Ladue and Cape Central Meet Review by Ryan Banta

Ryan Banta


Nassim Oufattole of Lafayette

Ladue and Lafayette Show Their Dominance

As the season reaches the end of its penultimate month, the top teams in each class are now clear.  In St. Louis and the Class Five level, no teams have looked better than Lafayette on the boy's side and Hazelwood Central on the girl's side.  Obviously, both teams will have stiff competition at the state meet from Blue Springs (last year's Class Five Champ) and Lee's Summit West respectively.  In the Lou, it will be tough for any teams to close the gap.  The storied Lafayette boy's team was once again led by a strong showing on the track in the sprints, hurdles, and distance events.  Last year, Lafayette went 1,2,3 in the 3200 m run at the state championships.  In 2016, it looks like they might be able to get four athletes through to the state meet.  Getting all four to the state meet has only happened a few times and would be a truly extraordinary accomplishment.  in recent memory, only Potosi has done it with their distance crew, and Coach Burris trained Ladue squad got four athletes in the 400 m in the same year.  I am sure that Dean hays will correct me on this but, going back long ago into track and field history, I think that only Raytown South has gone 1,2,3,4 in any event.  Those performances were long ago in the pole vault. Lafayette's sprinter Brad Alexander again had a busy day placing in the top three or better in the 100 m, 200 m, and 400 m dashes.  Lafayette's D-squad ( that's what the kids like to call it) went 1-2 in the 1600 m and 3200 m.  If that doesn't impress you enough let this fact marinate over you like Italian dressing over Sunday BBQ chicken. The Lancers ran the fastest time statewide in the 4 x 800 relay at 7:55 with two "alternates" running.


Symiah Fulton of Hazelwood Central

Outrageous is a great word to describe Hazelwood Central girl's track and field team.  One of the strongest sprint crews ever assembled on one squad.  Central girls have so many superpower athletes that it would make the Avengers jealous.  In the meet loaded with 30 teams, Hazelwood scored two athletes in each sprint event.  Honestly, this team is so good that they make me thankful that they are class five, and my kids don't have to do battle with them on the way to the state meet.  Besides being strong on the track, they also have a great crew of jumpers who also have state level ability. Any time that a track team has such a stable of superheroes', great relay teams tend to follow.  Hazelwood Central has one of the strongest traditions in the sprint relays statewide.  In fact, Central has run some of the fastest times in state history in both short relays.  Saturday, they ran a mind-boggling 1:39.76 in the 4 x 200 m relay.  Just a couple of ticks away from their state record time and it's still only April!


Sarah Madsen and Kara Stark of Parkway Central

Depth Leads the Way for Union and Parkway Central

In the other weekend news, both Union and Parkway Central looked sharp at the Cape Central Invite.  Both teams showed a lot of balance with Union winning on the boy's side, and Parkway Central winning over Union on the girl's side.  Union should have a balanced attack scoring big points in both the distance and hurdle events.  Union's Ryan Schumaker was their athlete of the meet winning both hurdle events, placing 3rd in the long jump, 4th in the triple jump, and running a nasty 39.54 300 Hurdles beating his next competitor by nearly 3 second in the process. Parkway Central is running a number of their athletes in "off events" had a good day with their distance crew racking up first place finishes in the 800, 1600, and 3200 m runs.  PCH also took first in the 4 x 400 and 4 x 800 m relays.  Athletes of the meet for the Cape Central Invite goes to Union's Kaylee Bunch in the 100 m Hurdles plus the 300 m Hurdles, and Parkway Central's Abby Judd, who won both of her  two individual events (1600 m, 3200 m run) for personal best performances.