It was a excellent day for the host Freeburg boys track and field team (Tracy Burmester photo)
It was another great day at Freeburg High School Thursday afternoon when the boys competed in the Freeburg Invitational. Waterloo got the things rolling with the first win of the day in the 4x800 meter relay. The team comprised of Jackson McAlister, Sam Rick, Matthew Dawson, and David Lunk ran an 8:41.84; almost 20 seconds faster than their seed time.
Freeburg had strong showings in the distance events with Blake Hatter winning the 3200 in 10:31.69, Drew Wilkerson winning the 800 in 1:57.73, and Charlie Parrish winning the 1600 in 4:33.53; both Charlie and Drew ran new meet record times in their events.
In the hurdle events, Ben Rakers of Breese Central placed first in the 110 hurdles, and Alexander Quantavius of Belleville East won the 300 meter hurdles. Belleville East and Breese Central runners also had excellent races in the sprinting events; Micah Paneak (Belleville East) won the 100 meter dash in 11.63, with Collin Thomas (Breese Central) placing second. Thomas later went on to win the 400 meter dash in 50.57; a personal, meet, and school record for the senior from Central. Rounding out the wins for Belleville East was Marivon Brady who finished first in the 200 meter dash and also helped lead his team to victory in the 4x200 meter relay.
Freeburg high school capped off the day by winning the 4x400 meter relay, earning them a total of 144 points to win the meet. Belleville East earned 127 points to place second, with Breese Central close behind with 125 points, placing third. Placing fourth through sixth were Waterloo, Mascoutah, and Chester.