Tigers, Redbirds turn in top performances in Edwardsville Indoor Invitational
by Brent Feeney
published March 10 2018 1:20 PM
updated March 10 2018 1:22 PM
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ELSAH – Preparations for the upcoming boys track and field season are well under way for both Alton and Edwardsville's teams.

The Tigers and Redbirds took the opportunity to get ready for the season by meeting some good competition Friday night at the Tiger Indoor Invitational meet, which took place at Principia College's Crafton Center. No team scores were kept for the meet.

The meet attracted what Tiger coach Chad Lakatos called “good-quality teams; when you can bring those guys together, it makes for a good meet. I'm pretty happy with the overall performance for our guys, but we still have some work to do. The indoor season is a good way to prepare; with the way the weather's been, it's been tough to get out with our sprinters and do some workouts, so we look at these types of meets as a workout for us.

“We got guys to be able to compete in some different events – I'm pleased. Obviously, there's some things we did really well and some things we still need to work on; it's a long season and I think we're taking steps in the right direction.”

 
“It was a great opportunity for us to race against some really good competition,” said Redbird coach Jeff White. “We've been doing pretty well this indoor season and it's starting to kind of come together for us right now; we indoor track meets a lot ot get in some really hard practices and get our times down so when we get outside, we're ready to go.

“We've got a really good balance right now between distance and sprints; we also have a really good freshman-sophomore class as well. We feel like we're pretty good at all levels in most events that we compete in.”

The highlight of the meet came in the 800 meters, where the top three runners in the race – including race winner Franky Romano of Edwardsville – topped the meet record for the event, Romano covering the distance in 1:57.05, followed by Carthage Illini West's Jacob Bryan in 1:57.79 and East St. Louis' Bryaun Manuel in 1:58.59, all faster than the previous mark of 1:59.02 set by O'Fallon's Chris Conrad the year before. Alton's Cassius Havis wasn't far behind, taking fourth place in 1:59.56, with the Redbirds' Kelvin Cummngs fifth in 2:01.06.

Other Edwardsvillew winners on the night included Blake Neville in the pole vault (who had a winning height of 13-6), Zach Walters in the 3,200 meters (10:04.48) and Roland Prenzler in the 1,600 meters (4:29.86); Alton's only winner on the night came from the 4x200 relay team of Earlie Brown, Demontra Wilson, Jonathan Bumpers and Terry Walker (1:33.48).

Feeney, 56, is a native of Granite City and graduated from Granite City South in 1978. He was a part-time writer for the old Granite City Journal from 1979-84 before attending Eastern Illinois University in Charleston,
from which he earned his BA in journalism in 1988. He has worked for newspapers in Sikeston, Mo., Rocky Mount, N.C., Seneca, S.C. and in Charleston-Mattoon. He also worked for the old St. Clair County Suburban
Journals.