By Chris Parker
Saturday was a long-time coming for Marion C. Early senior Landon Duchscherer.
Last season, Duchscherer brought home two silver medals in the 1600 and 3200 finishing behind Nodaway-Holt’s Riley Blay in both events.
This season, Marion C. Early moved up to Class 2 meaning Blay would not be a roadblock for Duchscherer.
On Friday, Duchscherer was in the top two for the entire 3200-meter run, but Woodland’s Reed Layton threw down a 65.48 on the last lap to pull away for the win while Duchscherer had to settle for his fourth silver medal of his high school career.
On Saturday, Duchscherer went out at the front of the pack again leading at the 800 and 1200-meter marks.
“I have never really run conservative. I don’t know how to race not going out as hard as I can,” Duchscherer said. “Going in I (was thinking) it is my final race; I just have to go for it.”
Shortly after the third lap began, Layton worked his way up to pass Duchscherer in hopes of a repeat of the 3200-meter run.
“At the end of the third lap, he (Reed Layton) took the lead. I had flashbacks and I thought ‘oh no, I can’t let this happen again’,” Duchscherer said. “That last lap I have not run that hard in a year probably. That was crazy.”
Duchscherer did not let it happen closing down the last lap in 64.50 seconds to finish in a time of 4:27.96 and claim his first gold medal.
New Covenant’s David Kendall ran 4:28.79 to finish runner-up. He had the fastest final 400 of the race covering the last lap in 62.70 seconds.
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Garner-Sims goes from not qualifying for state to state champion
Last season, Brandon Garner-Sims was attending El Dorado Springs high school and did not qualify for the state meet.
One year later, Garner-Sims is a junior state champion for Stockton in the shot put.
On his fifth throw of the competition, Garner-Sims unleashed a personal best throw of 54’7.25 to secure the state championship.
“It (the throw) felt perfect. The start of it; the release of it; it just felt buttery smooth,” Garner-Sims said.
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Senior teammate Jayse Sharif finished third with a throw of 50’5.25 to place third.
Garner-Sims credited Sharif with helping him take his throwing to new heights.
“He (Sharif) is the best. I have so much respect for this guy. He has pushed me every second of the way. I have nothing but love for this guy,” Garner-Sims said. “The extra competition helped a lot, and the extra insight from an older guy helped me to slow it down, fix the little things and push it to the next level.”
Wallace’s last act of high school athletic career yields everlasting memory
Skyline senior Kadence Wallace’s knew her high school athletic career didn’t have much time left entering the anchor leg of the 1600-meter relay.
The question was how much time?
That number turned out to be exactly 59.95 seconds, which was enough for her to pull her team from second to first place over the final 400-meters of her high school athletic career.
“It was so insane. I was so scared I was going to get caught. That last 50 meters everybody was yelling, and I was (thinking) ‘I need to go faster. I need to get this’ and we did,” Wallace said.
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Wallace took the baton with her team trailing by over a second. She was able to hold on down the homestretch to help her team run a 4:08.43 and secure the final gold medal of the Class 2 state track meet.
“It was amazing. I am not usually a hugger, but I was in for it. It was so emotional. I am still kind of crying,” Wallace said.
As for where this final memory ranks in her high school career?
“Absolutely number one. We have done all the senior nights, but if I could go back, I would say this my number one favorite (memory) out of all four years,” Wallace said.
Jasper’s Smith wins third sprint-hurdle state title
Class 1 or Class 2, it doesn’t matter, Jasper’s Crystal Smith just wins 100-meter hurdle state titles.
The Jasper junior was the target of all her competitors entering the final of the Class 2 100-meter hurdles on Saturday, but she didn’t feel too much pressure as she was stepping to the starting line.
“I knew the two people next to me were pretty close to me, so it was a little pressure there but all I focus on is needing to finish the race and get my best time,” Smith said.
Smith fired out of the blocks and raced to a 14.81 finish time, which was good enough to win her third individual state title. It was the fastest Smith had run in a state final in her three tries and her first time under 15 seconds on the Jefferson City High School track.
Smith also placed third in the long jump and eight in the high jump while also qualifying for state in the 100-meter dash.
