Epenesa shatters discus mark by 25 feet, Tigers, Redbirds, Panthers, Warriors compete in Granite Invite

GRANITE CITY – Things came to the final race of the day in Friday’s Granite City Invitational track and field meet at Memorial Stadium, the 4×400 relay, and Cahokia’s first-place finish in the event gave the Comanches – the five-time defending IHSA Class 2A state boys champions – enough points to get past Edwardsville for the team championship.

Cahokia finished with 102.5 points to Edwardsville’s 97 for the team title, with Marion finishing third at 74, Belleville West fourth at 61 and Collinsville fifth at 59. Other area teams included the host Warriors (seventh with 55), Alton (ninth with 42) and Jersey (11^th with 28).

“Cahokia’s a great team,” said Tiger coach Chad Lakatos. “Anytime you lose to them, you don’t go home being very upset; it’s a quality program and we’re just glad we can have the opportunity to compete against them.”

A.J. Epenesa highlighted the meet with a record-shattering discus throw performance, winning the event with a toss of 193-9, shattering the previous mark by 25 feet. “We’re going to talk a lot about him,” Lakatos said. “He’s just a junior and he threw well in the disc; more importantly, he threw well in the shot today and that’s where we really want to see some gains, both him and Desmond (Chappel) looked really well today.

“It’s good to have those two competing against one another and hopefully they can continue to improve.”

“We did pretty well,” said Redbird coach Jeff White. “We met two of our main goals in the sprints that we had coming in, we tried some things in the distance to get those guys ready, we put some guys in tough events that they hadn’t run in the same meet, kind of gear them up for a run in May (in the IHSA state championship series) and see how they react.

“Sprints ran real well, we had (personal records) in the (4×100 relay) and (4×400 relay) – those are team events. We’re trying to get our team up to state (the Class 3A state track meet, set for Memorial Day weekend in Charleston) and focusing on those relays is a great way to do it.”

“I was pretty happy with how we competed with this much competition,” said Warrior coach Tom Miller. “Edwardsville and Cahokia are outstanding teams; I was happy with the performances today, especially our jumpers. Some of our jumpers got places that were a little higher than they were supposed to get, which was great. Our middle-distance crew, especially our (4×800 relay) and Will and Andrew (O’Keefe, who ran 1-3 in the 1,600 meters) and our (4×400 relay) came through for us today. We got a lot of points.”

“This was our first warm-weather track meet today,” said Panther coach Harold Landon, “and we’ve been looking forward to that. This is a high-quality meet; we knew that our distance races (with Ben Flowers taking part) were going to be our better races and we knew part of our sprints was going to be up against it today, and that turned out to be true.

“Ben won the 3,200 in 9:53; that was a highlight. Austin Kimbrel, our high jumper, was second; he went 6-2, and we had a freshman, Christian Cazier, get seventh in the 3,200 and ran a personal-best 10:38. I’m totally happy with what we did today.”

SEE VIDEO INTERVIEWS WITH COACHES BELOW:

Here are the individual results for area participants in the meet:

HIGH JUMP: Austin Kimbrel, Jersey, second (6-2); Torrey Deal, Granite City, fifth (5-10); Ron Allen, Granite City, 10^th (5-10); Brooklyn Ellison, Alton, T-12^th (5-8)

POLE VAULT: Justin Citrowski, Edwardsville, second (11-6); Wilyonde Bell, Granite City, T-fifth (10-0); Kristian Nicard, Granite City, T-11^th (9-0); Sam Tilden, Edwardsville, 14^th (9-0)

LONG JUMP: Kenneth Bond, Edwardsville, sixth (19-2); Niklaus Wilkins, Granite City, eighth (19-0.75); A.J. Shaw, Jersey, 15^th (17-5); Marquis Shaw, Granite City, 21^st (15-5.25)

TRIPLE JUMP: Jonathan Bumpers, Alton, third (40-8); Torrey Deal, Granite City, fourth (40-0); Kiondray Samelton, Alton, sixth (38-9.5); Rodney Smith, Edwardsville, eighth (38-7); Raishon Bobo, Granite City, 11^th (37-9); Josh Shaw, Jersey, 18^th (33-8.5)

DISCUS THROW: A.J. Epenesa, Edwardsville, first (193-9; meet record); Zack Llewellyn, Alton, third (148-10); Bruce Wachowski, Edwardsville, fourth (147-11); Josh Claxton, Jersey, 18^th (108-10); Nathan Gassett, Granite City, 19^th (107-11); Josh Shaw, Jersey, 23^rd (86-6)

