618! 618! 618!

By Mark Jurgena

In addition to the Triad girls soccer team winning their third state championship this past weekend, many other Metro East squads brought home titles to Southwestern Illinois.

 On June 19th, the metro area swept all three state titles in girls soccer. The same day Triad scored a 1-0 title win over Joliet (Catholic), Belleville Althoff scored a 7-0 win over Elmhurst (Timothy Christian).

 Finally, O’Fallon completed the 618 state championship sweep by beating LaGrange (Lyons) 1-0 for the Class 3A crown.

The trophy parade began back on June 10th when Belleville Althoff won the Class 1A girls track title on the blue track of Eastern Illinois University.

It continued on June 17th when the Highland softball team walked off Lemont 1-0 to win the Class 3A title.

On that same day, Father McGivney’s baseball run to the Class 1A state championship fell just short as they lost in the title game to southern Illinois baseball power Farina (South Central) 4-2.

 The following day, Freeburg won the Class 2A baseball crown by crushing Elmhurst (Timothy Christian) 12-0. Two days later, O’Fallon finished third in Class 4A baseball with a 6-4 win over Rockton (Hononegah).

In boys track action, Mascoutah won the Class 2A state title on June 18th while East St. Louis placed third. Barry Evans of Mascoutah won state in the discus while Devonte Ford of East St. Louis High won the 110 hurdles.

Edwardsville placed fourth in the Class 3A boys track standings one day later. Their star sprinter Brandon Battle won the 100, 200, and 400 meter state titles.

Other Metro East track champions were Justin Mumford of Trenton (Wesclin) in the Class 1A 3200 meters on the boys side along with the 4×100 and 4×200 meter relay teams from Nashville on the girls side of Class 1A.

Jayden Ulrich of East Alton (Wood River) capped an undefeated season in both the shot put and discus as she won Class 2A titles in both events.