CHS track teams place at Freeburg meet

The Chester High School boys and girls track and field teams both competed at the Freeburg Invitational Meets April 9 and 10, finishing sixth and 14th overall respectively in the highly competitive event.

In the Boys event, Freeburg was the winner with 131 points followed by Columbia, 130; Breese Central, 109; Granite City, 104; Mascoutah 71.5; and Chester 8.5.

Chester's David Ashby placed 6th in the high jump to earn .5 points for CHS. He jumped 5-06 to tie for 6th place. Zach Pluff of Freeburg won the event with a jump of 6-04. In the long jump Justin Clendenin of Chester finished 11th of 11 competitors with his 15-03.75 performance. Zach Pluff won with a jump of 20-03.5.

David Ashby placed 8th of 9 competitors in the triple jump with his 36-04.5 effort. Karson Fehrmann of Breese was the winner with a jump of 41-09.25. In the discus Chester's Chase Colvis finished 8-of-9 athletes with his throw of 83-07. Teammate Garrett Welker threw 66-04 to finish 12-of-12. The winner was Conner Holten of Columbia (132-01).

The shot put closed out the field events with Chase Colvis of CHS finishing 9th out of 12 competitors. Holm's throw was 32-01.5. Tyler Holm of Chester threw 31-03 to finish 10-of-12. Kurt Clark of Granite Coty was the winner with his toss of 41-11.0. At the end of the field events Chester had earned .5 points.

Chester's 4 X 200 relay team of Joey Reid, Caleb Parker, Jonathan Hurst-Roy and Jack Hathaway placed 6th out of a field of six with a time of 1:51.13. Columbia was the winner (1:32.87).

In the 400-meter dash Jacob O'Riley finished 6th out of 11 runners to earn 1 point for CHS. His time was 56.61. Teammate Josh Haberberger finished 7th with a time of 56.68. Brendan Meng won the race with his 54.27 performance.

YellowJacket Gage Garniss finished 6th with a time of 47.33 in the 300-meter hurdles. Jay Ditmer of Breese Central was the winner in the field of nine runners with a time of 41.23. CHS had two competitors in the 1600 (1-mile) run. Zach Zappa finished 11th out of 12 runners with his time of 5:42.36 while Jordan Hughes finished 12th (5:54.70). The winner was Charlie Parish from Freeburg (4.29.23).

In the 200-meter Caleb Parker from Chester finished v9th of 11 competitors with a time of 26.47. Teammate Chris Schwier had a time of 27.64 finishing 11th. Isaiah Andrews from Mascoutah won the race with his 23.23 performance.

The Jacket 4 X 8 relay placed 6th with a time of 9:47.11. That relay team consisted of Lance Bohnert, Zach Zappa, David Ashby, and Mitchell Colonel. Mascoutah was the winner with a time of 8:45.55.

Joey Reid, Caleb Parker, Jonathan Hurst-Roy, and Jack Hathaway placed 6th in the 4 X 100 relay to earn 2 points. Their time was 44.55. Columbia won the event (44.55).

In the 3200 (2-mile) run Chester's Trent Bierman and Jordan Hughes competed. Bierman finished 8th-of-10 runners with a time of 12:38.07 while Hughes finished 9th of 10 with his time of 12:40.33. Ethan Sturm of Columbia was the winner (10:49.86).

Gage Garniss of CHS earned the team 2 points by placing 5th out of 10 runners with a time of 17.25 in the 110-meter hurdles. Jay Detmer of Breese Central took first place with his 15.61 performance.

Joey Reid finished 7th of nine with a time of 12:03 in the 100-meter dash. Jack Hathaway finished 9th (12.62. Tyler Hoquart of Columbia won (11.56).

In the 800-meter run Ronin Doiron finished 9th (2:24.36) and Mitchell Colonel finished 11th (2:36.24) in the field of 11 runners. Andrew O'Keefe of Granite City was the winner with his time of 1:58.42.

To end the event Chester's 4 X 400 (1-mile) relay team of Matt Korando, David Ashby, Gage Garniss, and Josh Haberberger placed 6th with a time of 4:03.75. Granite City won the event with a time of 3:38.37.

Coach Ben Hunter said, "We had some very good performances today and the boys are still working hard and running better times. Competition was fierce today but our guys still gave it their best and never gave up. We will continue to improve and get better as the season continues."

