Matt McDonald | Athlete of the Week

Dupo’s Matt McDonald competes in a meet earlier this season at Red Bud. McDonald took the most first place finishes at the Cahokia Conference Meet cast Wednesday. (Teryn Schaefer photo)

Dupo High School track and field star Matt McDonald is the Republic-Times Athlete of the Week.

Matt has been lighting up the Dupo athletic scene his entire high school career. Last year’s state qualifying high jumper, taking fifth place in Class 1A and also qualifying in long jump and triple jump, this year Matt is on track to make a state push as well.

This past week he was the only athlete, male or female, to take three first place finishes at the Cahokia Conference Track Meet.

Congratulations Matt, keep up the good work!

Below is this week’s article on McDonald and the conference meet.

McDonald cleans-up at Cahokia Conference Track Meet

Dupo High School track and field stand-out Matt McDonald topped the leader board in Wednesday’s Cahokia Conference meet held at Freeburg High School.

McDonald took first place in the high jump at 6’3”, first place in the long jump at 20’0.25” and first place in the triple jump at 43’01”.

The senior took the most first place ribbons by far at the meet.

Dupo went on to take fourth place at the meet with a score of 50, while Columbia led the local schools on the boys side with a third place finish (86 points). Freeburg (204) and Wesclin (97) took first and second place, respectively. Red Bud (34) took sixth in the nine-team meet.

Other local finishers include: 4×800-meter relay — Columbia, second, Dupo, third; 4×100-meter relay — Columbia, third, Dupo, fourth; 800-meter run — Sean McCarty, Columbia, first, Robbie Cunningham, Dupo, fourth; 4×200-meter relay — Columbia, third, Red Bud, fourth; 400-meter dash — Joshua Spradling, Columbia, third; 1,600-meter run — Quin Norris, Columbia, second, Ethan Ducos, Red Bud, fourth, Kristian Avise-Rouse, Columbia, sixth; 200-meter run — Sam Berghoefer, Columbia, fourth; 4×400-meter relay — Columbia, second, Dupo, fourth, Red Bud, fifth; High jump — Ethan Snow, Columbia, tied for second, Caleb Grohmann, Red Bud, fourth, Austin Grasle, Dupo, fifth; Long jump — Grohmann, Red Bud, sixth; Triple jump — Trevor Salovich, Red Bud, sixth; Shot put — Grant Snow, Columbia, first, Mitch Hooten, Red Bud, fourth; Discus — Hooten, third, Snow, fourth; Pole Vault — Paul McClanahan, Columbia, third.

The Red Bud girls track team led the local schools at the meet, coming in second with a score of 119 behind Freeburg’s 212 points. The Eagles took sixth (32) and DHS came in seventh (27).

The top local girls finishers include: 4×800-meter relay — Red Bud, second, Columbia, fifth, Dupo, sixth; 4×100-meter relay — Red Bud, second, Dupo, fifth; 3,200-meter run — Brittney Burmester, first, Deanna Deterding, second; 100-meter hurdles — Lexsis Carner, Red Bud, fifth; 100-meter dash — Kalli Hentis, Red Bud, first; 800-meter run; Burmester, first, Keri Burmester, Red Bud, fifth; 4×200-meter relay — Red Bud, third, Dupo, fourth; 400-meter dash — Hentis, third, Hannah Smith, Columbia, sixth; 300-meter hurdles — Alyssa Flynn, Dupo, fifth; 1,600-meter run — B. Burmester, first, Deterding, second; 200-meter dash — Hentis, first; 4×400-meter relay — Dupo, third, Red Bud, fourth; High jump — Amy Rzepczynski, Columbia, first; Long jump — Melissa Settles, Dupo, second, Savannah Cowell, Red Bud, fourth, Rachel Liefer, Red Bud, sixth; Triple jump — Settles, fourth, Nicole Brunkhorst, Red Bud, fifth; Shot put — Becca Krebel, Columbia, second, Liefer, fourth; Discus — Krebel, first, Cierra Patrick, Red Bud, third.

Waterloo takes fifth in powerhouse meet

The Waterloo High School boys track team matched up against some of the state’s greatest in Saturday’s Collinsville Invitational, where the Bulldogs took fifth with a score of 44. Columbia also competed but did not place as a team. Sparta, who took second under WHS in last week’s Bi-County Meet, was the last to place as a team, taking 21st place.

The rain held off long enough to get the meet in, but the looming weather didn’t seem to bother Waterloo’s track elites.

Senior distance runner Josh Rodenberg ran a personal best in the 1,600-meter run. He took third in the event with a time of 4:26.84.

Lance Mueller also notched a personal best, breaking the 10-minute mark for the first time at 9:57.07 and came in seventh place.

Brendan Duncan had an outstanding throw in the discus. His first place throw of 190 feet beat the second place finisher by nearly 22 feet. He also took first in the shot put with a throw of 55’07”.

Justin Kretchmer also took home a first place ribbon. The senior field star took top honors in the high jump at 6’8”. He also competed in the long jump, coming in second with a jump of 21’1.25”.

This was the WHS boys’ final meet before the Mississippi Valley Conference meet scheduled for Wednesday at Mascoutah.

In other Waterloo track news…

The WHS girls track team competed in the MVC meet at Jerseyville on a cold and rainy Thursday last week, taking fifth place as a team.

The girls had two second place finishers with its rising hurdle stars. Hannah Finnerty (100-meter hurdles) and Malone Wall (300-meter hurdles) took home top WHS honors on the day. Jenna Bivens also took home a third place ribbon in the 400-meter hurdles.

The WHS girls are a blossoming team this year, with some of their best depth and roster numbers in years. With that, has come improvement and growth for the track rookies. WHS had an impressive seven personal bests, including a relay team best, at Jerseyville. Wall’s 300-meter hurdle medal also marked a personal best.


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