BELLEVILLE – Local boys’ track athletes shined at the Norm Armstrong Invitational, the first big meet of the season, on Saturday morning and afternoon at Bob Goalby Field on the campus of Belleville West High School.
Edwardsville won the team title with a narrow win over both Belleville East and the host Maroons, scoring 54 points, with the Lancers and West tying for second at 50 points each, Chicago Kenwood was fourth with 49 points, and Mascoutah rounded out the top five with 44.5 points.
Collinsville finished sixth with 44 points, Cahokia was seventh with 38 points, Waterloo finished in a three-way tie for 15th with Minooka and Naperville Central with 19 points each, Triad and Ft. Zumwalt East tied for 19th with 14 points apiece, both O’Fallon and Freeburg tied with Tinley Park Andrew with 12 points each, Civic Memorial was 26th with eight points, and both Granite City and Alton tied for 28th with four points apiece.
The Norm Armstrong Invitational is one of the state’s premier meets, attracting talent from Illinois and Missouri every year, and is considered a preview of what to expect when the IHSA state meets take place in May.
In the sprint races, Noah Feldt of Mascoutah won the 100 meters with a time of 10.64 seconds, while Cincere Ruffin of Edwardsville was fifth at 10.70 seconds. The 200 meters was won by Feldt at 21.50 seconds, with Ruffin placing fourth at 21.76 seconds, and in the 400 meters, Troy Mclean of the Maroons won at 48.29 seconds, while Jaylen Pennington of Cahokia was sixth at 49.51 seconds.
In the distance races, Caden Wolfe of Andrew won the 800 meters at 1:56.67, with Waterloo’s Luke Smith third at 1:57.91, and CM”s Glenn Collins fourth at 1:58.43. The 1,600 meters was won by Tyler DeWilder of the Bulldogs, having a time of 4:25.89, with Brayden Kloeppel of the Panthers fourth at 4:26.86. and Chase Cooley of the Lancers fifth at 4:26.93. Thomas Czerwinski of Plainfield North won the 3,200 meters with a time of 9:06.39, with Kloeppel placing fifth at 9:16.30, Max Weber of the Eagles was seventh at 9 20.78, Landon Harris of the Warriors was eighth at 9:34.57, and the Tigers’ Hugh Davis was ninth at 9:42.05.
In the hurdles races, the 110 meters was won by Jayln Cole of West at 14.33 seconds, with Daylin Donaldson of East second at 14.51 seconds, and teammate Jayden Wright coming in fourth at 14.82 seconds. Donaldson won the 300 meters at 38.90 seconds, with Nigel Gooden of Cahokia finishing third at 39.43 seconds, and Wright came in fifth at 40.09 seconds.
Over in the relay races, Chicago Kenwood won the 4×100 meters at 41.59 seconds, with Mascoutah second at 41.74 seconds, East came in third at 42.08 seconds, and West was fifth at 42.23 seconds, In the 4×200 meters, the Indians won at 1:28.70, with the Maroons second at 1:28.99, and the Lancers were fourth at 1:29.28. The 4×400 meters was won by West at 3:22.33, with Cahokia second at 3:22.68, and East finished fifth at 3:26.97. In the 4×800 meters, Kenwood won at 8:07.37, with the Maroons second at 8:08.62, and the Tigers were sixth at 8:14.31.
In the field events, Collinsville’s Devin Habermehl and Shane Box went one-two in the shot put, with Habermehl winning with a throw of 17.82 meters, and Box finishing second at 16.45 meters. Gavin Stukenberg of Edwardsville placed sixth at 15,40 meters. In the discus throw, Habermehl won with a toss of 54.40 meters. Box came in second at 48.70 meters, Darien Johnson of the Redbirds was fifth at 45.67 meters, and Stukenberg finished seventh at 44.62. In the high jump, Matt Pluff of Freeburg tied with McKenzie Doe III of Chatham Glenwood. and Devyon Hill-Lomax for first, all clearing 1.95 meters, with Pluff winning the event, and Hill-Lomax taking third on the fewest misses rule. Isaiah Ford of Granite City finished sixth, going over at 1.90 meters.
In the pole vault, Parker Owens of Edwardsville cleared 4.65 meters to win, with Zane Meier of Triad second at 4.31 meters, and Robert Williams of Mascoutah placing fifth at 4.01 meters. The long jump was won by Jaydon Cole of the Tigers, who went 6.93 meters, while Victreze Thomas of the Comanches was third at 6.60 meters, and Isreal Rogers of the Knights came in fifth with a leap of 6.57 meters. In the triple jump, Alex Austin of Normal Community West won with a jump of 13.65 meters, while Thomas came in second at 13.51 meters, Loyal Patterson of the Kahoks was third at 13.31 meters, and Kamron Daniel of the Lancers was sixth at 13.06 meters.
Dan Brannan also contributed to this story.
