MURPHYSBORO, Ill. -- A short-handed Cape Central High boys track team placed third in the 15-team Murphysboro (Ill.) Invitational Saturday.

Because of ACTs administered Saturday, the Tigers took just three seniors to the meet.

"I thought our young kids stepped up real well," said Cape Central coach Jerry Dement.

Central took second in three events: Chris Allen in the long jump (20 feet, 7 inches); the 3200 relay (8:31, Mike Stone, Rory Kipper, Drew Whitson, Gabe Austin); and 400 relay (:45, Allen, Ross Conner, Travis Turner, Steve Criddle).

"It was a good, tough early season meet and kind of cool weather, but I thought the kids gave a good effort," said Dement.

Meanwhile, Central's girls traveled to East St. Louis, Ill., and placed eighth in the 29-team Jackie Joyner Kersee meet.

A highlight for the Lady Tigers was a first-place finish by the 3,200-meter relay team of Kristen Tallent, Myka Bohnsack, Sarah Chaudhari and Tobie Bittle. The foursome clocked 10:22 in the event.

"It was a highly, highly competitive meet," said Cape Central coach Paula Watkins.

Central also placed eighth in the freshman portion of the meet.

Heather Jenkins turned in a first-place performance in the discus with a throw of 98-9.

Both of Jackson's track teams competed at Murphysboro and came away with some strong performances as the girls placed fourth and the boys were seventh.

One of the highlights for the girls was freshman Lindsey Meyr's performance in the long jump. She finished first by leaping 16-6, which not only set a meet record but also broke Jackson's school record.

"This is the first time she's been out for track and field and she's going to be a really good one," said Jackson coach Bob Sink.

Also winning for the Lady Indians was the 800 relay team of Megan Kuntze, Brandi Majka, Lindsey Walker and Meyr. They clocked 1:53.8.

Placing second for the Lady Indians were Jennifer Love in the 300 hurdles (52.5) and the 400 relay team of Kuntze, Majka, Walker and Meyr (52.9).

For Jackson's boys, Nathan Windeknecht won both the long jump and triple jump with meet-record performances of 21-2 1/2 and 42-7, respectively.

The Indians' Matt Hale won the 100 (11.2).

Complete local results appear in `Scoreboard' on 2B.

JV BASEBALL

Central wins own tourney

Cape Central's JV team improved to 6-0 Saturday in winning its own four-team tournament.

The Tigers defeated Clearwater 13-7 in a first-round game and defeated Farmington 5-2 in the championship contest at Capaha Field.

Joe Hamilton recorded the win in the title game. Mark Fisher had two of Cape Central's six hits. Josh McIntosh contributed two sacrifice flies.

McIntosh also notched the win on the mound against Clearwater.

Farmington advanced to the title game with a 13-1 trouncing of Dexter.

Clearwater defeated Dexter 6-3 in the third-place game.