The final day of the Class 1 and 2 state track meet started with a bang on Saturday morning with a duel for the ages in the boys’ 4x800 meter relay. Both the College Heights Christian and Principia first two legs of the relay sat in the middle of the pack until 3rd leg runners, Trenton Morris and Austin Homsley, began to break away from the other 14 teams.
Homsley and Morris set up a rematch between the 1600 meter state champion Caleb Hoover (CHC) and 1600 runner-up Nick Barron (Principia) for the 4x800 championship. Veteran Barron was looking to add a 4th straight 4x800 title to his mantle, while Hoover was looking to claim another weekend gold. In the end, Hoover sat on Barron for 600 meters then calmly passed Barron around the final curve to take gold.
The excitement on the day was just beginning. Precious Selmon from Crystal City completed her Senior season with 4 gold medals and 3 new state records in the long jump (19-3.75), 100 meter hurdles (13.9), and the 300 meter hurdles (43.82).
“I’m happy, really happy. I wanted to cry,” said Selmon reacting to her final event and record setting run in the 300 hurdles. She will be continuing her running career next year as a University of New Mexico Lobo.
Selmon, however, was not the only 4 time state champion on the day. Fred Taylor from Maplewood Richmond-Heights lead his team to a state championship with wins in the 100, 4x100, 400, and the 200. Taylor and crew set a new state record in prelims of the 4x100 and Taylor went on to set a new record in the 200 meter dash with a blazing time of 21.87, which also came in the prelims. “I’m shocked, surprised, happy to leave my Senior year with four gold medals,” said Taylor after his final event.
Class 1 freshman Alexa Taff of St. Joseph Christian was a 2 time state champion, turning in winning times of 13.17 and 29.18 in the 100 and 200 meter sprints. "This is my first year and I am just so happy to be here," Alexa said after her 200 win.
The girls 1600 final was also held on Saturday and the slow first two laps played right into the hand of Anneke Reed of Principia. After moving into the front group on the third lap, Reed crept around the competition on the second to last curve then withstood a late surge from Karen and Cindy Grauel of Macon. Anneke’s thoughts as that happened, “I want to go with them and kick it in.” It worked, and the state champ also set her personal best mark at 5:20.
Caleb Hoover, who had already run the 1600, 800, and 4x800, set out to break the state record in the 3200. Hoover calmly let the pack sprint out to a quick start for the first lap and a half, but when he made his move it was all over. Running by himself almost the entire way, the Sophmore ran a 9:29. 5 other runners finished under 10 minutes.
Hoover came into the day with his sights set on the state record, but was only slightly disappointed missing it by 3 seconds. “I guess I was a little tired, but I still wanted it,” said the College Heights Christian runner after receiving his third gold medal on the weekend. He looks to return next year doing the same four events and hopes to break his own state record in the 1600 and finally get the 3200 record.
It was only fitting for a day that started with a battle, to end with three fabulous races in the Class 1 and 2 boys and Class 2 girls 4x400, each decided by less than two seconds. It began with the Class 2 girls as 4x4 anchor Stephanie Romero of Principia held off a charging St. Mary’s squad in the final stretch.
In the Class 2 boys 4x4 final, Maplewood capped off its 85 point team performance by coming from behind to beat out Principia. Anchor Bryant Allen said afterwards that he was “kinda glad we were behind because they pushed us, (they) let us see where our hearts were at.” Allen also set a state record in the 300 meter hurdles earlier in the day.
The Class 1 boys also put on quite a show with a gutsy performance from Caleb Scott of New Covenant Academy. The anchor took the baton with a 5 meter lead over 2nd and 3rd place, but was quickly caught on the backstretch and faded into 3rd place. Yet, coming out of the final curve Scott found his next gear and blew by Chaffee and Mound City.
Katie Evans of Putnam County blew away the competition in the shot put on day two to follow up her dominating class 2 record breaking performance in the discus the day before. Although she was not able to break her own state record from last season in the shot put, her throw of 45 feet 10 and one half inches was over six feet longer than second place.
Another great performance in field events came in the Class 1 boys pole vault, as Will Haer of Craig set a new class 1 state record by a foot with a vault of 15 feet. Haer hit the bar on the way down with his chest on his final attempt to move the record to 15’6”. It was the only boys’ Class 1 state record set at the meet.
The top 4 places in the team competition were: Class 1 girls-Southwest (Ludlow), Mound City, Rock Port and Marion County. Class 1 boys- Chamois, Chaffee, Princeton and Mound City. Class 2 girls- Penny, Principia, Crystal City and Macon Class 2 boys- Maplewood Richmond-Heights, Principia, College Heights Christian and Westran.