Jumps
There was something in the air at the Great Southwest Classic and for Rockhurst's Erick Hill, it was all he needed to break through in the long jump.
In Albuquerque, Hill skipped over the 22's and went straight to the 23s as he cleared a personal best 23-3.25 to finish 6th overall, over a foot farther than his 22-0 mark from a late April home meet. Before that, Hill was consistently in the mid-to-high 21s and finished 9th at the Class 5 state meet in 21-5.5.
Hill also has some experience in the hurdles and short sprints and cleared 22-4 this indoor season. The 22-4 mark is his second best mark of his career which shows that Hill is ready to break out in a major way this season.
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It's the massive breakout no one is talking about because of a postponed outdoor season.
Savannah's Ben Schneider closed out his sophomore campaign with a 3rd place finish at the Class 4 state meet, clearing 6-6 in the high jump. He went on to finish 5th at the AAU Jr. Olympics.
This indoor season, Schneider quickly matched his personal best with a 6-6 clearance at the Jayhawk Open, but followed that up with a 6-10 clearance at the NWMSU Bearcat Open #2 and a 6-10.25 clearance for the win at the Mizzou Indoor Series Championship. That 6-10.25 mark would have put him at MO No. 1 last spring in the entire state.
Two 6-10 marks on the indoor circuit this winter is massive and leads us to believe that a 7-0 clearance was only a matter of time this spring. He would be the 16th Missourian to ever do it.
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A number of juniors are vying for the title of "Missouri's best" at the moment and Rock Bridge's Dillon Hilbert is fully in the mix.
Hilbert, a member of a strong pole vault crew last spring, is looking to continue to build off his 14-0 best from 2019. The departure of Eli Darrough has him as Rock Bridge's top option in the vault in the year in which most vaulters make their biggest leap.
Keep an eye out once the season starts back up for Hilbert to contribute big points for a perennially stellar Rock Bridge squad.
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Evan Bruenderman - Notre Dame Cape Girardeau
Notre Dame Cape Girardeau has been showing off its prowess in the jumps over the last couple of years and Evan Bruenderman leads the way for the boys this year.
Bruenderman finished 5th in the triple jump at the Class 4 state meet last spring, clearing 45-8.5, and followed it up with a 45-10 jump at his AAU regional meet. He's also a strong long sprinter with a 52.58 best in the 400 as a sophomore.
This winter, Bruenderman showed signs of improvement with a personal best in the long jump of 20-3.25 and a 44-0 indoor triple jump best.
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Myles Norwood - Trinity Catholic
Take your pick with Norwood. An AAU National Champion in the Decathlon, Norwood truly is one of the up-and-coming all-around track athletes in the state.
Norwood's strongest event seems to be long jump as he's posted a 22-2.5 personal best there and finished 7th in Class 3 last spring. The Trinity junior also finished 6th in the triple jump in 43-7.25. He's also benefited from the tutelage of throws coach Peter Juszczyk as he posted lifetime best of 134-6 in the javelin last summer, too.
Put it all together and you get a young man who could theoretically win multiple state titles over the next couple of years. College coaches should take an extra look at this junior if they're looking for a multi's star for their squad.
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Lauren North and Leah North - St. Teresa's Academy
Much like the afore-mentioned Melvin sisters, the North sisters from St. Teresa's Academy are stars in the making.
Between the two sisters, 37 feet and 11.5 inches have been cleared in the long jump with Lauren holding the slight edge over Leah. Lauren, who missed out on the long jump at the state meet in 2019, cleared 19-0.75 at the Great Southwest Classic. Leah, the Class 5 state champion as a freshman, finished 3rd at the 2019 meet, but still boasts an 18-10.75 personal best.
This indoor season, Leah posted an 18-6.75 mark at the second Mizzou Indoor Series meet and Lauren finished the winter at 17-8.
Both girls could very well finish 1st and 2nd in the event this year.
Not to be outdone, the North sisters have shown they can hold their own in the sprints, too. Lauren boasts personal bests in the 100, 200, and 400 of 12.83, 25.07, and 57.84 while Leah has run 12.41, 26.19, and 1:00.07.
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Gateway's Marshaun Bostic finished 6th in the long jump at last year's Class 4 meet, but it's her 19-2.5 from the PHL Relays that makes her one of the best returners in the entire state in the meet.
Bostic also finished 4th in the 200 at last year's state meet in 25.70, but it was her 25.03 personal best which helped her get there in the first place.
A consistently strong performer both in the long jump and the 200, Bostic has all the makings of becoming a star in this state.
Mt. Vernon's Sadie Heisner has tried her hand so far at three of the four jumping events and been able to hold her own in all of them early on in her career.
The jury is out on which is her best yet. She's earned two all-state medals each in the pole vault and triple jump and finished 8th as a freshman in the long jump. She's also posted all-state performances in the 100m hurdles in both tries.
In the pole vault, her 11-9 personal best has her up there as one of the top contenders for the Class 3 crown and her 36-5.5 triple jump is third among Class 3 returners. That 17-11.75 long jump best she owns also has her in the mix for a state title.
Combine that with her 100m hurdles success and Heisner makes for the kind of athlete that could be a multi-event (i.e., pentathlon/heptathlon) star one day and could single handedly help Mt. Vernon secure a team trophy.
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On her home turf last May, Washington's Morgan Gratza narrowly missed a state championship in a stellar field. Though she cleared an impressive 5-7, it was only enough for third as Webster Groves freshman Eliza Maupin cleared 5-8 for the win. It was a big improvement from her 8th place finish in 2018.
Gratza is another multi-event talent as she placed 5th at the 2019 Great Southwest Classic and 14th at the AAU Jr. Olympic Games. She's cleared 16-9.25 in the long jump, run 16.58 in the 100m hurdles, and posted a 2:31.28 800 so the range is very promising.
Look for Gratza to continue to rack up the points for the Blue Jays as she has a very bright future ahead of her.
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One of the more unorthodox state meet DQ's aside, Reeds Spring's Paige Rantz is surely a top contender for the Class 3 crown in the pole vault.
After finishing 3rd as a freshman in 11-3, Rantz cleared 10-6 at the Class 3 state meet on her first try and 11-0 on her third try, but was unable to see the podium with a "cell phone use" DQ. During her sophomore season, she had climbed to 11-6 and cleared 11-0 four times.
Be that as it may, in her one competition this winter, she hit a massive personal best of 12-4 at the National Pole Vault Summit in Nevada. Rantz is a major part of an incredible field of female vaulters in the state and, should we get a state meet, will be vying for the gold in Class 3.