EHS Boys Track Team Competes At Big Meets

Effingham High School boys track and field athletes competed against 36 teams in the Cogdal Invitational at Illinois State University Saturday.

The meet served as a last chance meet for the four athletes to qualify for the unofficial indoor state meet (Illinois Top Times) at Illinois Weslyan Saturday, March 29.

Top finishers for the Hearts include:

400 Dash -- Gio Santillan, 54.21 seconds, fourth out of 54 runners. Santillan was the fastest sophomore in the 400. and Jenner Pals with 55.52 seconds was 10th and Pals was the fastest freshman in the 400.

800 -- Alex Gordon, 2:03.00, second out of 59 runners and competed in the 1600 and was sixth out of 56 runners with a time of 4:43.99.

60 Hurdles -- Maxx Kistler advanced to the finals where he finished eighth out of 37 runners with a time of 8.90 seconds.

4x400 Relay -- Kistler, Pals, Santillan, Gordon finished fifth out of 31 teams with a time of 3 :41.71.

"We will found out Monday if any of these four runners qualified for the IllinoisTop Times next weekend," said EHS Coach Quenten Austin.

The Hearts competed against 10 teams in the Apollo Plus Invitational at Mount Zion March 15.

Welden Dunston -- fourth in 60 dash in 7.30 seconds; second in 200 dash in 23.99 seconds

Gio Santillan -- second in 200 dash in 23.99 seconds

Alex Gordon -- first in the 800 in 2:02.69 and is the Apollo Conference champion; fifth in triple jump at 11.20 meters (36 feet, 9 inches)

Maxx Kistler -- third in 60m hurdles in 9.11 seconds;

4x200 relay -- Kistler, Alexander McFarland, Chase Starkey, Gordon, fourth in 1:39.33

4x400 relay -- Kistler, McFarland, Starkey, Gordon, fourth in 3:45.59

Brady McDaniel, sixth in triple jump at 11.14 meters (36 feet, 6 1/2 inches)