MJHS track teams win SIJHSAA Class L titles

CARTERVILLE -- The Marion Junior HIgh School boys and girls both won the team championships at the SIJHSAA Class L state track and field meet held Saturday in Carterville.
The boys racked up 81 points to easily beat runner-up Salem (56), with Carbondale (48) and Mascoutah (37) also earning trophies.
The Wildcats figured to be strong in relays and lived up to that on the track.
Marion won the 4x200 relay in 1:39.39, nipping Salem (1:39.58) and Collinsville (1:39.93) as anchor Rayzhaun Bardo burned down the final stretch after taking the baton from Devyn Wright. Getting things started were Bryson Wilson and Deavon Margrum.
And in the 4x400 relay, Bardo and Wright ran again with Jason Morrison and anchor DaMareon Cooper and the result was a winning meet and school record time of 3:43.0, shattering the old mark by over three seconds.
Marion's 4x100 relay took second in 47.02 behind Salem (46.45) with Marcus Anders and Margrum in the mix with Bardo and Cooper. That time was a school record.
Cooper finished third in the 400 dash and his time of 52.90 would've been a meet record if not for Salem's Caden Bee (52.31) and Chester's Aiden Jany (52.75) running even faster. Wright was seventh in 55.84.
Benja Stone won the mile run with a personal-best time of 5:05.29, surging away from the pack on the final turn and blazing down the stretch. Stone ran seven seconds faster than his seed time to stun the field.
Sean Hudspath took third in the 800 (2:15.54), Zachary Oates placed fourth in the high jump at 5-8. Margrum also placed fourth in shot put (43-8), Tanner took fourth in the pole vault (10-6), Smith placed fifth in shot put (41-10) and Bardo went a personal-best 18-3 in long jump to place seventh.
"We had some areas where there were good surprises and areas where we thought we could've done better," said MJHS coach Jenna Fletcher. "But then we had a lot of personal records and that's all you can ask for."
The Lady Wildcats, meanwhile, collected 54.5 points to win the big trophy for the second straight year, while Carterville and Waterloo tied for second at 49 and Wolf Branch was fourth at 31.
Karris Rhine was Marion's only individual winner. Rhine and Salem's Katie Allen both went 8-6 in the pole vault and neither cleared 9 feet which would've tied the meet record. Rhine, who had cleared 9 feet at regionals for a school record, was declared the winner by tiebreaker.
Marion won the 4x100 relay as Kamarzhea McMillen, Malia Roye, Isis Williams-Wolaver and Janae Maxwell ran a time of 53.32 seconds. Maxwell's anchor push edged Whiteside (53.35) at the finish line.
Maxwell also placed second in the 100 dash in a time of 12.38 seconds that would've been a meet record if not for Carterville's Alecia Doyle (12.32) crossing first. Doyle also won the 400 1:01.15) and placed second in the 200 (26.08) with Maxwell sixth (27.11).
Margaux Bruce placed third in the 400 (1:03.18) behind Doyle, placed third in the long jump (15-5) which was also won by Doyle, took fourth in the 800 (2:36.27) and also ran in the 4x400 relay. Lily Garrett took fifth in the shot put (30-5).