O'FALLON, ILL. • Edwardsville boys track coach Chad Lakatos was all smiles after watching his team capture first place in the 45th annual O'Fallon Relays Friday night.
The Tigers outscored host O'Fallon 134-128. They were followed by defending champion Belleville West (125), Belleville East (101) and Mount Vernon (61).
"We had a group good of kids as freshman and it's starting to pay off now," said Lakatos, whose school won the meet for the first time since 1995. "This was our goal coming in. Last year we were third to East and West and we weren't too far behind. We've got a good team. Track and field is kind of a weird sport with all the individual things. But with a relay meet like this it kind of shows your depth."
And that was evident on Friday as Edwardsville won only two individual events -- the 100-meter dash and the discus. But the Tigers finished third in the 3,200 relay and second in the 400 relay, 440 shuttle relay and 800 relay. They were seventh in the sprint medley and the 1,600 relay.
Individually, Cameron James won the 100 (10.7 seconds) and Garrett Jensen took top honors in the discus (147 feet, 6 inches). Joel Burroughs wound up fourth in the 3,200 run (10:26.88), David Umbaugh was seventh in the 110 high hurdles (15.5) and 300 intermediate hurdles (45.10).
In the high jump, Julian Harvey ended third, Vincent Valentine was third in the shot put (46-3½), John Miller finished second in the discus (142-7), Tom Schuette and Kevin Vysoky tied for fourth in the pole vault (12-6) and Garrett Covington was third in the triple jump (40-9½).
"Our coaches really help me going out of the blocks," James said. "We practice it all the time and today it worked out fine. I just went out there and gave it my all -- 110 percent all the time. That's what I live by."
The Belleville West 1,600 relay team broke the meet record. The squad was clocked at 3:22.70, breaking its own record of last season of 3:24.6.
West's Divonte Ridley was the only double individual winner. He took first place in the 110 hurdles (14.5) and the 300 hurdles (39.0).
"I felt really good about my races that I ran," Ridley said. "I felt kind of energized like I could do a little bit more. My times I felt like I could have done a little bit better. I always race to win."
East freshman long jumper Adoree Jackson easily won his event with a leap of 22-9 over second place Taemon Franklin of O'Fallon (21-2¼).
"I just like to thank God for giving me the ability to do all of this," Jackson said. "He gives the confidence to do what I do and all my teammates for pushing me the hardest to do the best."
