The second round of the state track and field championships, amid an untimely weather postponement, kicked off Friday, May 27 in Jefferson City. Here’s a Day 1 recap of our notable local results from Class 3, 4 and 5.
An updated schedule for Saturday’s events can be found HERE or by visiting trxctiming.com
Catholic boys 4×800 relay continues strong late-season push, takes gold
After hovering around the 8:20s in the regular season, Catholic’s 4×800 boys relay got a jolt of confidence last week when the unit posted a time of 8:05.16 at sectionals.
The latter time set a school record and was the best among the Class 3 field heading into Friday’s opening event.
The Irish not only backed up their strong sectional performance, but improved upon it. Catholic’s relay of senior Blake Quinn, junior Greg Kelly, senior Lachlan Moore and sophomore anchor Stephen Kielhofner clocked 8:02.89 to take first place.
“After sectionals, we were like, ‘Oh, well we’re in (contention) now,” Moore said. “We knew there were going to be some people chasing us, because that just puts a target on your back. But we were ready for it and we handled it.”
The victory gave the Irish their first state championship in the 4×800 relay in program history.
“We were hoping to go sub-8, because we know we have the capability to do it, but the state championship is all about winning,” Moore said. “We just came out here to win.”
Catholic’s 2015 4×800 relay – which included Quinn, Kelly and Moore – finished third last year.
Kielfhofner is the lone newcomer among the foursome. He delivered a 1:57.30 anchor leg to help Catholic beat second-place Clinton by over three seconds.
“From the beginning, we all knew we had the capabilities, but we just had some rough patches or off times. That really hurt our past times,” Kielhofner said. “At least at sectionals and especially at state, you could really see, we really just got it together and every single one of us did a great job (producing) this time.”
The 4×800 relay result marks another state distance championship for Catholic’s runners this school year. During state cross country last fall, the Irish won the Class 2 team title and Kielhofner claimed the individual title.
On the track, the architect of the standout 3200-meter relay team is Tom Billington,
“We wanted to it for our coach especially,” Moore said. “He’s been coaching forever and he’s never had a championship 4×800 team. We wanted to thank him for his work and give it to him.”
Central’s Williams places 1st after sudden rise in long jump
That area-best 19’7” long jump Central senior Jaslyn Williams posted at sectionals last weekend? It was no fluke.
Williams went out and hit the 19s again Friday, registering a 19’01” on her second attempt to win the Class 5 girls long jump.
It capped an impressive late-season surge for Williams, whose best performance in the long jump pre-sectionals was 17’10”.
“My goal was actually to get into the 18s,” Williams said. “Now I’m (consistently) getting into the 18s and trying to get into the 19s.”
Williams credits an improved – and dedicated – training schedule for her dramatic improvement.
“I’ve just been working out more and I got in shape more,” Williams said. “At the beginning of the season, I was not in shape.
“There’s a box thing we have at our school and I would just jump off that over and over.”
Williams has committed to run sprints at Coffeyville (Kan.) Community College, but her recent long jump performances figure to attract attention from high-level college programs.
A friendly rival of Williams took second place in the event, as Waynesville senior Ariel Okorie jumped 18’9.75”.
Williams goes for state gold in the 100 and 200 on Saturday. Williams was second in the 100 and fourth in the 200 last year.
Friday’s Class 3, 4 & 5 All-State performers
LISTED 1ST-8TH
Jaslyn Williams (Central) – First Place in Class 5 Long Jump
Springfield Catholic – First Place in Class 3 4×800
Emily Sorrell (East Newton) – Second Place in Class 3 800
Ariel Okorie (Waynesville) – Second Place in Class 5 Long Jump
Lily Harris (West Plains) – Second Place in Class 4 High Jump
Charles Kempf (Osage) – Second Place in Class 3 Discus
Webb City – Second Place in Class 4 4×800
Katie Wolter (Mountain Grove) – Third Place in Class 3 800
Aaron Hodges (Salem) – Third Place in Class 3 Pole Vault
Lamar – Third Place in Class 3 4×800
Kennedy Aurentz (Kickapoo) – Third Place in Class 5 Shot Put
Jason Edwards (Osage) – Fourth Place in Class 3 Pole Vault
Tabitha Weber (Marshfield) – Fourth Place in Class 4 1600
Cale Cornman (MV-BT/Liberty) – Fifth Place in Class 5 Discus
Alexa Bekemeier (Hollister) – Fifth Place in Class 3 Javelin
Stockton – Fifth Place in Class 3 4×800
Kasey Bonham (West Plains) – Sixth Place in Class 4 Shot Put
Arkell Smith (Carthage) – Sixth Place in Class 4 Triple Jump
Shelby Beaver (Joplin) – Sixth Place in Class 5 Shot Put
Sophia Holmes (Rolla) – Sixth Place in Class 4 1600
Courtney Colench (Rolla) – Seventh Place in Class 4 High Jump
Case Gilliam (Nixa) – Seventh Place in Class 5 Discus
Trace Williams (Mt. Vernon) – Seventh Place in Class 3 Discus
Kynlee Lehman (Lamar) – Seventh Place in Class 3 Javelin
Emily Sorrell (East Newton) – Seventh Place in Class 3 1600
Theresa Harto (West Plains) – Seventh Place in Class 4 1600
Taylor Mailes (Seneca) – Eighth Place in Class 3 Long Jump
Alec Burris (Camdenton) – Eighth Place in Class 4 Triple Jump
