Vandalia track squads continue setting records
Three individuals and one relay team on the Vandalia boys track team earned a place at Saturday’s Pana Open track meet.
Angel Osorio led the Vandals with a first-place performance in the high jump. The junior cleared 6 feet, 4 inches to lead the field. The second-place jump was 6 feet.
Senior Drew Bell battled rival Blake Delong of Hillsboro for most of the race, but had to settle for second place as Delong pulled away to set a new meet record of 4:29.82. Bell’s time was 4:33.98.
The other individual to place for the Vandals was junior Drew Stewart, who captured sixth place in the shot put with a throw of 41 feet, 3 inches.
The VCHS frosh/soph 4×100-meter relay also placed sixth, with a time of 50.13 seconds. Members of the relay were Justin Clark, Zayne Nash, Quenten Austin and Michael Galletto.
Though they did not place in the competitive 13-team meet, 400-meter runner Andy Koonce and the VCHS 4×200-meter relay team both set school records. Koonce broke his own school record with a time of 54.1 seconds.
The relay team of Cody McGee, Codee Street, Michael Galletto and Osorio had a time of 1:40.7 – beating the former record of 1:40.9.
Tolono Unity
Girls Invitational
The Vandalia girls track team placed in six events, set a meet record in the 1,600-meter relay and finished sixth as a team at the 25-team Tolono Unity Girls’ Invitational track meet on Saturday.
Taking first place in a meet record time of 4:14.88 was the VCHS 1,600-meter relay squad of Paige Dodson, Kristina Stunkel, Kayla Houston and Ashley Durbin.
Other firsts were Hagy in the 200 meters (27.56) and Houston in the 400 meters (1:00.25).
The Vandals’ 400-meter relay team placed third in 52.7. Running on that relay were Hagy, Houston, Dodson and Durbin.
Rounding out the VCHS scoring were fourth-place finishes by Hagy in the 100 meters (13.41) and Durbin in the 800 meters (2:28.77).
St. Joseph-Ogden High School won the team competition with 75 points. The Lady Vandals had 44.
Roxana Relays
The sprint relay team of Durbin, Stunkel, Hagy and Houston set a new school record with a time of 1:59.3 at the Roxana Relays held on Monday at East Alton-Wood River.
Vandalia scored 50 points to finish fifth in a field of nine teams.
The sprint relay team finished first, as did Houston in the high jump, at 4 feet, 8 inches.
The high hurdle shuttle team of Shelby Cearlock, Hannah Edwards, Courtney Gordon and Jessie Bright placed second with a time of 44.6, and the 1,600-meter relay team of Dodson, Stunkel, Houston and Durbin took second with a time of 4:24.8.
The 400-meter relay team of Hagy, Houston, Dodson and Durbin placed third with a time of 45.2, and the low-hurdle shuttle team of Cearlock, Edwards, Gordon and Bright finished second with a time of 1:08.8.
Cearlock placed fourth in the 100-meter high hurdles with a time of 18.1, and the 800-meter relay team of Hagy, Stunkel, Dodson and Cearlock placed fifth with a time of 1:56.4.
Pirate Invitational at Cumberland
The Vandalia Community High School boys track team on Tuesday placed fourth in an eight-team field – just one point behind third-place Altamont – in the Cumberland Pirate Invitational.
Casey-Westfield captured the team title with 126 points, followed by Fairfield with 109, Altamont with 71 and the Vandals with 70.
Drew Bell led the VCHS scoring with a pair of first place finishes in the 3,200-meter run (10:15.53) and the 1,600-meter run (4:43.5).
Will Cowger placed second in the shot put, with a throw of 40’4”.
Third place finishes were recorded by Drew Stewart in the discus (109’3”), Andy Koonce in the 400-meters (54:66) and the 4×800-meter relay of Quinn Phillips, Josh Lawson, Bryce Worker and Koonce.
The Vandal 4×400-meter relay of Phillips, Zayne Nash, Drew Bell and Koonce placed fourth in 3:55.24.
Placing fifth were Drew Stewart in the shot put (39’5”), Quenten Austin in the high jump (5’10”), Matt Grove in the triple jump (35’4”), Austin in the 110-meter high hurdles (18:41), the 4×100-meter relay team of Codee Street, Michael Galletto, Mitch Whightsil and Angel Osorio (49:52) and Daniel Bell in the 800 meters (2:20.68).
Sixth-place finishes were recorded by Galletto in the discus (102’1”), Daniel Bell in the high jump (5’10”), Nick Filer in the triple jump (34’9”), Blake Mills in the 110-meter high hurdles (18.45) and the 4×200-meter relay of Cody McGee, Street, Galletto and Whightsil.
The Vandal boys compete next on Friday at the Comet Relays at Greenville High School.