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CLAYTON, Mo. – The 79th Annual Marion Freeman Clayton Invitational saw a handful of records tumble Saturday – none more impressive than Charles Jones Jr. smashing the old 800-meter mark. Jones surged to the front of the 800-meter field from the gun and built a comfortable lead early on the first lap. The Cardinal Ritter sophomore continued to extend his lead on the second lap, pulling East St. Louis’ (Ill.) Jonnie Moore along with him. Jones crashed through the finish line and tumbled to the infield exhausted having busted the old 800-meter meet record with a blistering time of 1 minute, 51.43 seconds. The record entering the day stood at 1:54.34 and was set by Ladue’s Josh Sams in 2006. “That was my goal for the day; I wanted to PR today,” said Jones, who now owns the seventh fastest 800 in the country this year. “Last year this was the meet I had PR’d in, and I knew it’s a really fast track and that there would be a lot of competition out here.” Moore was runner-up in 1:55.26, which helped East St. Louis claim the Orange Division with 126 points. Lutheran South edged John Burroughs 102.5 to 101.5 to win the Blue Division. MICDS junior Amos Bartelsmeyer didn’t break any records, but he turned in an impressive 1,600-meter run. Bartelsmeyer was fresh off his second-place finish at KU Relays in 4:20.39, which was influenced by the slow, tactical nature of the race. Bartelsmeyer took a different approach to the race at Clayton.
He entered the event intending to push the pace, but he found two willing accomplices in O’Fallon’s (Ill.) Alex Riba and Patrick Perrier. The two teammates took the race out in about 2:04 for the first 800 meters. With a lap to go, Bartelsmeyer surged to the front and came home in 4:12.94 for a new PR and the fastest time in the state this spring. “I thought I was going to have to push the pace to run fast, and I’m really glad those guys came in this race because they’re fast and I hadn’t raced them before,” Bartelsmeyer said. “I thought I maintained contact pretty well, and then I just gave it my all the last lap. “This makes me feel really good. This lets me know that I can run this time going forward and what I’m capable of now.” Perrier (4:16.51) and Riba (4:20.55) held on for second and third, respectively. Jennings senior Alfred Larry also made some eyes pop when he cruised to a 47.46 in the 400-meter dash. He just missed the 2007 record of 47.24 set by Cahokia’s (Ill.) Darian Donald.
“I was just running; I don’t think about the record,” said Larry, who added he is aiming to hit 47 flat by season’s end. “I’m in the best shape I’ve been in. I don’t think about winning state; I want that record.” John Burroughs’ Ezekiel Elliott made the trip to the KU Relays the week before and saw both of his hurdle times drop. At Clayton, he bettered his 300-meter time to tie his season-best 38.47, but he could not duplicate his KU 110-meter hurdle time and crossed the line in 14.28. Elliott, who did set Blue Division records with both performances at Clayton, ran a PR of 14.11 at KU. “I was looking for a PR today (in the 300), but it’s always good to come out and get the win,” Elliott said. “It’s still early in the season and there’s still time to get it down. That guy (East St. Louis’ Marcus Greer) gave me a little push at the end, and I had to turn it on.” Principia’s Conrad Bollinger tied the Blue pole vault record at 14-0, and Ritter lowered the Blue record in the 1,600-meter relay with a 3:20.19. All of the girls’ results netted meet records as this was the first time in the history of the meet that girls were competing alongside the boys. The performances piled up until MICDS and Affton stood within arm’s reach of the meet championship. The title came down to the final event, and MICDS took fourth in the 1,600-meter relay (4:21.35) ahead of Affton’s sixth-place finish (4:51.12) to earn the inaugural girls’ first-place trophy with 121 points to Affton’s 120.5. Affton was spurred to the title showdown by the efforts of Hali Ford, who won the 100 hurdles (15.34) and high jump (5 feet, 2 inches) and was second to teammate Taylor Porter in the long jump (15-8). Porter recently returned from injury and won the 100 (12.88) and the long jump (16-1). “It’s just exciting to be here,” Porter said. “I had a messed up knee and couldn’t jump for a few weeks. Today was my first day jumping, and I’m feeling good. Coming back from being off for a couple weeks, it’s pretty good.”
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