East St. Louis overwhelms field at St. Clair County track meet
The East St. Louis brothers connection of Delano Anderson and Deante Anderson combined for three titles while Jarrell Anderson also won twice as the Flyers won the St. Clair County Boys Track Meet on Tuesday at Belleville West.
Hoping to successfully defend the Class 3A state championship next month in Charleston, the Flyers, led by the Anderson brothers, were in top form.
Despite competing in high winds throughout the day, Delano Anderson displayed the form which has made him one of the state’s best in the hurdles. The senior won the 110-meter hurdles in 14.59 seconds then edged Belleville West senior Ricky Berry in the final of the 300-meter hurdles with a time of 39.33 seconds.
Younger brother Deante Anderson, a junior, won the 400 meters for the Flyers, who haven’t missed a beat under first-year head coach Ramon Johnson.
“I’ve been watching them compete since they were in the sixth grade. They are two very good athletes who have worked very hard to get to this level,” Johnson said of the Anderson brothers. “It was a tough day to compete with the wind, but their performances were very solid.”
Jarrell Anderson, the leading running back on the Flyers team that won the Class 7A state championship in November, won the 100 and 200 meters for East St. Louis, which finished with 164 1/2 points as it defeated six-time defending Class 2A state champions Cahokia (112) and Mascoutah (106) for the title.
In taking the county title for the second straight year, the Flyers also won the 400-, 800- and 1,600-meter relays. O’Fallon took the 3,200 meter relay title.
“It feels great to win the county title. St. Clair County has a plethora of outstanding track and field athletes,” Johnson said. “Right now I’m pleased at our level for this time of the season. But we still have some areas where we need to improve yet. We need to keep working hard.”
One of those areas that is improving is in the 100 and 200 meters where Jarrell Anderson had a pair of wins. Struggling a bit with his form, Anderson still managed to win the 100 meters with a time of 10.73 seconds and the 200 in 21.76 seconds.
“I have been having a little trouble getting out of the (starting) blocks. But we’ve been working on some things and today was a little better,” Anderson said. “The times were good today.”
Second-place Cahokia, running without senior standout Chris Stanley (injured hamstring), finished with a pair of champions in Audra Ward in the triple jump and Marqwon Walker in the shot put. Third-place Mascoutah was led by Zach Wheeler, who won the discus with a throw of 148 feet, 3 inches.
Freeburg had three individual champions — Zach Pluff (high jump), Ian Alberts (pole vault) and Drew Wilkerson (800 meters).
O’Fallon senior Joey Black won the 1,600 meters, and teammate Will VanAlstine won the 3,200 meters. Althoff senior Jaylon Bester jumped a season best 22 feet, 7 inches to win the long jump.
This story was originally published April 26, 2017 at 12:03 AM with the headline "East St. Louis overwhelms field at St. Clair County track meet."