Du Quoin boys edge out Murphysboro for first-place in home meet

Du Quoin took first in eight out of 18 events at a home track meet Monday evening to lift them to a first-place finish with 128.5 team points, edging out Murphysboro and Pinckneyville who finished with 101.5 and 100 points, respectively. <br />Other finishers were Steeleville with 15 points and Wayne City with nine. <br />Du Quoin dominated the field side of competition, winning five out of the six events. Senior Devin Jones set a new personal best in the discus throw with a throw of 183 feet, while fellow teammate Cullen Higgins took second with a throw of 110 feet, 10 inches. <br />Harley Gassel also set a new personal best as he finished first in the pole vault with a jump of 11 feet, 6 inches, while teammates Kennan Johnston and Bailey Webb finished tied for second with a jumps of 9 feet. <br />Zayne Fornear and Donovan Cole finished first and second in the long jump with distances of 19 feet, 5 inches and 18 feet, 9 inches, respectively. <br />Caleb Vogel rounded out the field winners for the Indians as he took first in the triple jump (with a distance of 39 feet, 10.5 inches) and the high jump (with a height of 6 feet, 6 inches).<br />Pinckneyville took first in the shot put as Nick Cannon won with a throw of 48-00.25 feet. Teammates Dalton Kitchen and Corey Dahn took second and third with throws of 41-09.5 and 41-04.5.<br />On the track side of competition for Du Quoin, Shamar Adams and Nick King also set personal records. Adams broke his previous PR in the 110-meter hurdles with a time of 15.9 seconds for first place, while Nick King set a new PR in the 800-meter run with a third-place finish and time of 2:10.58.<br />Other top finishers for Du Quoin were Westly Milam (first place in the 100-meter dash with a time of 11.89 seconds); Sam Zettler and Michael Worthington first and third in the 400-meter dash with times of 25.05 seconds and 25.24 seconds, respectively. <br />Top individual finishers for Pinckneyville on the track were Devin Kitchen (first place in the 200-meter dash with a time of 25.05 seconds); Grant Batteau (first place in the 800-meter run with a time of 2:05.47; Garret Johnson in the 1600-meter run (second place with a time of 4:57.65); Stetson Lappin and Noah Conner (first and third in the 300-meter hurdles with times of 43.84 and 49.04 seconds, respectively).<br />The Panthers also took home first place finishes in the 4x100-meter relay (with a team consisting of Kitchen, Brady Louis, Lappin and Caleb Logan) with a time of 45.41 seconds and the 4x800-meter relay (with a team consisting of Batteau, Chase Whitbracht, Ryan Brueggemann and Garret Johnson) with a time of 9:16.61.