Oilers post strong home showing at EAWR Invitational with girls fifth, boys eighth
East Alton-Wood River turned in a productive day on its home track Saturday, as the Oilers girls placed fifth and the boys finished eighth in the EAWR Invitational against a 20-school field in Wood River. The girls brought home 27 medals, while the boys added 25 more in a meet that featured event wins, multiple relay medals and several personal-record performances.
Among the top individual efforts, Brooklyn Rexford won the girls long jump to lead the Oilers' field-event results. Jasiah Brown placed second in the triple jump, Gina Truax took third in both the 100-meter hurdles and 300-meter hurdles, and Wyatt Schneider finished fourth in the long jump. East Alton-Wood River also picked up points on the track from Carson LeMond, who was fifth in the 400 meters, LeBron Reed, who was fourth in the 800, MacKenzie Minner, who placed sixth in the 800, Eleanor Brame, who was seventh in the 800, Ami Parsons, who finished seventh in the 400, and Kylah Wreath, who took seventh in the discus.
The Oilers showed their depth in the relays, where all four boys relay teams and all four girls relay teams earned medals. For the girls, medal-winning relay contributors included Gabby Johnson, Rexford, Hartkopf, Minner, Parsons, Brame and Tara Jones. The boys relay medalists included Taven Wardein, Noah Willeford, Peyton Shaw, Reed, Bennett McCormick, LeMond, Schneider, Brown and Lucas Heaton. The girls posted personal records in the 4x400-meter relay and 4x800-meter relay, and the boys also turned in personal-best efforts in the 4x800 and 4x400.
Parsons and Brown each finished the day with four medals, underscoring the balanced effort that helped East Alton-Wood River stay competitive throughout a long invitational schedule. The home meet also ran efficiently, finishing 35 minutes ahead of schedule, a notable accomplishment for an event of that size.
East Alton-Wood River's coaching staff and volunteers played a major role in keeping the meet moving. The medal-sorting crew of Kathy, Wendy, Jennifer, Justice and Adeline prepared eight medals for each race and organized packets for every school. Airika Detmer stepped in at the last minute to help announce the meet, while Jeff and Krista also assisted during the day. The team's athletes helped move hurdles on and off the track, and coaches Logan and Nick Colona were credited with helping manage the flow of the invitational and the online meet operations.
On a clear 72-degree day, the Oilers made the most of their home opportunity, pairing strong individual finishes with relay success and personal-best marks across the lineup. For East Alton-Wood River, the results reflected both competitive depth and the kind of all-day team effort required to deliver at a large invitational.