SHOT PUT: A.J. Epenesa, Edwardsville, second (54-6); Desmond Chappel, Edwardsville, third (54-4.5); Zack Llewellyn, Alton, fourth (52-5); Steve Jenkins, Granite City, 12^th (43-7); Donovan Porter, Alton, 20^th (35-4); Jaden Craigmiles, Jersey, 22^nd (34-5); Dereck Hill, Jersey, 24^th (32-4)

4X800 RELAY: Granite City, second (7:58.55); Alton, seventh (8:34.31); Jersey, eighth (8:37.15); Edwardsville, 10^th (8:57.27)

4X100 RELAY: Edwardsville, second (42.97); Alton, third (43.01); Granite City, 10^th (45.30)

3,200 METERS: Ben Flowers, Jersey, first (9:53.51); Daniel Powell, Edwardsville, second (10:12.51); Evan Rathgeb, Alton, third (10:22.77); Christian Cazier, Jersey, seventh (10:38.74); Tyler Farrar, Edwardsville, 16^th (11:36.50); Aidan Sampson, Granite City, 18^th (11:43.21); Kariem Ali, Granite City, 21^st (12:04.09)

110 HURDLES: Daval Torres, Edwardsville, second (15.45); Chrys Colley, Edwardsville, eighth (15.82); Raishon Bobo, Granite City, 10^th (16.16); Mitch Goetten, Jersey, 12^th (16.82); Austin Kimbrel, Jersey, 13^th (16.82); Tyler Tindall, Granite City, 16^th (17.37)

100 METERS: Devonte’ Tincher, Edwardsville, fourth (11.54); Wilyonde Bell, Granite City, sixth (11.66); Kiondray Samuelton, Alton, ninth (11.80); Dylan Marshall, Jersey, 13^th (11.85); Kalen Samuelton, Alton, 16^th (12.03); Kendall Abdur-Rahman, Edwardsville, 18^th (12.06); Jordan Smith, Granite City, 23^rd (12.34); Alex Bertman, Jersey, 26^th (12.49)

800 METERS: Franky Romano, Edwardsville, first (2:01.51); Eriberto Neri, Granite City, 10^th (2:06.69); Kelvin Cummings, Alton, 11^th (2:07.32); Marcus Lumma, Jersey, 12^th (2:08.01); Jacob Davis, Edwardsville, 17^th (2:12.40); Andrew Bertman, Jersey, 19^th (2:12.77); David Davis, Granite City, 23^rd (2:14.12)

4X200 RELAY: Granite City, fifth (1:34.28); Jersey, eighth (1:37.62)

400 METERS: Darryl Harlan, Edwardsville, sixth (50.82); Lucas Ross, Jersey, 15^th (53.64); Ronald Gilchrese, Alton, 16^th (54.15); Dane Hutson, Alton, 20^th (56.60); Jackson Kight, Jersey, 21^st (56.72)

300 HURDLES: Juwan Riggins, Granite City, fourth (40.56); Raishon Bobo, Granite City, seventh (41.06); Chrys Colley, Edwardsville, eighth (41.99); Austin Kimbrel, Jersey, 14^th (44.12); Tom Rexing, Jersey, 16^th (44.69); Matt Swanson, Edwardsville, 17^th (44.75)

1,600 METERS: Will O’Keefe, Granite City, first (4:25.86); Andrew O’Keefe, Granite City, third (4:31.16); Ben Flowers, Jersey, fourth (4:32.63); Roland Prenzler, Edwardsville, seventh (4:38.31); Arie Macias, Alton (4:41.24); Nick Reynolds, Jersey, 11^th (4:44.57); Max Hartmann, Edwardsville, 16^th (4:52.81); Sam Gentelin, Alton, 24^th (5:11.51)

200 METERS: Seth Jacobs, Edwardsville, fifth (23.22); Dane Hutson, Alton, seventh (23.83); Dylan Marshall, Jersey, eighth (23.96); Dionte Rodgers, Edwardsville, 14^th (24.48); Demontra Wilson, Alton, 16^th (24.57); Dereck Hill, Jersey, 19^th (26.07)

FRESHMAN-SOPHOMORE 4X400 RELAY: Edwardsville, fifth (3:40.11); Alton, seventh (3:44.42); Granite City, 10^th (3:48.94); Jersey, 12^th (3:52.51)

4X400 RELAY: Granite City, fifth (3:27.03); Alton, sixth (3:29.91); Edwardsville, seventh (3:30.24); Jersey, 13^th (3:50.08)

Dan Brannan also contributed to this story.