Edwardsville's Romano shines as Tigers finish second in Norm Armstrong Invitational

BELLEVILLE - Edwardsville’s Franky Romano set the pace for his other Tigers on Wednesday in the annual Norm Armstrong Invitational at Belleville West, capturing first in the 800 meters in 2:00.17.

Romano slipped by Cayden Kirkham of Waterloo, who finished with a time of 2:01.71.
Romano ran the opening leg of a 3,200-meter relay team that consisted of himself, Roland Prenzler, Jack Pifer and Wyatt Henning. The 3,200 team placed second in a tie of 8:14.64, another of the Tigers’ strongest performances of the day in a talented field.

Romano raced again in the 1,600-meter relay, running the first leg again, followed by Dan Powell, Ben Ryan and Brandon Battle that placed fourth in a time of 3:34.63.

Minooka won the meet with 120 points, followed by Edwardsville with 90.5, East St. Louis (81.5); O’Fallon (69), Cahokia (54), Alton (48); Belleville West (43); and Collinsville (34).

“We finally got a break in the weather,” Edwardsville head boys track coach Chad Lakatos said. “I thought our team competed well. We were second in an 18-team field and had some good performances and a lot of positives.”

Amari Brooks had a strong performance in the shot put (51-4.5) and discus (148.2). Roland Prenzler was the Tigers’ other second-place finisher in the 1,600 with a time of 4:28.0.

Other Edwardsville placers were: Zach Walters, fourth in the 3,200-meter run (10:08.07); Kenyon Johnson, third in the long jump (21-4), with teammate Jackie Townsend third (42-4).

LaVontas Hairston of Edwardsville was sixth in the high jump (5-10); Blake Neville was sixth in the pole vault (12-0); Blake Williams was fifth in the shot put (45-8); Cameron Kirkpatrick was fifth in the discus (130-8); Kendall Abdur-Rahman was sixth in the 100 (11.22).

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