By Michael Newman

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Elisah, Ill --- There are no doubts on what Ja’Mari Ward (Cahokia HS) can do on the horizontal jumps runway. After suffering an ankle injury at the Arkansas High School Invitational in January, Ward showed at the Troy Co-Ed Invitational that he was ready for his final IHSA track & field campaign. The Cahokia senior won three individual events on the way to winning the Boys Field Events Athlete of the Meet award.

Ward did look like he had lost a step in the last month in the Long Jump. He had a great series with his first three attempts all over 24 feet. The emphasis that he focuses on in getting the big jump in on his first attempt showed on the Crafton Center runway popping a 24-11 effort on his first attempt. His following two jumps (24-0.25, 24-5.50) showed that there was no rust after the layoff.

Two hours later, he jumped a safe 48-5.25 attempt in the Triple Jump good enough to win the event. He fouled on his second attempt before he headed over for the start of the 200 Meter Dash. Ward won that race out of lane six running 22.45 to break the meet record. He called it a day after that race not taking his final two attempts. Earlier in the meet, Ward ran a 22.3 opening leg in the 800 Meter Relay to give Cahokia a big lead. The Comanches went on to win the event (1:32.95) by two seconds ahead of Collinsville.

His objective in the jumps at this meet was not popping long jumps. It was just preparation for meets yet to come.

Watch the full interview with Ja’Mari Ward

Not to be ignored in the field events was a meet record performance by Curtis Gordon (Vandalia HS). The junior waited for the rest of the competitors in the Boys Pole Vault to go through their attempts. When Daniel Brown (Collinsville HS) and Michael Hudson (Shiloh HS, Hume) went out of the competition missing their attempts at 12-6, it was time for Gordon to enter. He cleared on his first attempts at 13-6, 14-0, and then 14-7. He set the meet record when he cleared a personal best 15-1 on his final attempt.

The Girls Field Events Athlete of the meet went to Allison Richter (Triad HS, Troy) with her win in the Shot Put. Her best put of the competition came in the third round with a 42-2.50 effort. The best performance in the field event came from LaJarvia Brown (Alton HS) in the Triple Jump. It was a bounce back event for her after a sub-par performance in the Long Jump when she fouled on her first three attempts settling for a seventh place finish and a 15-0.75 jump. McKendra Barthelme (Newton HS) jumped 17-10 ¾ on her final jump for the event win.

Brown’s performance in the Triple Jump was the exact opposite. She popped a state seasonal best 40-7.50 on her first jump to easily win the event. Brown also had a good day on the track winning the 60 Meter Hurdles (9.19) ahead of McKendra Barthelme. Brown ran 9.11 in the Prelims.

The Girls Sprints Athlete Meet went to Mariya Hudson (Cahokia HS) and deservedly so. The 2A defending sprints champ at last year’s state meet started her season just how she finished.  Hudson got a good start in the 60 Meter Dash finals to win the event (8.01) four hundredths of a second ahead of freshman Jeanea Epps (Alton HS). She dominated the 400 Meter Dash taking a two second lead on the first lap and continuing that momentum running 59.01 and winning by three seconds ahead of teammate Paris Jacobs. She concluded her day running an opening 61.1 on Cahokia’s 1600 Meter Relay. Cahokia ran 4:16.81 to win the event by fourteen seconds ahead of Newton.

Adam Nelson (Triad HS, Troy) dominated the 60 Meter Dash winning the Boys Sprint Athlete of the Meet. Nelson set the meet record in the prelims of the 60 Meter Dash running a seasonal best 7.01. He was even more impressive in the finals. Nelson got a great start improving his meet record running 6.93 to win by thirteen hundredths ahead of Trevore Sanders (Collinsville HS). Nelson finished second in the 200 Meter Dash behind Ja’Mari Ward.

Tyler Marler (Harrisburg HS) broke two record on his way to a win in the 60 Meter Hurdles. He set a meet record (8.44) in winning his preliminary meet. He improved his meet record by one hundredth of a second (8.44) to win ahead of Clayton Nickerson (Triad HS, Troy).

Jacey Roper (Carlinville HS) was the Girls Distance Event Athlete of the Meet with a come from behind win in the 800 Meter Run. Roper was two seconds behind race leader Abigail Richter (Triad HS, Troy) at the 400. She made up that deficit on the next lap. She closed with a 33 second final 200 crossing the line with a new meet record (2:24.88) and a four second win ahead of Richter. Roper’s teammate Colleen Madden dominated the Girls 3200 Meter Run (11:53.75) almost lapping the entire field winning by 37 seconds ahead of Colleen Corkery (Edwardsville HS).

After anchoring her team to the win in the 3200 Meter Relay, Lauren Whitehouse (Mahomet-Seymour HS) took the lead at the gun on her way to a twelve second win (5:22.94) ahead of Allison Zobrist (Highland HS).

Cory Landon (Carlinville HS) bided his time in the 1600 Meter Run before concluding the final 400 in 62 seconds pulling away from Marcus Skinner (Shelbyville HS). Landon’s winning time (4:28.76) was a meet record and earned him the Boys Distance Event Athlete of the Meet. Will O’Keefe (Granite City HS) caught Skinner at the line capturing second place by one hundredth of a second.

Gavin Hartley (Benton HS) took the lead at the start and refused to let Chris Stanley (Cahokia HS) pass him on three separate occasions in the 800 Meter Run. Hartley won the race (2:01.88) only thirteen hundredths of a second ahead of Stanley.

The most peculiar moment of the meet occurred in the 3200 Meter Run as Tyler Johnson (Pleasant Plains HS) and Nolan Kreipe (Carlinville HS) fought for the lead in the closing laps of the race. The bell signaling the final lap was mistakenly rung with two laps to go. Johnson took off with a 33 second lap. When he saw that he still had one lap to go, Johnson continued that pace running 9:56.12 for a four second win ahead of Kreipe.