Sam Sikon will be a featured athlete at the Gene Armer Invitational
The 39th Annual Gene Armer Invitational in all honesty is the final co-ed invitational of the season and the last chance for any kid hoping to earn one last indoor personal best or invite to the upcoming Top Times. This unique meet is one entry per event and the race order is not in the traditional format. Things start early (9am) and before you know it it's over!
Senior shot putter Sam Sikon of Carbondale will be looking for a few items on Saturday. The first is to secure his third consecutive victory and the second is to regain his status as the top thrower in the state. Sikon's 62-9.5 is very good but it only ranks second behind Lockport junior John Meyer's 64-4. Sikon's all-time best is 65-2.9 and he is very capable of achieving that mark with one swipe of the wrist.
A slew of 21-foot long jumpers led by Mark Mahoney (Jr., Deerfield) should make this event competitive and interesting to watch. The goal of course is to win and possibly get into the 22 foot range.
Bloom Twp. junior Frank Massey will double back from the long jump and contest the high jump where is ranked #2 in the state with a leap of 6-8. Massey had the lead until Friday night when Jay Hunt of Batavia took it away. IL #3 Torrey Deal of Granite City is not far behind at 6-6 and he will look to upset Massey.
Wyatt McInytre is one of the top distance runners in the state (Beth Scheid photo)
Distance:
Wyatt McIntyre (Jr., Athens) makes his return in the 3200 on Saturday after last competing in Kentucky nearly a month ago. McIntyre finished second in the 1A cross country state meet last fall. Wyatt will tangle with Andrew O'Keefe in the 1600 later in the meet.... it will be interesting to see how the 800 unfolds as Will O'Keefe of Granite City has run 1:59 thus far this season. His closest and biggest threat will be Phillip Hall of Danville. Hall won the 800 at U of I several weeks ago at the Centennial ABC Invite.
Sprints:
Long sprinter Tyler Higgins of Highland will not contest his signature 400m. Instead he will build some leg speep in the 60 and 200 where he should be the favorite to win both events.... watch for Brooks to sweep the 4x2 and 4x4 relays where they have been at the top of the leaderboards all season.