Big day for Cahokia junior as he jumps #1 Triple Jump in nation

By Michael Newman

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Belleville, Ill – It is hard to leave a meet where Ja’Mari Ward (Cahokia HS) has competed in without using the phrase “unbelievable day”. It is a phrase that we really can’t use anymore since every meet that he competes in is common place. This season, we expect the big jump, the big performance from the Cahokia junior. Saturday’s Norm Armstrong Invitational was another example of Ward doing something spectacular making it look ordinary.

Ward was jumping for the first time in two weeks since he won both jumps at the Illinois Top Times Championships. This meet was another example of just taking enough jumps to win the event then start concentrating on his next challenge. In his first round attempt, he was off the board yet still jumped 23-6 into a commanding lead. His second round jump again was a matter of getting close but not on the board. He still jumped the second best wind legal jump in the nation so far this season 24-10 closing the door on the rest of his competition in breaking a 45 year old meet record. No other athlete broke into the 23 foot area with Matt Fleming (Simeon Academy, Chicago) finishing second with a 22-11 effort.

His next challenge was anchoring Cahokia’s 400 Meter Relay. The race opened up early with one of the favorites in the race Edwardsville having trouble on the first exchange. Belleville West had a slight lead on the Comanches when Ward received the baton. His long strides overtook Belleville West rolling to a convincing half second win (41.81 – 42.32) ahead of the host team.

The Triple Jump was one for the ages. Coach Leroy Milsap has emphasized with his star pupil to away the event on the first jump saving his energy for other events for the team. That is what happened on the first attempt. Milsap described his take off as “dead-on the board”. Ward bounded to a personal best and national lead 51-11 to shut another door and win the event by more than seven feet ahead of teammate Anthony McRoberts. He broke Kali Jackson’s meet record by almost two feet. Even with that effort, he still does not hold his school’s record. Jackson holds that (52-5). It is a record on Ward’s bucket list.

His fourth and final event of the day was leading off for his team’s 1600 Meter Relay. If you want to say that he closed the door on this event, it would be a good description. By the time he passed the 200 in 23.1, he had made up the stagger on the rest of his competition on the outside lanes. His split of 48.6 put his team in the lead for good. Cahokia had to hold off challenges by Minooka and Homewood-Flossmoor to win by three seconds.

Ward’s performances were just the tip of the iceberg of great action in this early season meet. State #1’s performances were left all over the Belleville West track. Just like with Ward, these kind of efforts are expected in this meet. 268 TFX Illinois performances were turned in.

Brothers William Session (East HS, Belleville) and Korrion Session (Cahokia HS) faced off once again in the 110 Meter High Hurdles. William stormed out of the blocks and had the race won by the time he crossed the fourth. He was running fast but did not realize how quick he was crossing the hurdles. He crossed the line and a gasp came from the crowd. The 13.91 time was wind legal with a 1.7 wind at his back. His time was 15 hundredths faster than his previous best. Korrion also ran a personal best (14.34) in placing second.

The same held true in the 300 Meter Intermediate Hurdles but it was not the 110 champion. Isaiah Michl (Edwardsville HS) crushed the field making up the stagger by the time the hit the half way mark on the curve. He was on pace of breaking 37 seconds. He struggled over the final hurdle coming in slowly at 38.16. His margin of victory was still more than a second ahead of Cahokia’s Korrion Session.

The three sprint races were fantastic. Kevion Akins (Cahokia HS) looked like he had the race won in the 100 Meters until the last five meters when Andre McGill (Madison HS) surged by and nipped him at the line. McGill’s 10.70 was only two hundredths ahead of Akins. Both ran personal bests. Akins turned the tables in the 200. McGill made another run but Akins built up a sizeable lead to hold off McGill 21.94 – 22.06. The 400 was a coming out party for Demontez McCray (O’Fallon HS). He ran a personal best 48.70 to win the race just by seventeen hundredths ahead of Tyler Higgins (Highland HS) who dropped under 50 seconds for the first time in his young career.

Cahokia demonstrated why they are the best overall Boys team in Illinois with a convincing win scoring 150 points. Minooka was a distant second (75 ¾ points) just ahead of Edwardsville. Along with the wins by Ward, Cahokia also got a win by Daniall Akins in the Shot Put. His 55-6 put is one of the top five performances in the event already this outdoor season. Cahokia won three out of the four varsity relays. Along with the 4x1 and 4x4 wins that Ward was involved in, Cahokia won the 4x2 relay (1:29.24) just ahead of Belleville West (1:29.97).

The relay that got away from Cahokia was the 4x8. Cahokia opened up a four second lead on O’Fallon at the half way point of the relay. A powerful 1:55.3 third leg by O’Fallon’s Spencer Phillips gave them a three second edge as he handed off the baton to anchor Dorrian Gordon. The all-state runner blasted a 53.4 second opening 400 opening up the lead on Cahokia. He held off Cahokia’s Chris Stanley down the final stretch to give his team a 2 second victory (7:55.13 – 7:57.81).

While the focus in this meet is on the speed of the sprints, the distance races were good with Edwardsville sweeping the three individual events. Wes Schoenthal ran a great double to win both the 800 and 1600 Meter Run. Schoenthal had a slight lead on Dustan Davidson (St. Louis University MO) as the two passed the first 400 in a comfortable 57 seconds behind Christian Hoover (Homewood-Flossmoor HS) who pushed the pace the first 300 meters. Davidson pushed for the lead as the two passed the 600 in 1:25.2. Davidson would not relinquish the lead until Schoenthal passed him in the last 10 meters. The Edwardsville senior crossed the line with a new meet record 1:55.00 just 23 hundredths ahead of Davison.

The 800 /1600 is a tough distance double. Schoenthal took the challenge seriously. He pushed the pace early trying to steal the race early opening a sizeable five second lead ahead of Gordon and Will O’Keefe (Granite City HS). Even though he ran 67 second third quarter, his lead grew to six seconds. His legs looked heavy as he navigated the final 400 of the race. O’Keefe made a move with 200 meters to go. If he would have went earlier, he may have caught Schoenthal who sensed he was coming as he passed the grandstand. Schoenthal completed the double crossing the line in a PR 4:22.68 finishing more than two seconds ahead of O’Keefe.

The third Edwardsville distance win came from Byron Groves-Scott in the 3200 Meter Run. He had a six second lead with two laps to go. Soren Knudsen (Minnoka HS) closed the gap the final two laps but Groves Scott held on to win by more than a second (9:37.29 – 9:38.76).

Darryl Sullivan had the top field event performance (outside those of Ward) in the High Jump. His second attempt clearance of 6-10 gave him a personal best and the win in the event ahead of Sabree Bakari (Southeast HS, Springfield) who also cleared a personal best 6-8. Ryan Ashenbremer (Normal West HS) cleared 14-3 to win the Pole Vault. Fouls dominated the Discus as pre meet favorites Ricky Nelson (West HS, Belleville) and AJ Epenesa (Edwardsville HS) fouled on all four attempts. Parker Evans (Centennial HS, Champaign) threw 159-9 in the second round. That effort was enough to win the event ahead of Harrison Wethers (Collinsville HS).