Track Knights host invite, compete at county
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Photo by Anthony Jones: Pole vaulter Parker Friederich clears 3.97 meters
By Anthony Jones
Last week proved eventful for Triad boys track and field, as they hosted the Triad Knight Invite and competed at the Madison County Championships.
At their home invite, the Knights finished tied for eighth place out of 21 teams at the meet. Their 34 team points put them one tally behind seventh place Collinsville.
Eight of those points came from the 4×100 relay, where the Knights took second place. The team of Darby, Crockarell, Warren and Yohannes continued to take over the school record books with a time of 42.36 seconds to best third place by over a second.
Tashon Crockarell picked up two more individual medals throughout the meet by taking third in the 100 meter dash and fourth in the high jump. His marks in those events were 11.20 seconds and 1.85 meters.
Sophomore Drew Twyman added another top individual finish for the team after taking third in the 1600 meter run. His time of 4:37.85 made him the fastest underclassmen at the meet.
In the pole vault, Parker Friederich added another impressive result for the home team. The junior’s mark of 3.97 meters pushed him to fourth overall and surpassed the state qualifying mark for the first time in his career.
Fellow junior Zach Van Tieghem added another Triad medal from the field. His toss of 14.88 meters in the shot put earned seventh place honors.
The Knights also recorded two eighth place finishes at the meet. Braven Hard scored the first with a 1.80 meter high jump clearance and the 4×800 relay squad of Twyman, Venhaus, Pace and Mersinger did so with a time of 8:30.04.
Earlier in the week, the track Knights traveled to Granite City to compete against Madison County’s other large schools. Triad finished fourth overall against Alton, Edwardsville, Granite City, Highland and Collinsville.
Ten of the team’s 100 total points came from the 4×100 relay. They finished in just 42.49 seconds to defeat runner-up Alton by over half a second.
The open 100 meter dash proved to be a success for the Knights as well. Darby took second in the race with a time of 11.24 seconds and Owen Lightner’s time of 11.49 placed him fourth.
Triad’s other top two finishes both came from the field. Friederich did so with a then career best height of 3.96 meters in the high jump and Van Tieghem earned his silver medal with a toss of 14.08 meters in the shot put.
Scoring the team’s only third place finish at the Madison County Championships, Crockarell finished the 200 meter dash in 22.75 seconds. This time was a career best for the junior.
In the sand pit, the Knights took fourth place in both jumps. Jason Randoll earned that placement in the long jump with a distance of 5.45 meters and Ian Dempsey cleared 11.81 meters in the triple jump.
Yohannes added another fourth place medal to the team’s resume in the 300 meter hurdle race. The sophomore clocked in at 42.96 seconds.
The only other fourth place medal of the meet came from the 4×800 relay, who finished eight laps in 8:49.29.
Triad scored a pair of fifth place finishes at the Granite City meet in field events. Jaylun Nelson finished there with a 38.58 meter discus throw and Hard did so with a 1.78 meter high jump. Nelson would also take sixth in the shot put with a toss that measured 13.17 meters.
Sam Kuckuck added another fifth place finish for Triad in the 3200 meter, finishing in 10:42.29.
In the pole vault, Zach Rice cleared a height of 2.89 meters to finish sixth overall.
