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By Dana Harding (For OzarksSportsZone.com)
Columbia, Mo. — Missouri tried something a little different this year on its large-class track and field weekend.
After a Wednesday night tornado ripped through Jefferson City and severely damaged Adkins Stadium, MSHSAA moved quickly to salvage the weekend competition by moving the event to other venues in Columbia and Washington.
The Class 5 competition was moved to Columbia’s Battle high school and condensed to a one-day program.
Southwest Missouri athletes enjoyed notable performances — particularly in the field events — during Saturday’s meet.
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Four-time qualifier Aurentz finally realizes her dream
Kennedy Aurentz can’t remember a time where she didn’t dream about becoming a state champion.
The Kickapoo senior realized that dream Saturday with a first-place finish in the shot put competition.
Aurentz threw a personal-best 47-00.25 on her third throw of the competition, besting runner-up Maddie Harris of Lee’s Summit West (46-03.25).
“I knew I could do it,” Aurentz said. “I had the best night’s sleep last night, I dreamed it and it happened. When I looked at that girl — and I knew that I had it — I was in her head, and it was all mine.”
With a pair of runner-up finishes and a third-place mark as a freshman, Aurentz was determined to leave her final competition with the one award that had eluded her grasp — until today.
“I started throwing when I was in fifth grade, and this has always been my big dream,” Aurentz said. “I wanted to make it to state all four years, and this season, [first place] was all I wanted. I didn’t care how the other meets went — I wanted this one, and I wanted to go out with a bang.”
Aurentz also competed in the discus event, where she finished fifth with a throw of 123-04.
Ulrich captures pole vault title
Reagan Ulrich is used to extremely long waits.
The Branson pole vault standout typically passes on a number of lower opening heights and, in doing so, looks for ways to keep himself comfortable and relaxed during the event.
“It’s a super long wait,” Ulrich said. “Mainly, when I’m waiting, I’m just trying to stay cool and all that. I’m just watching all the competition, because I’m friends with a lot of guys that compete out here, so it’s just fun to watch all of them.”
After waiting nearly two hours to enter Saturday’s Class 5 championships, Ulrich missed his first attempt at his opening height of 15 feet.
Shaking his head, the senior muttered some instructions to himself as he climbed off the vault mats.
“It was actually my pole choice, because it was too small of a pole than what I thought I was going to be able to jump on,” Ulrich said. “I just crushed right through it, and it just ended up being too small for the jump.”
After a quick adjustment and a new pole, Ulrich cleared his next three vaults to capture the competition. His winning height of 16-0 bested Battle’s Darrin Smalls’ second-place mark of 15-03.
While Ulrich was pleased with the victory, he’s still looking for the magical 17-foot vault that’s eluded him thus far in his career.
“I’ve been struggling to have consistency this year,” Ulrich said. “But in these last two meets, I’ve been jumping over 16 like I know I should, where it’s just an easy pop-over.”
While his high school career is over, Ulrich will get another chance to reach his goal in North Carolina.
“I’m going to be at the New Balance Nationals in June,” Ulrich said. “I feel like I can still get that 5.20 [meters] mark — that 17.”
Lyon overcomes distractions, nerves to win a state title
Like most focused athletes, Olivia Lyon doesn’t enjoy dealing with disruptions to her carefully-planned schedule; however, when news of the Jefferson City tornado broke, the Ozark senior took the adjustments in stride.
“I normally don’t like change at all,” Lyon said. “It’s really hard for me, but then right when we heard I decided I wasn’t going to freak out about it; it was going to be OK, and that we would get the practice in the night before.”
The flexible attitude paid off, as Lyon needed only one jump Saturday to capture the Class 5 pole vault title.
After her opening-height clearance at 11-03 was enough to secure the victory, Lyon immediately moved up to 12 feet.
Confident entering the competition late with a big height, Lyon also admitted to being nervous prior to her first attempt.
“There’s always nerves for me, because at my first meet I no-heighted,” Lyon said. “The first one’s always really scary, but I came in at 11-03 because I’ve cleared 12 consistently in the past six meets, so I felt pretty good coming in at 11.”
While she didn’t reach her goal height, Lyon was more than happy to walk away with a state championship.
“Oh my goodness,” Lyon said. “I was coming into it hoping I could get 13, because at districts, I almost got 13 — I was so close but, I mean, I guess a state championship is OK.”
Tired Westmoreland sets a new meet record
For multi-event athletes, Saturday’s compressed, one-day meet schedule caused a bit of chaos with respect to logistics and rest.
Zach Westmoreland was no exception.
The Joplin junior competed in the javelin, long jump, 4×100 and 4×200 relays.
Making matters even more difficult?
The javelin, long jump and 4×200 relay overlapped each other in the same time frame.
“Our coaches have our workouts set up, and it’s always got us prepared for anything that could happen,” Westmoreland said. “So, I think that our coaches definitely had us ready for a situation like this.”
After a sixth-place finish in the long jump, Westmoreland headed over to start the javelin prelims. With a second throw of 184-00 enough to secure a spot in the final, he raced back to the track to run in his second relay in as many hours.
By the time Westmoreland returned for his final three throws, fatigue was beginning to set in.
Sitting in second place prior to his final throw of the competition, Westmoreland unloaded a meet-record 194-06 to secure the win and a state title.
Until the results were read aloud from the event marshall; however, Westmoreland wasn’t sure if the throw was enough to move him up in the standings.
“I had no clue, and I was dead from the other three events,” Westmoreland said. “So, I didn’t know what to expect.”
Teammate and fellow junior Isaiah Davis finished third with a throw of 176-04.
Seeded first in the event, Davis struggled with footing on the grass runway and never seemed to get himself in position for the big throws he’s been known for all season.
“I know coach was concerned about the grass runway and it being a little wet,” Davis said. “On my first throw in warmups I slipped. After that, it was just me worrying about a slip and if my steps were right. So, I got in my own head and didn’t perform today.”
Despite the finish, Davis was quick to congratulate his teammate’s big throw and victory.
“We’re always wanting to win wherever we’re going,” Davis said. “Usually, I’m on top, but this meet he’s on top, and he did a great job.”
