By Matt Turer — mturer@ky3.com
@MattTurer
Jefferson City, Mo. — The storms that pushed through Southwest Missouri Friday held their menacing grimaces to the west of Jefferson City for the entirety of the Class 1 and 2 state track meet.
Class 1 area schools saw three state champions crowned on Day 1 and School of the Ozark’s girls in first in the team standings with 18 points. A recap of Friday’s Class 1 action is below.
CLICK HERE FOR CLASS 1 DAY 1 TRACK PHOTOS
CLICK HERE FOR CLASS 1 DAY 2 FIELD PHOTOS
CLICK HERE FOR CLASS 1 BOYS RESULTS
CLICK HERE FOR CLASS 2 GIRLS RESULTS
Barton Gets Her Title
Friday was a breeze for Liberal senior Alexys Barton. She’s earned that. After three years of a 3,200-meter run championship being just beyond her grasp, she reached out and took it.
Barton (11:45.98) finished nearly 25 seconds ahead of second-place Ashley Riley (Jefferson), winning the Class 1 state title and taking care of some important business in the process.
“My coach has this old hat. It’s stained and torn and sweaty. When I was in seventh grade, he proposed a challenge that he’d retire the hat as soon as somebody from Liberal won a championship,” Barton said after Friday’s medal presentation.
Now that hat is as good as gone. But what of its fate? And does Barton want it as a trophy of sorts?
“I don’t want to touch it,” Barton says of the torn, old, maybe unwashed hat. “But that hat has been my goal. We’ve discussed putting it in our school’s trophy case.”
Barton took home the win during one of the few rainy moments during Friday’s events, and enjoyed every minute of the elements.
“I like the rain. It’s refreshing,” she said. “Winning this is surreal.”
Housley Steps Up On The Biggest Stage
Brooke Housley didn’t even think she’d be on top of the shot put podium Friday. Not after these last few weeks.
“It’s surreal,” the School of the Ozarks junior said. “I really wasn’t expecting to do that well today just because the last several weeks I haven’t been doing very well.”
Much like the NBA regular season, the last few weeks, it turns out, didn’t matter. The state championship, however, does. So after throwing a 38-02.25 in Friday’s final, what changed?
“My frame of mind changed,” Housley said. “I was putting too much pressure on myself. And I just stepped back for a moment and enjoyed what I was doing and that’s why I performed well.”
Housley is no stranger to state track. She’s represented the Lady Patriots the past two years at this highest level. That experience may have been a calming influence for Housley.
“I think that mostly I was just excited to be here,” she said. “I decided that I’m here and I should enjoy it instead of being so worried about am I going to beat everybody it’s just am I improving as a person and am I improving as a thrower.”
Defending State High Jump Champ Takes Second
School of the Ozarks girls track finds itself in first place as a team after Day 1 in Jefferson City. That success comes in part from Housley’s win in the shot put, and in part because of a second place finish for Evelyn Carswell in the high jump.
Carswell, the defending state champion in the event, jumped a 5-03.00 Friday—an inch off her state mark last year and three inches short of her personal best, set last week.
“Not my best, but I am proud,” Carswell said. “Honestly. It wasn’t my best day. I had a really good week last week, but I’m still happy.”
Waters 1st In High Jump, 4th In Triple Jump
Brady Waters had himself a day for Lockwood. The long Tiger senior jumped a 6-03.00 in the high jump, taking home a long overdue field medal for Lockwood.
“It feels good,” Waters said. “Going from being here every year since freshman year to finally making my way up to being a senior and winning it feels really nice.”
OTHER NOTABLES
Dora senior Ashlynn Vanatter qualified for three events on Saturday as she will compete in the 100, 200 and 400-meter dash finals. She was the No. 2 qualifer in the 400 (59.56), No. 4 in the 200 (26.74) and No. 5 in the 100 (13.02) … Thomas Jefferson’s Lane Wilson and Osceola freshman Rylan Sommer will both represent the area in the 100-meter dash final. Wilson (11.35) was the third-fastest qualifier and Sommer (11.52) was sixth fastest … Billy Prater gives Appleton City its lone individual boys finalist in the 300-meter hurdles. He is also a part of the No.2 qualifying 1600-meter relay squad
