Emma Eggemeyer finishes 8th in the state of Illinois Top Times Shot Put competition
BY JIM BEERS, Contributing Writer
CHESTER – The 2022-23 Indoor Track and Field season has finished and several girls on the Chester High School Lady Jacket Track and Field Team got a head start on the 2023 outdoor season by training and competing indoors.
Jennifer Cartwright, Head Coach for the Chester Lady Jackets, has taken a small group of athletes to indoor competitions for several years, and has had success with this effort.
Indoor season takes place at the same time as other winter sports and activities such as basketball, cheerleading and dance, however, Cartwright offers the opportunity to all girls who can work it into their schedules.
This season the Lady Jackets competed at the annual Marion High School Indoor Meet and the SIU Indoor Meet.
Indoor meets are not IHSA events, so there is not an IHSA State Track and Field Meet to cap off the season, however, those athletes who compete indoor can advance to the “Top-Times” event which features girls who have the best indoor performances of the indoor season.
((INSERT PHOTO…EMMA EGGEMEYER…HERE))
Chester’s Emma Eggemeyer, a senior Lady Jacket shot putter, threw a distance of 10.46 meters to place 8th at the 2022-23 Illinois Top Times High School Indoor Championships. Shown here Eggemeyer proudly shows-off her 8th Place medal in front of the Top Times banner at Illinois Wesleyan University where the event was held. Eggemeyer finished 8th among all of the Illinois athletes that competed at the end-of-the-indoor season competition. Jennifer Cartwright Photo
Chester’s Emma Eggemeyer, a CHS senior, was one such athlete that qualified for the end-of-the-indoor season “Top-Times” meet. She competed in shot put and did quite well.
Marion Indoor Meet
A rather small group of Chester girls competed Thursday February 23, 2023 at the Marion Indoor Meet. A total of 18 teams competed at Marion with Chester finishing in 13th place with a total of 13 team points.
Chester’s Emma Eggemeyer shined at Marion winning the Shot Put event with a throw of 10.58 meters. Reagan Dorsey of DuQuoin was Eggemeyer’s closest local challenger with her toss of 8.92 meters. Eggemeyer finished 1st while Dorsey finished 7th.
Cailey Bainter of Chester had a good day at Marion finishing 28th in the 60-meter dash (9.13), and 27th in the 200-meter dash (32.57).
Gianna Eggemeyer and Josalynn Anaya of Chester competed in the 400-meter dash. Eggemeyer finished in 12th Place (1:13.64), while Anaya finished 26th (1:21.62).
The Lady Jackets also had two competitors in the 800-meter run. Adelynn May finished 9th with a time of 2:52.74 and MacKenzie Deimund finished 38th (3:41.96).
Adelynn May then turned around and ran the 1-mile (1600-meter) race in 6:39.78, good enough to place 14th overall. Jasmine Merideth placed 7th in the 60-meter hurdles with her time of 10.95.
In the relay events, the 4 X 200-meter relay team of Jazzi Merideth, Jessica Stumpe, Mabry Wingerter, and Gianna Eggemeyer, finished 115:12.18.th with their time of 2:07.49.
The 4X 400-meter (1-mile) relay team of Jazzi Merideth, Josalynn Anaya, Mabry Wingerter and Gianna Eggemeyer finished 13th with a time of 5:12.18.
The Lady Jackets also had girls compete in three field events. Jasmine Merideth placed 10th in the high jump with a height of 1.34 meters. Jessica Stumpe finished 19th in the long jump with her jump of 3.8 meters. And as already mentioned, Emma Eggemeyer won the shot put with her toss of 10.58 meters.
Team standings included:
O’Fallon (1st, 106)
Mascoutah (2nd, 78)
Marion (3rd, 56)
DuQuoin (4th, 52)
Triad (5th, 51)
Anna-Jonesboro (6th tie, 35)
Collinsville (6th tie, 35)
Herrin (8th, 30)
Columbia (9th, 25)
Salem (10th, 25)
Marshall County (11th, 21)
Murphysboro (12th, 17)
CHESTER (13th, 13)
Harrisburg (14th, 12)
Sesser-Valier (15th, 8)
Mt. Vernon (16th, 7)
Carbondale (17th tie, 6)
Fairfield (17th tie, 6))
Coach Jennifer Cartwright said “Our first indoor met of the season is in the books. Threw re 18 teams at the Marion Invitational and we finished 13th. We had a great showing in our events today.”
“I give a big ‘CONGRATULATIONS’ to Emma Eggemeyer for placing 1st in the shot put with a throw of 34’8” and Jazzi Merideth for making the finals in the 60-meter hurdles (10.95).”
Southern Illinois University Invitational
The Lady Jackets traveled to SIU-C Friday March 3 to compete in the 32-team SIU Invitational Indoor Meet. The annual event is held at the SIU Recreation Center, home of the Salukis.
Jazzi Merideth, a Chester High School junior, battles with a Herrin High School runner at the 2023 Southern Illinois University Indoor Invitational Friday March 3rd. Merideth and her 4 X 400 Relay Team finished 10th among the 32 teams in competition. Other members of the relay team include Mabry Wingerter, Josalynn Anaya, and Gianna Eggemeyer. Jennifer Cartwright Photo
Coach Jenny Cartwright said, “Times are improving like crazy already. At the 2023 SIU Indoor Invitational there were 32 teams from schools across the State of Illinois in Class 1A, 2A, and 3A. We brought home 5 Top-10 finishes and 2 more in the Top-15. Way to go girls, this is going to be a fun season!”
Lady Jacket, Paige Vasquez, a Chester High School senior, finished in 5th Place in the Triple Jump and 8th Place in the Shot Put at the 2023 SIU-C Indoor Invitational. A total of 32 teams competed at the event and the CHS squad earned 5 Top-5 finishes and 2 Top-15 finishes for the day! Jim Beers Photo
Emma Eggemeyer placed 4th in the Shot Put, Paige Vasquez finished 5th in the Triple Jump, Jazzi Merideth finished 8th in the 60-meter Hurdles, and Paige Vasquez finished 8th in the shot put. .
In the relay events, the Lady Jacket 4 X 400-Meter Relay (1600 or 1-mile) placed 10th with Jazzi Merideth, Mabry Wingerter, Josalynn Anaya and Gianna Eggemeyer completing the task.
The Gianna Eggemeyer finished 13th in the 400-Meter Dash, and the 4 X 200 (800) Relay team of Jazzi Merideth, Mabry Wingerter, Cailey Marie Springston, and Gianna Eggemeyer finished 14th.
Emma Eggemeyer places 8th in Shot Put at Illinois Top-Times Indoor Finals
Chester’s Emma Eggemeyer, a senior 4-sport athlete letter-winner at Chester High School (Cheerleading, Volleyball, Track and Field, and Softball) qualified to advance to the 2023 Illinois Top-Times Indoor “end-of-the-season meet”.
This event is where the best or top Indoor Track and Field athletes of 2022-2023 meet to vie for the title of the Top Indoor Athlete of the season. Eggemeyer’s performances at the 2022-2023 indoor meets qualified her to compete against all of the best Illinois athletes of the season.
At the 2022-23 Illinois Top-Times High School Indoor Championships Eggemeyer competed in her best event, the Shot Put.
The event was hosted at Illinois Wesleyan University. The mission of the event is to: “Produce a premiere indoor championship meet for athletes and coaches that will help promote collegiate recruiting and future participation from Illinois High School Athletes.”
At the Top-Times Meet Eggemeyer threw the shot put a distance of 10.46 meters to finish 8th in the state.