Stepney, Korak excel at Belleville West Girls Invitational Track Meet

Belleville West senior LaQwasia Stepney helped lead the Maroons to a second place finish at the 26-team Belleville West Girls Track and Field Invitational Saturday.

The versatile Stepney, who won the Class 3A state long jump championship a year ago, captured the 300 meter hurdles championship, finishing with a time of 46.48 seconds. The title was the only one of the day for the host Maroons, who used their depth to finish with 95 points.

Perennial state power Homewood-Flossmoor won the team championship with 111 points.

A University of Nebraska recruit, Stepney also placed second in the 100 meter hurdles with a time of 14.79 seconds.

Edwardsville junior Abby Korak captured two titles in the first major outdoor meet of the season. Korak won both the 1,600 meter title (5 minutes 24.6 seconds) and the 3,200 meters (11:12.05).

Other local winners included Breanna Chandler of Freeburg in the 800 meters (2:26 37) and Midgets teammate Ella Siebenberger who had a winning effort of 10 feet 6 inches in the pole vault.

Belleville East won the 3,200 meter relay in 9 minutes 52 seconds. The Lancers were third in the team competition, finishing with 61.5 points. St. Louis Trinity Catholic was fourth with 49 points while Alton rounded out the top five teams with 44 points.

This story was originally published April 1, 2019 at 10:18 AM.