jump, a fourth-place finish in the 100 hurdles from Kimbreon Knight and a fourth from Jeanea Epps in the 100 meters to help AHS take a fourth-place finish in the meet with 55 points; O’Fallon scored 113 points to take the team title, with Edwardsville just behind at 103 points. The host Maroons had 81 points for third, followed by the Redbirds and Mount Vernon with 46 points to round out the top five. Granite City was ninth with 31 points and Triad took 11th with 22 points in the 15-school field.
“Considering the weather, we did OK,” Moore said. “We didn’t do our best; we’ve done better. We’re trying to figure out our relay positioning; we had a dropped baton today and that’s ugly – I’m kind of glad they experienced it so they can learn how to come from the bottom and go on up.”
Moore felt Mans contributed with her win in the high jump, clearing 5-2 to win the event. “We got a third place today from Tyress Holloway (9-0 in the pole vault); we were kind of rough in the sprints – I think the weather took a hold of us, but overall we did OK. We can do better – there’s always room for improvement. It’s early.”
Moore took over the program from Terry Mitchell this season. “I want to bring out the best in the girls,” Moore said when asked what she hopes to bring to the Redbirds this season. “I want them to be able to be competitive with everybody and having discipline; I want them to be able to compete with everybody.”
Other top performances for the Redbirds on the evening included the 4×100 relay team, who finished fourth in 50.10 seconds; Knight’s fourth in the 100 hurdles in 16.67 seconds; Epps’ fourth in the 100 in 13.19 seconds and Daysha Lacey’s sixth in the 100 in 13.28 seconds; Kellie Mans’ sixth in the 800 in 2:31.34; Knight’s second in the 300 hurdles in 49.39 seconds; Lacey and Rashia Johnson’s tie for seventh in the 200 in 28.08 seconds.
Coming up for the Redbirds is the April 7 Jersey Relays in Jerseyville, which gets under way at 4 p.m., then a trip to the April 12 Edwardsville Tiger Relays at Edwardsville’s Winston Brown Complex.
