Du Quoin girls repeat as Mississippi Division champs
WEST FRANKFORT - Even with a steady annoying rain, the Du Quoin High School girls track and field team surged forward and repeated as Mississippi Division champions in the SIRR Conference meet held Thursday night at Johnson Field.
"When we come to conference we try to put our best athletes in individual events so they can maximize their points," said Du Quoin coach Shane Boyett. "And they really came through tonight."
The Lady Indians earned all-conference honors in 12 events, with multiple athletes in three of those. The top two finishers in each division in each event claimed that distinction.
But it took more than that to repeat as team champs.
"It wasn't just those points," Boyett said. "We got a lot of thirds and fourths that we weren't expecting. So it was a real team effort."
In chronological order of running events:
Du Quoin's 4x800 relay team placed second behind Nashville with a solid time of 11:11.02. Running were Olivia Craves, Hope Stewart, Cammi Knapp and Jacqueline Crain.
Then in the 4x100 relay, the Lady Indians were the winners at 52.52 seconds. Ella Hirsch came out of the blocks, followed by Bailey Harsy, Molly Dearmond and anchored by Madison Davis.
The two-mile run followed and Du Quoin took the top two spots in the Mississippi as Andrea Lopez was the winner in 12:43.28, followed by Gabby Alongi at 12:45.73.
The 100 hurdles were held in a pounding rain and Bailey Harsy was the winner in 17.28, just ahead of Anna-Jonesboro's Addison Osman.
Harsy, who had already done the long jump, relay and hurdles, went right back to the starting line for the 100 dash along with Davis.
Davis was the winner in 13.20 seconds, but Harsy took second at 13.51. Pinckneyville's Kenzie Rushing was a close third at 13.57.
Alongi then claimed her first individual win in the 800 by taking a huge lead and finishing with a time of 2:30.29.
In the 4x200 relay, Hirsch, Elizabeth Bird, Kaylee Stanhouse and Skye Westerhouse placed second in 1:58.71, barely a second behind Nashville.
In the 400, Pinckneyville's Rushing was the champion in 1:02.27, with Davis nipping Pinckneyville's Shania Opp for second place.
Alongi's second title came in the mile run with a time of 5:46.63, with Lopez second at 5:48.01 in a photo finish with Carterville's Reese Herrin.
Davis won her second title in the 200, which she finished in 27.34 seconds.
In the final race, Pinckneyville won the 4x400 relay with Opp, Rushing, Dakota Krone and Connie Moll running in 4:22.15.
The field events were held in miserable conditions.
Bird was forced to jump on a wet surface in a blinding rain and still cleared 4-8 to finish second in the division.
It was the same at pole vault, where Du Quoin's Maddie Robison and Pinckneyville's Kyla Epplin tied for second at 7-6 behind Anna-Jonesboro's Julia Lasley, who managed to set the meet record at 10 feet.
Harsy was third in the long jump at 15-1, with Hirsch fourth at 14-2. Hirsch was also third in triple jump (30-9.5) behind Pinckneyville's Krone, who was second at 34-2.
Du Quoin freshman Aubrey Barwick was third in the discus at 92 feet and third in the shot put at 30-11.
Although it was sloppy, uncomfortable conditions, the Lady Indians were certainly happy at the end of the meet with their new collection of hardware.
"We had a great meet all the way around," Boyett said. "The weather was miserable but they came out and didn't let it affect them. The girls embraced it. They came out and just performed. Not just one or two of them, they all did."