Invitationals

On Tuesday, April 19 the Griffs suffered their first meet casualty of the wet
and cold season as the Washington Nix Relays fell victim to the rainy weather. 
The rescheduled date was also rained out.  That left Easter week’s only meet up
to the JV squad at that always super-competitive Webster JV Invitational. 
Places and medals were hard to come by but sophomore Fast Eddie Albarran
continued to impress the general public with his hard approach to the 3200m. 
Eddie led most of the race before succumbing over the last half mile and
finished second with the only medal.  More importantly though was the fact that
so many Griffins turned in season best performances throughout the day’s
competition.  

The 4th Annual Jim Farrell Invitational was held
on Tuesday, April 26th.  The day was a beautiful oasis in an otherwise stormy
sea and the competition helped to heat up the afternoon.  Top placers for the
Griffins in their most important meet of the season included Tony Burton in
1600m, and the shot put relay team of Brian Bach, Mike Makhamreh, Cory Andrews
and Chris Dougherty.  Other point scorers were Bach in the shot put, Kadarius
Green in the high jump with a season best performance, and the 4×800 (Albarran,
Burton, Barden and White) and 4×400 (Krekeler, Garner, Williams, Burton)
relays.

Thursday saw about 100+ athletes convene in the Heeb for
a JV and freshman extravaganza with DeSmet, SLUH, St.Mary’s and Webster.  This
is the last meet in preparation for the conference championships for most of the
team.  On the JV side Shay Garner took first in the 400m and Eddie Albarran won
the 3200m.  The 4×800 squad of Drake Cantu, Andrew White, Bryan O’Leary, and
Connor Peth took 2nd place, as did Cory Andrews in the shot put.  The 3rd place
finishers were Drake Cantu in the 400m, James Cocroft in the 300 hurdles and Tom
Hederman in the discus.  The freshman team was led by event champions Kyle
Williams in the 100m, Josh Resuta in the 300m hurdles, who also placed in the
110 hurdles, and Al Reyes in the discus.  James Sly, Kevin Tiemann placed in the
pole vault, John McCartney in the 100m, Paul Burmeister in the shot put and the
4×100 team of Williams, Resuta, McCartney, and Eric Minton.
           
Finally the varsity Griffins took a skeleton crew to one of the state’s most
competitive meets, the Dale Collier Invitational in Kirkwood.  Mike Makhamreh
was the highlight of the day, as he added almost two feet to his career best
shot put and took the only medal for the Griffins on the day.  Eddie Albarran
was the only other point-getter in the 3200m.  Yet the two sprint relays,
Michael Fields in the 100m and Rob Bieg in the pole all set season best marks as
they prepare for conference and district competition.

The Parkway
West Freshman Invitational was rescheduled to the same day as the Jim Farrell
and the Griffins were unable to compete.  So next up for everyone is the MCC
Championships Thursday at SLUH beginning at 4:00 pm.