Kahoks bring home one first place finish at SWC meet
by Mark Jurgena
COLLINSVILLE — It was a bit of a disappointing day team-wise for the Collinsville boys track & field team at the Southwestern Conference meet at Alton Sports Complex on May 9.
The meet was delayed one day due to the weather.
Collinsville was only able to muster 40 points on the day. Edwardsville scored 148 points to claim the SWC championship while O’Fallon was a distant second place with 110 points.
Devin Habermehl won Collinsville’s only championship on the day. He took first in the shot put with a mark of 17.07 meters or 56’ 0”. Lose Epensa of Edwardsville was in second place at 16.88 meters or 55’ 4 ¾”.
Kahok Shane Box was fifth at 14.70 meters or 48’ 2 ¾”.
“Devin was our only conference champion,” said CHS coach Darryl Frerker. “He just continues to excel and do well. It wasn’t a PR but it was still a win. I feel like he’s poised and ready for sectionals to do well.”
Habermehl returned with a third place finish in the discus by marking at 50.16 meters or 164’ 7”. Epenesa took first at 52.61 meters or 172’ 7”.
Box took fifth place with a toss of 43.78 meters or 143’ 7”.
In the high jump, KJ Thorps-Watt took third place by clearing 1.90 meters or 6’ 2 ¾”. Devyon Hill-Lomax of Edwardsville won the SWC with a mark of 2.0 meters or 6’ 6 ¾”.
“He’s been nursing a little bit on tendonitis but if I’m not mistaken he’s jumped over qualifying standard to the high jump so even if he’s in third place at the sectional we’re still good to go hopefully for state,” said Frerker.
His height at the SWC meet is the minimum qualifying standard to qualify for state in Class 3A.
In the pole vault, Kahok Ayden Gratzl tied for second place with O’Fallon’s Cooper Parent with both vaulters clearing 3.05 meters or 10’ 0”. Collinsville’s Ben Stallings cleared 2.28 meters or 7’ 5 ¾”.
“Those heights weren’t anything to write home about,” said Frerker. “Gratzl was well over 13 feet at the last meet but he just didn’t have it at the conference meet. He was disappointed but I think he will be ready for sectionals.”
Chase Cummins took fifth in the 3200 meters with a time of 11:00.17. Dylan Ybarra won the SWC with a time of 9:37.12.
The Loyola, Chicago commit returned in the 1600 meters to claim another SWC crown. He ran a time of 4:26.4 to take the championship.
Collinsville’s Andrew Gonski took sixth with a time of 4:44.50.
In the long jump, Loyal Patterson marked at 5.97 meters or 19’ 7” for seventh place while defending state triple jump champion Malik Allen of Edwardsville won the SWC with a mark of 6.78 meters or 22’ 3”.
Finally, Kahok Trey Peterson ran the 400 and took eighth place with a time of 52.38 seconds. Troy McLean of Belleville West ran a 48.51 second time for the championship.
Upcoming Schedule
Collinsville competed in the IHSA Class 3A Danville Sectional yesterday however results were unavailable at press time.
If CHS has any qualifiers they will compete on May 24 and 25 in the Class 3A state championships.
