With the weather near perfect and Parkway Central's brand new jumbotron, the Henle Holmes Invite had the atmosphere of something special. After speaking with Parkway Central boy's coach Steve Warren, he could not remember a Henle Holmes run under better conditions. Before I start to sound like an amateur weatherman again, let's move on to the actual performances. As you read, you know, this is the part of the season when coaches and athletes reach the critical combination of training, conditioning, and identifying talent. At this stage in a track & field season, all schools across the state have had a chance to perform at an optimal level. As coach Warren mentioned previously in my podcast entry on mo.milesplit, the Henle Holmes brings together top teams from a multitude of different classes.
Once again the competition featured some the best teams in our region including Lafayette, Timberland, and Parkway North on the boy's side. On the girl's side was John Burroughs, Parkway Central, Timberland, and MICDS. These teams battled over the course of two days for the coveted team championship. In the boy's contest Lafayette again won the title by a considerable margin. However, on the girl's side, the contest was a nail-biter coming down to the last event in the 4x400. Parkway Central came up short but didn't go down without a fight. A team made up of three freshmen, and a senior captain ran multiple personal record splits but came up a half-point short to a very impressive John Burroughs team.
J.B.'s program has always been strong under coach Harris's leadership. However, this year's version of the team looks built to do very well in a state championship format. Explosive sprinters lead both John Burroughs boy's and girl's teams making Burroughs tough to beat. Coach Harris's guidance along with strength Guru Kevin Kinney's off-season weight program both Xavier Miller and Madison Fuller look like front runners to stand on top of the podium in class 3. Miller has been running track for a while and is battle tested. His experience should help when pressure arises in the state series. Madison Fuller has only been running track for less than a year, but she doesn't move or look that way. In fact, Fuller sprints so fast and physically resembles Olympic track star Lolo Jones you might forget she is just a freshman.
In distance land, MICDS has been shaking things up by running athletes who used to sprint now in distance races and distance runners in the sprints. So far it has worked nicely leading to excellent performances. Probably the most exciting MICDS performance of the evening was Margaret Sliney. Typically, Sliney an 800 specialist who battled some injuries in the past looks to be running now on all cylinders blasting a 57.74 in the 400 dash. Speaking of the 400 dash, the boy's long sprint was dominated by Parkway North's Jermaine Holt. Holt threw down an equally impressive race tossing his name into the conversation for best quarter miler in the statewide with a 48.73. However, as I am writing this article Hazelwood West's senior quarter miler stud Isaiah Cole through down a 48.27 on Saturday at Rockwood Summit's Invite. If you are not doing anything over the first couple of Saturdays in May, you should come out to have your head blown back by these speed demons as they battle one another through districts, sectionals, and state.
How many of these athletes will fulfill their promise? What teams will walk away with state titles? How many records will we see broken in the next month of the track & field? Only time will answer these questions, but I believe the Henle Holmes meet provided us with compelling evidence of future outcomes.