On May 17, the MV Rams Track and Field team finished first in the South 7 conference meet at Evers Field in Centralia.

The Rams won their first South 7 title since 2004 as they defeated Marion with a final score of 177-153.

“It was great! It is fantastic to see all the hard work through the season pay off with a title. We have some great young men that worked their butts off through the season, and the conference title is a payoff. We still have more to accomplish but it was a big deal,” stated Coach Robert Grider.

Other South 7 teams’ scores consisted of Cahokia 91, Carbondale 67, Centralia 44, and finally Belleville-Althoff 16.

The Rams didn’t finish first in the field events, however they still managed to score 47 points which gave them the lead over Marion.

Trey Mygatt, Marcus Garrett, and Alec Sledge competed in the 800, 100, and 110 high hurdles, and they became the event winners.

The Rams carried this momentum into the relay races, as they won three out of the four total races.

“The boys are on fire right now, and we just hope to take that momentum to the next level of competition. It is something that they will be able to look back on for years to come! Proud of them,” asserted Grider

Garrett and Sledge were fresh off the high hurdles, while runners Anthony Lash and Jacob Morrison were coming onto their first track event of the day. The Rams won the 400 and finished with a time of 43.10 seconds.

Garrett, Lash, Fischer Davis, and Morrison also won the 800 with a final time of 1:30:43.

The Rams 1,600 team, which consists of runners Judd Hicks, Michael Pittman, Alec Sledge, and Trey Mygatt, finished the day off with a convincing 3:28:55 time on the final event of the day.

“I know for myself, it was really special. In my running career at MTV from 2010 to 2014, we had some great teams but were always a little short of getting the title. So now as a coach being able to check it off the list of accomplishments is something special,” expressed Grider.