The Lady Jackets competed in the Girls Division Tuesday April 10. The CHS girls battled in a field of 16 teams finishing 14th in a very competitive event. Belleville East was the winner with 89 points followed by Belleville West (2nd, 83); Freeburg (3rd, 61); Althoff (4th, 51); Centralia (5th, 46); Nashville (6th, 44.5); Granite City (7th, 44) and Highland (8th, 30).

Other finishers included Mascoutah (9th, 28); Carterville (10th, 21); Carbondale (11th, 17); Benton (12th, 13); Waterloo (12th, 13); CHESTER (14th, 10.5); Columbia (15th, 5); and Breese Central (16th, 2).

Chester's athletes competed well and fought hard. Taylor Hennrich finished 18th in the 100-meter dash with her time of 14.67. Juliette Abernathy finished 26th (15.73). There was a field of 28 runners. Toni Rush from Granite City won (12:68).

The 200-meter dash featured a field of 28 competitors. Lauren Soellner finished 18th (30.77) and Taylor Hennrich finished 19th (30.80). Toni Rush of Granite City won (26.31). In the 400-meter dash there were 27 runners. Jessica Kattenbraker finished 11th (1:06.81) and Emma Bauer finished 15th (1:08.60). Brooke Du Hart of Granite City was the winner (1:01.77).

Avery Runge finished 13th in the 800-meter run (2:51.27). Taylor Dunning finished 18th (2:56.56). There was a field of 26 competitors. Seleiya Wilson of Belleville Eat was the winner (2:35.37).

In the 1600-meter (1-mile) run there were 24 runners. Chester's Taylor Dunning finished 11th (6:06.69) while teammate Avery Runge finished 23rd (6:46.38). Jenna Schwartz of Waterloo finished 1st (5:06.52).

The final individual running events were the 100 and 300 hurdles. In the 100 hurdles Josie Kattenbraker finished 9th in a field of 23 competitors (18.63). The winner was LaQwasia Stepney of Belleville West (15.19). In the 300 hurdles Kattenbraker finished 8th out of 24 runners with her time of 52.74. LaQwasia Stepney of Belleville West also won this event (47.59).

Chester's relay teams competed well as usual in each of the four events. In the 4 X 100 relay Abby Myers, Lauren Soellner, Taylor Hennrich and Ashtyn Jany finished 11th in a field of 15 teams (55.60). Belleville West was the winner (50.33).

In the 4 X 200 relay Chester finished 8th (1:58.14). That event included Abby Myers, Lauren Soellner, Taylor Hennrich, and Ashtyn Jany. Althoff was the winner (1:50.46). There was a field of 14 teams.

Taylor Dunning, Avery Runge, Emma Bauer, and Jessica Kattenbraker competed in the 4 X 800-meter relay (3200). The Lady Jackets finished 12th with a time of 11:16.04. Belleville East won (9:59.14.

The final running event was the 4 X 400 (1-mile) relay. CHS finished 8th in the field of 14 teams (4:30.39). Belleville East was the winner with their time of 4:05.76.

The Lady Jackets also competed in all six of the field events. Maddie Hoffman finished 8th in the shot put (32-04) while Avery Miers finished 25th (21-03) in the field of 25 throwers. Nikita Maines of Centralia was the winner (42-02). There were 26 throwers in the discus event. Maddie Hoffman threw 87-07 (11th) while Alayna Meyer threw 49-06 (25th). The winner was Ndia Johnson of Belleville West (124-02).

Katie Hoffman tied for 2nd in the high jump (4-10). Josie Kattenbraker jumped 4-08.0 to take 11th place. There were 22 jumpers. Chester's Abby Myers finished 4th in the pole vault with her vault of 9-06.00. There were 11 competitors. Stephanie Jacobs won the event with her 11-00.0 vault.

There were 20 competitors in the long jump. Katie Hoffman finished 13th (13-05.75) while teammate Ashtyn Jany finished 18th (12-11.75). Brittany Walker of Belleville West was the winner of the event (16-10.50).

Finally in the triple jump there were 21 competitors. Chester's Jessica Kattenbraker finished 6th (31-11.50) and Tayler Howie finished 13th (29-05.00). Brittany Walker of Belleville West won the triple with a jump of 35-00.50.

Lady Jacket Head Coach, Jenny Cartwright said, "Our girls gave it their all today. We had some pretty good performances and everyone worked hard. The field of competition was difficult with much larger schools for the most part but we continue to get better and we will work to improve as the season proceeds".