The stage was the St. Clair County Meet hosted by Belleville West HS; Jamari Ward dazzled his peers and the crowd with two US #1s (photo credit by Cahokia Track)
April is known nationally as the relay month in the college ranks. You have the Texas Relays, Drake Relays, and the Grand Daddy of them all: The Penn Relays. It would take a Herculean effort to steer any attention away from Philadelphia's Franklin Field, even on a wet and rainy day that featured high school and college relay qualifying mixed in with a yeoman's 5k and 10k for the distance hearty fans. But somehow nearly 800 miles west in the tucked away state of Illinois it happened. Cahokia superstar Ja'mari Ward came out of his bear cave from hibernation to demolish his competition in his favorite events: Long Jump and Triple Jump. The feats were two US #1s 25-6.75 [+0.3] and 53-7.50 [+1.9].
The diagram was just right for Ward-
The pit assault began with the staple long jump where Ward connected on his first attempt 25-2.50. Ward does not usually take his full complementary of jumps for obvious reasons, and he certainly did not need to go any further since he was over two feet better than Ian Parker (Jr., Belleville West) who jumped a very good 23-0.50. Ward lathered himself up some more and dropped another wind legal and top mark over the uber talented Grant Holloway (Sr., Grassfield, VA). Ward's 25-6.75 pushed Holloway's 25-4 to US #2.
The big news of the day would come in the triple jump where Ward went crazy with a scratch that traveled very far... how about 54-feet as some estimated. Since that legendary attempt did not count, Ward hit a monstrous leap ---> 53-7.50! It was not a perfect form landing jump but it was the best ever for an Illinois athlete. The G.O.A.T. status has officially been served for the present and the past greats. Ward's mark is the #5 legal wind athlete performance of all-time according to the stat guru Jack Shepard. Kenny Hall of Tara, LA has the national record of 54-10.25 in 2004. Ward's feat in terms of all-conditions is 7th all-time. Hall had a wind aided 56-2.50 leap that traveled with the assistance of a +4.6 parachute. Hall has another 54-9.25 wind breaker on his resume... fun fact: Ja'mari ranks #2 in the Ward name. Jason Ward of Paducah, KY (no relation) skied 54-9.25 in 2008 good for #4 all-time.
The best of the rest-
Lost in the mix was the return of Anthony McRoberts (Sr., Cahokia). McRoberts, an Illinois State University commit, was injured at the Illinois Top Times meet over a month ago. In his first meet back McRoberts won the high jump with an IL #3 6-9. The bar was moved up to 6-11 which would have been a personal best. McRoberts placed second in the triple jump to teammate Ward with a lifetime best 47-5.25. It appears as though McRoberts is 100% healthy and ready to assist the Comanches for another title run... Amari Franklin (Sr., Belleville East) got in on the fun with a great leap of 47-1.
Cahokia showed its range with an IL #2 4x800 relay win in 7:55.80
Five teams ran under 42.70 in the 4x100 led by the speedy Flyers of East St. Louis who clocked 41.84. Belleville West produced an IL #2 41.97 to show they are just as worthy in the short speed relay.
ESL ran one of the fastest times in regular season history in the 4x200 crushing the competition in 1:26.43
William Session (Sr., Belleville East) continued his winning ways in the 110HH posting a 14.18 win; Session won the 300H in 38.61
ESL did not run senior Roosevelt Davis in the 400 but still came away aces as Deante Anderson and Sanchez Rhodes pulled a sweep respectively 48.80 and 49.19
ESL closed out the meet with a record breaking performance in the 4x4 #showstopper and US #18 3:15.94. The tandem of Mosley, Rhodes, Johnson, Davis rolled splits of 48.1, 48.9, 49.3, 49.6. One would assume the Flyers cruised a bit winning by four seconds and with Davis on anchor who is a 47.xx open 400m man. We could see a 3:12-3:13 in the near future.
