East St. Louis rallies past Belleville West for SWC girls track and field title

The East St. Louis Flyerettes captured three of the final five events Wednesday to win the team title at the Southwestern Conference girls track and field meet at Belleville West High School.

Edged out by Belleville West at the St. Clair County Meet a week ago, the Flyerettes were locked up with the Maroons once again Wednesday. But when Flyerettes senior Jariah Turner got past West junior Jessica Coughlin to win the 400 meters, it gave her team the spark it needed.

Turner finished with a time of 57.04 seconds, while Coughlin was just behind in 57.13.

East St. Louis junior Veronica Sherrod won the 300-meter hurdles in 43.68 seconds, and the Flyerettes ended the night by taking home the top prize in the 1,600-meter relay, finishing with a time of 3:50.

The fast finish helped East St. Louis end up with 161 points, five more than Belleville West (156). Belleville East was a distant third with 98 1/2 points.

Expected to contend for the Class 2A state title in two weeks at the IHSA girls state track meet in Charleston, East St. Louis also received wins from its 800-meter relay team, which finished with a time of 1:41.7, and freshman Desiree Poole, who won the discus with a throw of 123 feet, 6 inches.

Belleville West was led by senior LaQwasia Stepney, who won both the long jump (18-5 3/4) and the 100-meter hurdles (14.3). Senior Britney Mosby took the triple jump (37-6), and senior Makayla Melvin won the 200 meters (25.1)

The Maroons also won the 400-meter relay in 47.4 seconds.

Third-place Belleville East received victories in the 3,200-meter relay (9:40.3), from Laila Graham in the high jump (5-4) and from Danielle Schultz in the 800 meters (2:22.3).

Other winners Wednesday included Alton’s Lauren Weiner in the pole vault (9-0) and Janea Epps in the 100 meters (12.4); Edwardsville’s Quianna Johnson in the shot put (37-5) and Hannah Stuart in the 3,200 meters (11:58); and O’Fallon’s Peyton Schieppe in the 1,600 meters (5:22.2)

This story was originally published May 2, 2019 at 9:02 PM.