CHARLESTON – Kenneth Buchanon and Devion Montgomery qualified in two sprint races each for East St. Louis, while Triad and East Side each sent two relay teams through, Civic Memorial’s 4×800 meter team went through in their event and Roxana’s Ashton Noble qualified for the finals in the discus throw in the preliminaries of the IHSA Class 2A boys track meet Friday afternoon at O’Brien Stadium at Eastern Illinois University in Charleston.
In the 100 meters, Buchanon made it through to the final with a time of 10.88 seconds and also in the 200 meters, coming in at 21.87 seconds, with Montgomery also going through at 22.00 seconds. Montgomery also qualified in the 400 meters with a time of 49.23 seconds, with teammate Quentin Stepney also qualifying at 50.25 seconds, but there were no local qualifiers in either the 800 or 1,600 meters. In the 800, Justice Eldridge of CM had a time of 1:58.41, with Darrus Ivy of the Flyers in at 1:59.38, Wyatt Doyle of Roxana had a time of 2:02.48, Triad’s Miles Venhaus came in at 2:06.92, CM’s Lucas Naugle had a time of 2:07.93 and Highland’s Dallas Mancinas came in at 2:14.54. Jackson Collman of the Eagles had the area’s top time in the 1,600 of 4:32.36, teammate D.J. Dutton came in at 4:40.24 and Triad’s Drew Twyman had a time of 4:42.52.
In the hurdles races, Demarlynn Taylor of the Flyers qualified in the 110 meters with a time of 14.80 seconds and Cahokia’s Keyshawn Lyons also qualified with a time of 14.81 seconds, with both also qualifying in the 300 meters, with Taylor going in at 38.98 seconds and Lyons qualifying at 40.14 seconds, with the Flyers’ Armonie Jones having a time of 41.77 seconds, In the relay races, Triad went through in the 4×100 meters at 42.40 seconds and the Flyers qualifying at 42.54 seconds, while Cahokia had a time of 43.96 seconds, Both the Knights and Flyers went through in the 4×200 meters, with Triad having a time of 1:28.61 and East Side being clocked at 1:29.28, with the Comanches coming in at 1:30.57. In the 4×400 meters, East St. Louis qualified with a time of 3:23.30 and Cahokia going through at 3:24.33, while the Eagles qualified in the 4×800 meters at 8:04.85, with Highland coming in at 8:22.57.
In the field events, there were no local qualifiers in the shot put, with Andrew Bownes of East Side having a throw of 14.42 meters, and Zach Van Tieghem of Triad going 14.39 meters. Chase Crawford of Cahokia qualified for the discus throw with a toss of 48.21 meters, with Noble going through with a throw of 47.80 meters and Andrew Bownes of the Flyers qualifying at 47.13 meters, while Josh Hodge of CM had a throw of 39.60 meters. In the high jump, Nicholas Deloach of the Comanches, Tashon Crockarell of the Knights and Denium Powell of the Flyers all went over at 1.88 meters to qualify for the final, while Curtis Bownes cleared 1.85 meters, but didn’t qualify.
In the pole vault, Triad’s Parker Friederich qualified for the final by going over at 4.05 meters, while in the long jump, Deloach went through with a jump of 6.39 meters and will be joined by teammate Jo’Viano Howard, who went 6.32 meters to qualify and in the triple jump, Deloach qualified with a jump of 13.81 meters and will be joined by the Flyers’ Tyreque Baker, who went 12.81 meters.
The finals in all events, along with the Class 1A and 3A finals, will take place on Saturday. 
