By Michael Newman

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Bloomington, Ill --- Ja’Mari Ward (Cahokia HS) was named the outstanding athlete of the Normal West Boys Invitational Thursday evening at Illinois Wesleyan University’s Shirk Center. There were no team scores kept.

“He’s going to be a little tight today,” Cahokia Coach Leroy Milsap said as I approached him in the Shirk Center Thursday. Ja’Mari Ward was warming up on the runway waiting to take his first attempt in the Long Jump. “We worked him this week on plyometric drills so he is going to be a little tired. We are looking ahead at the big picture.”

Ward had a fantastic day last Saturday setting dazzling marks at the Troy Triad Invitational. His reward for that was a hard first three days of work. Milsap is looking for some big things from his sophomore in a couple of weeks at the New Balance Indoor Nationals. As for the Normal West Invitational on Thursday, it was a business like attitude for Ward. He only took two jumps in the Long Jump with his best being 23-1 ¾  in the second round. He moved over to the Triple Jump runway where again he only took two jumps. Again, his best jump was in the second round. He drifted to his left as he hit the board jumping 47-5. It was not in the fifty foot range that he was at a couple of days before but considering his work load this week, he would take it. “He’s tired now, but he may do something special on Saturday,” Milsap said with a grin. Milsap is taking some of his athletes to the Thornwood Boys Open meet, a new meet at Olivet Nazarene College.

“I felt great,” Ward said describing his feelings about last Saturday’s meet. “I did not think I was going to be able to jump that far this early in the season.”

Ward’s day was not done after he was done on the horizontal jumps runways. The soft spoken sophomore led off his team in the 4x2 relay. He did get his team off to a good start, but he was running against Edwardsville’s Craig James. The Edwardsville senior gave the Tigers an early lead at the first exchange that they did not relinquish. The final section of the relay was an exhibition of acrobatics as there were a couple of bobbled exchanges. After one of the exchanges, an athlete went down forcing athletes to dodge the fallen competitor. Plainfield North’s Annile Williams was able to hurdle the athlete. Cahokia’s Chriswan Crosby also avoided the athlete, but his baton hit his leg and went flying into the air. Edwardsville’s winning time of 1:32.40 was a half a second ahead of Plainfield North. Cahokia recovered to finish eighth.

It was a different story in the final section of the 4x4 relay. Ja’Mari Ward once again led off for his team. This time he gave his team an early lead that they held through the rest of the race. The squad of Ward, Tyran Lyons, Keveion Akins, and Jalon Monigan ran 3:28.38 to win the event by 5 seconds over Edwardsville. Matt Anyiwo ran a 50.2 anchor to bring Homewood-Flossmoor from fifth in the final leg to finish third.

With the meet starting an hour later than it usually does, the distances were cut down to two individual events. Homewood-Flossmoor controlled both. In the 800 Meter Run, Matt Anyiwo took command of the race at the end of the first lap as he passed in 28.9. Jalon Monigan (Cahokia HS) stayed closed to Anyiwo’s shoulder. Josh Maier (Shepard HS, Palos Heights) and JD Lafayette (University HS, Normal) were within the pack as the four went through in 59.2. Anyiwo controlled the pace the rest. He went by the 600 in 1:31 with Meier ready to strike. With 150 meters to go, Meier tried to kick past. Anyiwo would not let him. The HF senior crossed the line in 2:02.34.

Kevin Anderson took the same strategy as his teammate Anyiwo did in the 800. The pace was slow as they passed the first three quarters in 3:28. With 300 meters to go, Eli Hill (University HS, Normal) took the lead and it looked like the race was his. With 150 meters to go, Anderson and Mike Evancich (Shepard HS, Palos Heights) went by Hill. In the last 50 meters, it was all Anderson. He closed with a 66 final 400 to win in 4:34.

Other highlights –

• The 60 Meter Dash final results were close but they were not run in the same section. In section 1 of the dash, Leland Groves (Normal West HS) burst out of the blocks and ran away with a 7.07 section winning personal best. Romello Hatter (West HS, Belleville) bested him in Section 2. He also ran a personal best of 7.06, just one hundredth of a second ahead of Groves.

• You would have expected Craig James (Edwardsville HS) to have been in the 60 Dash. After all, he spent the 2013 season in the 100 Meter Dash. A different approach has been taken in this 2014 season. James got off to a great start in Thursday’s final. He was able to hold off Christian Neal (Bloomington HS) for the win (8.27-8.37). Shabari Bailey (Minooka HS) was one hundredth of a second behind in third. “This is the first time running the hurdles indoors since my freshman year,” James explained. “I’ve improved but I have a lot still too improve on.”

• Devin Ingram (Minooka HS) had command of his section in the 200 Meter Dash. He held off Michael Giovannelli (Glenwood HS, Chatham) to win 23.19 – 23.23.

• Tyran Lyons (Cahokia HS) broke into the lead at 150 meters and never gave it back in the final section of the 400 Meter Dash. He went on for an easy 52.42 win. Chris Leigh (Fieldcrest HS, Minonk) was a surprise second running 53.66 out of section 3.

• Manny Bofah (North HS, Plainfield) won the High Jump over Peter Andreano (Minooka HS) on fewer misses. Both athletes cleared 6-4. Kyrin Tucker (Normal West HS) won his third straight meet title in the Shot Put. The senior had a winning put of 55-10. Brock Whalen (Minooka HS) was the only other athlete over 50 feet in this event. His put of 51-9 finished second.