EDWARDSVILLE – Edwardsville’s Sophie Shapiro swept the hurdles races, running the second fastest time for a sophomore in the nation this season in the 100 meters, while Father McGivney Catholic’s top runners, Lilly Gilbertson and Elaina Rybak, won the 400 and 800 meters respectively, as the Tigers ran away to the team title in the Edwardsville Girls Invitational Friday afternoon and evening at the Winston Brown Track and Field Center.
The Tigers won with 160 points, with second place O’Fallon having 111 points, in third place was Normal University with 72 points, Bloomington was fourth at 68 points, and East St. Louis rounded out the top five with 58 points. The Griffins finished sixth with 48 points. Alton and Belleville East tied for seventh with 33 points each, Collinsville came in ninth at 29 points, Belleville West tied for 10th with Miller Career Academy of St. Louis, both scoring 22 points, and Granite City came in 12th with 11 points.
Alton got off to a great start with Rayna Ragllin winning the 100 meters at 11.90 seconds, with Edwardsville’s Joanna Anoke second at 12.14 seconds, Gilbertson came in third at 12.22 seconds, and Maliah McLean of West was fourth at 12.46 seconds. In the 200 meters, Je’Tira Taylor of East Side won with a time of 25.78 seconds, with Nadhari Goodwin of Belleville East fourth at 26.80 seconds, and Dariana Morris of the Kahoks sixth at 27.21 seconds. Gilbertson won the 400 meters with a time of 57.45 seconds, with NeVeah Bryant of the Redbirds second at 59.19 seconds, fourth place went to Kwanza Henderson of the Kahoks at 1:01.21, and Ka’Milla Tugle of the Flyers was fifth at 1:02.39.
Rybak’s winning time in the 800 meters was 2:13.06, with O’Fallon’s Kiah Mix second at 2:31.79, Bria Johnson of the Lancers was fifth at 2:37.25, the Redbirds’ Aliyah Rehling was sixth at 2:38.11, and teammate Val Schwab was seventh at 2:40.31. In the 1,600 meters, the winner was Ellie Bush of the Panthers, who came in at 5:09.00, with Jane Cummins of the Griffins second at 5:27.30, Edwardsville’s Willow Jackson was fourth at 5:40.59, and the Lancers’ Paulette Millender was fifth at 5:48.86. Mae Naveira of O’Fallon won the 3,200 meters at 12:17.36, with teammate Autumn Gavin second at 13:44.03, third place went to Hannah Stahlheber of Edwardsville at 14:55.49, in fourth place was Jamiya Cunningham of East Side at 15:35.04, and rounding out the top five was Kalea Tavares of West at 15:35.45.
In the hurdles races, Shapiro’s winning time in the 100 meters was 14.10 seconds, with Kendra Jennings of the Flyers fourth at 15.56 seconds, Adara Martin of the Tigers fifth at 15.65 seconds, and Anoke was sixth at 15.82 seconds. Shapiro also won the 300 meters at 44.45 seconds, with West’s Amyjia Robinson second at 45.39 seconds, Martin was third at 47.79 seconds, Raygan VanHook of O’Fallon was fourth at 48.00 seconds, and Reagan Jumper of the Tigers was fifth at 48.30 seconds.
In the relay races, Normal University won the 4×100 meters at 48.28 seconds, with Edwardsville second at 48.82 seconds, O’Fallon was third at 49.13 seconds, East St. Louis was fourth at 49.68 seconds, and Collinsville was fifth at 50.81 seconds. In the 4×200 meters, the Panthers won at 1:42.52, with the Flyers second at 1:43.31, and the Tigers were fourth at 1:47.96. The 4×400 meters was won by East Side at 4:05.92, with Edwardsville second at 4:16.53, West was third at 4:28.05, and Alton came in fourth at 4:36.40. In the 4×800 meters, the Pioneers won with a time of 10:08.77, with the Tigers second at 10:57.44, the Panthers were third at 10:57.81, and the Lancers were fourth at 10:59.16.
Going over tot the field events, Isabella Thurston of Normal University won the shot put with a throw of 11.91 meters, with Joi Story of Edwardsville second at 11.70 meters, Dariyah Ford of East St. Louis was third at 10.73 meters, in fourth place was Edwardsville’s Jayla Gathing at 10.43 meters, and rounding out the top five was Collinsville’s Ellie Rhinehart at 9.97 meters. In the discus throw, Gathing won with a toss of 40.52 meters, Story was second at 40.21 meters, Rhinehart was fourth at 36.00 meters, and Edwardsville’s Sadie Gaylord was fifth at 30.09 meters. In the high jump, Mia Range of McGivney cleared 1.58 meters to win the event, with O’Fallon’s Audra Johnson and Jocelyn Chambers, along with Granite City’s Lailynn Kelly, East’s London Quarles, and Alton’s Olivia Williams all cleared 1.48 meters to tie for third, with Johnson taking third on the fewest misses rule.
Claudia Ifft of the Purple Raiders, won the pole vault, going over at 3.50 meters, wth Edwardsville’s Jaylinn Bell and Bloomington’s Hailey Kardas going over at 3.05 meters to tie for second, Bell finishing second of the fewest misses rule, Granite’s Kya Wonders was fourth at 2.60 meters, and Edwardville’s Campbell Huffman fifth at 2.30 meters. In the long jump, Gillian Steinhauff of the Tigers won with a jump of 5.29 meters, with second place going to Tahjae Robinson of the Lancers at 5.04 meters, Lena Ward of Edwardsville was third at 5.01 meters, Aubree Heavens of O’Fallon was fourth at 4.99 meters, and teammate Lilly Prindable was fifth at 4.95 meters. In the triple jump, the winner was Chambers with a leap of 10.88 meters, with Pea’Ton Walker of East St. Louis second at 10.76 meters, Prindable was third with 10.27 meters, and Williams was fifth at 10.13 meters.
Dan Brannan also contributed to this story.
