E-Ville sprint crew L to R: L to R: Coach Lakatos, Craig James, Isaiah Michl, Fontez Davis, Brian Crowe, Rene' Perry
Penn Relays Meet Central
The Edwardsville Boys premier relay 4x1 and 4x4 squads will be traveling to Philadelphia to compete in the world famous Penn Relays this weekend. The Tigers will follow a path that only a few Illinois teams have ever gone before. Last year it was the Frankfort (Lincoln-Way East) girls that made headlines with their amazing fourth place finish in the Championship of America 4x100. The Lady Griffins set a state all-time best of 46.10. Edwardsville will share the same stage on Friday and Saturday and hope for a similar outcome.
Head Coach Chad Lakatos and each member of the team took a moment to share a remark on their upcoming Penn Relay experience:
Coach Lakatos-
First of all, none of this would be possible without the amazing support from our school district to allow us to take this journey. I think the history of the meet speaks for itself. I have watched this meet from my living room for years, dreaming of this day.
I felt our athletes last year put up some solid times for being such a young crew (three sophomores and two juniors at the time), and then when our 4x200 relay team won state for the first time in school history, I submitted our times and the invite was extend. This is a once in a lifetime opportunity for these athletes and I could not be more proud of the dedication they all put into our growing program.
Our goals for this weekend are to break the school records in the 4x1 and 4x2 relays. The times to beat are 41.67 and 3:20.79.
Brian Crowe to Isaiah Michl are two key pieces of E-Ville's armed and dangerous 4x1 quartet (Tony Holler photo)
Craig James - "Thank God for giving me this opportunity of a lifetime. I would have never guessed I would have been given this pleasure to run at one of the most spectacular track meets ever.”
Brian Crowe - "I am so honored to be part of a meet that holds so much prestige. I still can't believe we have been invited and I have been looking forward to it ever since. I couldn't be more excited to be there with my awesome teammates and coach.”
Isaiah Michl - "I'm truly lucky to have such an amazing opportunity and to know that our whole team will be supporting us from home. I’m extremely blessed to have such a great coaching staff to help me get to such an incredible meet.”
Fontez Davis - "Just being able to run with some of the fastest high school boys that ever lived is enough. Adding on a coach/father that would die to see us succeed is an amazing blessing from the man above.”
Rene' Perry - "It is an honor to have been recognized for our talent and to run against such talent will be a great experience.”