Sprints
Poplar Bluff's Jadarius Pigg closed out his sophomore campaign with a 13th place finish at the Class 5 state meet, but before that, he posted a wind-aided 14.95 for the victory at the sectional meet. He also ran 41.47 in the 300 hurdles.
The 2020 indoor season was very good to the now junior. He posted the second fastest 60m hurdles time among Missourians (8.36) and cleared 20 feet in the long jump. With warmer weather, we were expecting even bigger things out of Pigg.
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McCluer North continues to build a solid sprint stable and one of it's horses, Angelo Butts, is just starting to round into form.
In his first season in 2019, Butts ran under 11 seconds in the 100 a whopping 10 times including a 10.65 personal best at the Henle Homes Invitational and a 10.98 mark for 6th place at the state meet.
In the 200, he went 22.12, but did not go further past the district meet prelims, opting instead to run legs on the 4th place state 4x200 and state championship 4x400 relays. In fact, his incredible 47.64 come-from-behind anchor split sealed the deal for the Stars and firmly planted Angelo Butts as the next big up-and-coming sprinter in the state.
The younger brother of former all-state Camdenton sprinter Grace Wormek, Class of 2021 hurdler Parker Wormek is already starting to make a name for himself.
At the 2019 Class 4 state meet, Wormek finished a very close third in the 100m hurdle finals after posting the second fastest mark out of prelims. His 14.71 personal best is second among returning Missourian juniors only to phenom Johnny Brackins and MO No. 19 all-time among sophomores.
A hurdle specialist, Wormek has also posted a personal best in the 300m hurdles of 40.92.
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Nixa's William Wheeler posted one of the fastest marks in the 200 among sophomores last season, but fell victim to the dreaded 5th place finish at the Sectional meet. His 22.53 ranks him 7th in the entire state among returning juniors and 4th in Class 5.
Not to be outdone, Wheeler also posted a 52.20 in the 400, but has already improved upon that with his 51.55 mark this indoor season. Wheeler was heading into his junior campaign coming off a solid indoor season and was definitely on course to make some noise in the sprints, especially the 200 and 400.
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Following in the footsteps of the legendary Isaiah Martin, Hillsboro's Sam Wright has become the latest jack of all trades in Southeast Missouri.
Wright has especially excelled in his short career in the 400 meter dash. As a sophomore, he ran 50.57 to qualify for the Class 4 state meet where he finished 11th.
The multi-athlete has also posted marks in the 10 decathlon events and finished 18th out of 39 at the AAU Jr. Olympic Games in the event. He's run 41.84 in the 300m hurdles; thrown the javelin 122 feet, 6 inches; and long jumped 19-0, among other accomplishments, and looks to be just getting started down a successful career path.
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The Park Hill long sprinters have had a pretty impressive recent history. Over the past three years, they have won each of the Class 5 4x400 relay championships and produced such talents as Taiya Shelby, Manuela Ngo Tonye Nyemeck, and current senior Teresa Thomas, among others.
A big part of their success over the last two years, too, has been Caleia Johnson.
Johnson already has two golds to her name in the 4x400 as a part of the teams both in 2018 and 2019. She also earned medals in the 200 and 400 as a sophomore to go along with her 24.80 and 57.34 personal bests. She actually already improved upon that 400 this indoor season when she went 57.02 at the UK High School Invitational and could be eyeing a move to the 800 after posting a 1:32.87 in the 600 yard run at the Jayhawk High School Open.
An AAU All-American, Johnson is about ready to break out in a major way and should be on everyone's radar regardless of whether she gets a shot to this season.
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If anything, Marshfield's Brianna Utecht loves to compete.
But you would, too, if you were this good at it.
Utecht, in her first two high school seasons, has already qualified for the state meet five times (twice in the 100 and 200, once in the 400). Last season, she pulled in three medals in the open sprint events, placing 8th in the 100, 5th in the 200, and 6th in the 400. Her line of 12.34/25.52/59.42 is one which screams breakout candidate as a junior.
This indoor season, Utecht added two more events to her arsenal as she posted a 9.15 60m hurdles mark and had a massive breakthrough in the long jump when she cleared 17-5, 18-1.25, and 18-4, all huge improvements over her outdoor best of 15-4.5. She is very clearly a multi-event star in the making.
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Brayanna Washington - Cardinal Ritter
We all know about Cardinal Ritter's decade of success across the sprint and jumps and their next big star in the sprints is junior Brayanna Washington.
Washington is already a state champion after running a leg on the Lions' 1st place 4x200 last spring. In the open events, she has posted personal bests of 12.33 in the 100 and 26.41 in the 200. After earning a 6th place finish in the Class 3 100 and tuning up with some solid racing this indoor season, it looks like Washington is ready to headline her team's attack on the dynasty in the making that is Trinity Catholic.
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Madison O'Neill-Herron - North Platte
When a sprint specialist with multiple state medals to her name adds the cross country element to our repertoire, it really is hard for anyone else to compete at that point.
North Platte's Madison O'Neill-Herron qualified for her first state cross country meet in her third season, finishing 27th at the Class 1 meet in 21:53.50, but it's her resume in the sprinting events that really turns heads.
As a sophomore, O'Neill-Herron stood atop the podium in the Class 2 400 after hitting 59.04 last May. She also finished no worse than 3rd in 11 tries at the 200 last season, finishing up the campaign with a 3rd place finish at the state meet in 25.75.
The defending champ in the 400 and the top returner in the 200, O'Neill-Herron could be poised for a breakout in the very near future coming off a strong cross country season and following the departures of Busiwa Asinga and Lenetta Lee.
Trinity Catholic's sprint crew is unreal.
Between Sydney Juszczyk, Akilah Heffner, Leah Thames, Brooke Moore, and Dayna Reid, none of whom are seniors in 2020, it doesn't like Trinity is going away anytime soon.
Reid gets a shout out here as she seems to be the only of that crew who has yet to get her time in the spotlight. She contributed significantly to Trinity's massive team title in 2019 with a 5th place finish in the 200 with her 25.47 (+2.1) personal best and a 3rd place finish in 400 with her 57.99 best.
She didn't contribute any legs on their relay teams, but with some important 2019 seniors graduating, Reid, after a successful first track season, should slide right in and be able to contribute in four events this season.