MURPHYSBORO -- Sikeston track teams, boys and girls, competed at the Murphysboro Invitational on Saturday.
The boys placed fifth in a 15-team field while the girls, in a field of 14, finished seventh.
Boys team scores were as follows: 1. East St. Louis, 132; 2. Cahokia, Ill., 104; 3. Cape Central, 82; 4. Mattoon, Ill., 73; 5. Sikeston, 69; 6. (tie) Mt. Vernon, Ill., Murphysboro, Ill., 33; 7. Carbondale, Ill., 27; 8. Jackson, 16; 9. Freeburg, Ill., 15; 10. Sparta, Ill., 5; 11. DuQuoin, Ill., 3; Massac County, Ill., 1; Trinton, Ill., 0; and Dexter, 0.
Coach Jerry Dement, on the Sikeston boys performance, said, "A good warm day and great competition. Of course, East St. Louis is a storied program, Cahokia and Cape both have strong programs, so we feel very good about our effort against excellent competition. We were very pleased, pleasantly surprised, with our boys performance."
Sikeston scored points in 13 of the 18 events.
Leading the way for the Bulldogs were second-place finisher Salamar Cox in the shot put (46 feet-10 inches) and Andre Goodwin and Brandon Washington, who tied for second in the high jump (6 feet).
David Stovall placed third in the 400 meters.
On the girls side, team scores were as follows: 1. Cape Central, 120; 2. Cahokia, Ill., 99; 3. Salem, Ill., 76; 4. Jackson, 69; 5. Dexter, 38; 6. Springfield, Ill., 37; 7. Sikeston, 28; 8. Mattoon, Ill., 27; 9. Marion, Ill. 22; 10. Freeburg, Ill., 18; 11. Nashville, Ill., 17; 12. Harrisburg, Ill., 10; 13. Murphysboro, Ill., 7; and 14. DuQuoin, Ill., 0.
Chasman Herrion was the top individual performer for the Sikeston girls with a second-place finish in the 100-meter dash and a fourth in the 200 meters. Herrion also ran anchor legs on the second-place 400-meter relay team and the fourth-place 800 relay.
"Chasman's had a good year so far," said Dement. "Even though she's just a sophomore, she's running very strong."
Teaming with Herrion on both all-sophomore relay teams were Jackie Nance, Michel 'Le Flye and Lashawna Turner.
"I'm very pleased with both our relays," Dement added. "They're ahead of last year's times when they were state qualifiers as freshmen. We're hoping they continue to improve. We're a very young girls team and we've got a long way to go, but they're learning to compete each week."
Sikeston boys placers
Shot put -- 2. Salamar Cox, 46-10.
High jump -- 2. (tie) Andre Goodwin, 2. Brandon Washington, 6-0.
400 meters -- 3. David Stovall, 52.6.
Pole vault -- 4. Trey Stone, 12-6.
800 relay -- 4. Stovall, Washington, Brandon Wright, Tommie Strong, 1:33.4.
400 relay -- 4. B.J. Green, Washington, Wright, Strong, 44.18.
110 hurdles -- 5. Stephon Turner, 15.8.
Triple jump -- 6. Goodwin, 41-10.
Long jump -- 6. Dominic Fondon, 20-4.5.
1600 relay -- 6. Stovall, Wright, Goodwin, Gavilan Bland, 3:41.
300 hurdles -- 6. Turner, 44.1.
100 meters -- 6. Strong, 11.5.
Sikeston girls placers
100 meters -- 2. Chasmon Herrion, 12.7.
400 relay -- 2. Jackie Nance, Michel 'Le Flye, Lashawna Turner, Herrion, 52.16.
800 relay -- 4. Nance, Flye, Turner, Herrion, 1:52.6.
200 meters -- 4. Herrion, 27.2.