Track Knights Battle At Madison County Meet And Mascoutah Military Classic
By Anthony Jones
Nearing the end of the regular season, Triad’s boys track and field team picked up some momentum with strong performances at high level meets. This featured the Madison County Championships and the Mascoutah Military Classic.
Held in Collinsville, the team opened the week at the county championship on May 18. Other teams in the field featured Edwardsville, Collinsville, Alton, Granite City, and Highland. The Knights finished fourth overall in this field, scoring a total of 69 points.
A trio of Knights left the meet as county champions. A familiar sight this year, Caleb Rutz emerged as the meet champion in the pole vault, clearing his personal best height of 14 feet. Cole Van Teighma emerged victorious in a field event as well, winning the shot put with a throw of 14.13 meters. Triad’s third champion was Josh Edison, winning the 200 meter dash with a blazing time of 22.68 seconds.
Another top finish was the Knight’s 4×400 meter relay team of Juliano Cigliana, Caleb Bagwell, Chase Harmon, and Tristan Darby. Running a strong time of 3:36.19, the team was passed by Edwardsville for first place in the final stretch of the race, taking second by just over half a second.
Other relays found success as well. The 4×200 team of Cory Warren, Hunter Jones, Andrew Wildhaber, and Dane Gallo finished in 1:38.15 to take fourth overall. Also taking fourth overall, the 4×100 team of Warren, Harmon, Ethan Maxwell and Darby ran a time of 45.74 seconds.
The Knights threw their way to points as well. In the discus, Nick Joliff and Van Teigham finished fourth and fifth overall. Owen Corder finished sixth in the shot put as well.
In distance events, senior Ethan Dudley took fifth overall in the 800 meter. The 1600 meter run also was solid for Triad. Drake Bleier glided to a time of 4:43.99 for fourth and Drew Pace clocked in at 4:53.91 to finish just behind Bleier.
In the 200 meter race, Jones clocked in at a time of 24.57, good for fifth overall. Fellow senior Maxwell claimed sixth in the 100 meter race.
Three days later, Triad returned to action at the Mascoutah Military Classic. The meet hosted fifteen of the top teams in the area. At the end of the day, the Knights finished in seventh overall with 47 points. This placed them four points behind O’Fallon for sixth place.
Remaining undefeated this year, Rutz yet again won the pole vault. In the same event, Triad’s Jackson Buck finished strong as well. He placed third overall, clearing a height of 3.80 meter.
Also finishing atop the field, Edison won the 200 meter race. His time of 22.79 edged out Collinsville’s Jerry Richardson by seven hundredths of a second.
Cigliana had a big day for Triad as well. As an individual, he placed eighth overall in the long jump and sixth in the 400 meter run. He also led the 4×400 team consisting of him, Bleier, Bagwell, and Darby that took sixth place. Taking fourth place, Cigliana also took the anchor leg of the 4×100 team with Warren, Edison, and Maxwell.
The 4×800 relay team of Bleier, Dudley, Charlie Gentemann, and Bagwell ran well too. Running a time of 8:38.51, the team took sixth overall. In the freshman-sophomore division, Triad’s team of Warren, Gentemann, Dalton Mersinger, and Rylee Hansen took eight overall.
In the 3200 meter race, a pair of Knights scored. Running an impressive time of 10:30.11, Pace finished third overall. Ben WInslow finished eighth in the same race after finishing in 11:36.53.
