Sarcoxie hosted the Spring River Valley Conference track and field meet on Friday. Sarcoxie led the team standings on the boys’ side for much of the day, but they were passed in the very last event by College Heights.
“They [Sarcoxie] have won multiple years in a row and we knew it was going to be a struggle,” said College Heights coach Daniel Lewis. “It came down to the wire. It came down to the last race. We were two points behind going into the 4×4.”
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The Cougars finished with 133 team points, edging Sarcoxie with 127. College Heights did all of their damage in the track events and did not participate in any field events. They took first place in the 100, 200, 400, 800 and 1600 meter run as well as the 4×800 and 4×400 meter relays. Their team win today would have been impossible were it not for some extra help from other athletes in school.
“We had a couple baseball kids that came and ran with us today,” said Lewis. “They’ve run a couple times before with us, but they knew it was conference and they really helped us out. They ran on both of the relays in the 4×8 and the 4×4 that won.
“Those baseball kids, we couldn’t have run that relay without them. All my track kids had already used all four events. So if they hadn’t of come out, we wouldn’t have won [the team title]. Kudos to those baseball kids that have enough guts to come out and run track for a day.”
Jonathan Johnson, a conventional track athlete for College Heights, continued his excellent junior year taking first place in the 200 meter dash (23.14 seconds) and 400 meter dash (53.68) and second place in the 100 meter dash (11.71) and 1600 meter run (5:01.09). He battle through a hip flexor suffered in the 100.
“I helped push my other teammates and we got our senior first place,” said Johnson. “He [Kyzer Thiessen] got second [in the 400] and he got first in the 100. Today is not about who can get first or second; it’s about the team today. So if I got second and my teammate got first, that’s what matters because it’s all going to our team points.”
Johnson currently holds the fastest time in the area this year in the 400 meter dash with a time of 49.24 seconds. He finished with a silver medal in the event last year at the state meet.
“I want to win state,” he said. “I’m feeling stronger this year and I’m confident I can pull out a win.”
The girls from Jasper continued their streak at the SRVC conference meet. They picked up their fourth-consecutive team title on the girls’ side led by senior Lexie Royster, who finished at the top in each of her four events. She took the long jump (16’11”), triple jump (33’0.25”), 100 meter hurdles (16.35) and 200 meter dash (28.09).
“It means a lot,” she said when asked about winning yet another team title. “We’ve been conference champs for the last three years and even before that. So it would mean a lot if I got to go out my senior year with another conference championship under our belt for track… I had to do what I had to do for my team today and it came out on the positive side, so I’m glad.”
The Lady Eagles implemented a similar strategy to College Heights by moving athletes from relays to individual events in order to maximize team points. Royster usually runs on the 4×200 meter relay, but Coach Dave Davis explains why he made the moves.
“We’ve got some pretty strong relays,” said Davis, “but what I did today was I broke them up and sent my top girls to do individual events. Like Lexie Royster, she had four individuals and four firsts. And we still ran those relays. We subbed in some of the other girls on it and still did pretty good with those relays. And so we picked up a lot of points just by breaking those relays up. But they’re our stronger events that we’ll put them back together for districts.”
The Jasper girls narrowly beat the Sarcoxie girls, giving Sarcoxie two tough second-place team finishes on their home track. Jasper finished with 136 points, edging Sarcoxie’s 134.
The brightest spot for the Bears on Friday was senior leaper Lath Kisling. He swept the jumping events while setting a personal record in the long jump. Kisling leaped an impressive 23’10” in the long jump, which is an area-leading and Class 2 state-leading mark this year. If he’s able to duplicate that performance at the state track meet next month, he will set the Class 2 state record.
“My first meet this year at Republic, I set it [long jump] at a 23’6 and today I set it at a 23’10,” said Kisling. “So I’m hoping to get that to a 24-something… Knowing that I can do it, and I know I can do it, that’s a lot of relief. So hopefully at state I’ll jump – I don’t even care. I’d like to get a 24 at state but if I don’t, I just want to get the Missouri record and hopefully get it on high jump too.”
Last year at the SRVC meet, Kisling jumped 7’3” on the high jump. Today he took first place with a mere 6’8”. He also won the triple jump at 43’3.75”. Kisling also placed second in the 200 meter dash (23.40), which was less than 0.3 seconds behind Johnson from College Heights.
Last year, College Heights finished second behind Sarcoxie at the conference meet. The Cougars flipped the script on Friday. Before the team points were determined at this year’s meet, Johnson shared this sentiment.
“We’ve been having a battle with Sarcoxie that last couple years,” he said, “so beating Sarcoxie would just be very fun. It would mean a lot to the seniors with it being their last year. It’s going to be a really close meet, we’ll just see how the meet goes and hopefully we’ll be able to win this.”
