Highland girls track dominates Roxana Relays, Bulldogs boys place 4th at meet

A long, cold, and windy evening in Roxana ended in a huge feeling of satisfaction for the Highland Lady Bulldogs track team Monday, April 18.

The Lady Bulldogs overcame the weather and the competition to capture the Roxana Relays championship at Roxana High School.

HHS won the meet with 104 first-place points followed by second-place Father McGivney (45), third-place Civic Memorial (44), Mascoutah JV in fourth place (42), and Jerseyville (36.5) in fifth place. Alton Marquette (31) and Roxana (21.5) rounded out the rest of the seven-team field for the meet.

“The girls had a good day and we’ve won a couple of invitationals now,” Highland coach Doug Bradley said. “We won Greenville and (now) we won this one. We finished second at ours last week and we finished second at the Jersey Relays, so it’s been good success while we’ve had it.”

In the sprint relays, Highland’s sprint medley team relay won first place thanks to a huge effort from Peyton Frey on her 400-meter anchor leg.

“Peyton Frey was terrific as she anchored the sprint medley,” Bradley said. “Her team actually had the second 100 runner to the 200 runners drop the baton on the track and had to pick it up and was significantly in last place and Peyton ran them back to first place. She’s a stud.”

Frey also helped the Lady Bulldogs win the 4x200 medley relay along with Gillian Trover, Cheyenne Choat and Faith Brindley with a first-place time of 1:59.28.

In the field events, Josie Hapack took first in the shot and discus with first place throws of 37-9 and 125-4, respectively.

“Josie Hapack was able to get two throws inside the sector which was good to see,” Bradley said.

Other relay winners for the Lady Bulldogs included Trover, Lydia Hadowsky, Choat, and Sophia Thomas in the 4x100, and Trover, Faith Brindley, Krista Rittenhouse, and Maddie Dortch in the 4x400.

In the 100 hurdles, Hadowsky claimed first place with a time of 18.83.

In the jumping events, Choate captured the triple jump with a first-place leap of 29-11 while Hadowsky took third in the high jump with a height of 4-11.

Bradley was pleased overall with the team’s performance given the harsh conditions.

Highland boys show well at Roxana

The Bulldogs boys, meanwhile, looked to be competitive and show improvement and succeeded on both fronts at the Roxana Relays.

Highland placed fourth with a team total of 45 points behind first-place Civic Memorial (97), second-place Roxana (71), and third-place Jerseyville (70). Father McGovney (27), East Alton Wood River (19), and Alton Marquette (4) all finished behind HHS.

“We were down pretty deep as far as sprinters and jumpers and we had a lot of people gone for spring and Easter break, so it was nice to see some of our freshmen sprinters get opportunities, but it probably wasn’t our A-team we had out there,” Highland coach Joe Shannon said. “Overall, I liked the performance, and just seeing the team improve meet by meet has been exciting.”

The Bulldogs had a couple strong outings as junior Cole Basden won the 3,200-meter run with a time of 11:07.04. Ethan Smith took second place, running an 11:28.

Relay team shines

Highland also fared well in the 4x400 relay as the team of Isaac Irving, Braden Wakely, Phoenix Lewis, and Christian Knobloch finished second (4:09.12).

“They killed it in the 4x400. It was not a crazy good time, but with the conditions, all we were trying to do was make as many places as we could possible,” Shannon said.

Sophomore Ben Capelle had a strong showing in the 100-meter dash, clocking a 13.22 which was good for a second-place finish.

This story was originally published April 19, 2022 at 6:00 PM.