WESTON, Mo. - The northwest corner of Missouri is loaded with track and field talent and that was on display in Class 1 District 8 in Weston on Saturday. The district has 11 of the 19 state-leading girls and all 11 moved on with 10 earning district titles.
The most versatile of those leaders may be Rock Port junior Rylee Jenkins, who leads Class 1 in the discus and also is a member of the top 4x800-meter relay team in the state.
Jenkins wasn't able to match her 39.8-meter discus personal best, but with 36.71 was still able to edge out Class 1's second-ranked thrower Emma Mercer of Albany
"For the next two weeks, I think, definitely, win sectionals," Jenkins said. "Hopefully get my PR there too. That has been my goal all year - to get a 40. I've gotten super close, but haven't yet. And then at state, just throw my best and hopefully get high on the podium."
With the three top-ranked 4x800-meter relay teams in Class 1 in District 8, the presence of Rock Port, East Atchison and Platte Valley discouraged the rest of the district from fielding a 4x800 team. Only DeKalb also raced against those three, so it allowed Platte Valley and Rock Port to coast to second- and third-place finishes while East Atchison ran a season-best 10:35.32 to close the gap to Rock Port's best to just over a second.
"Our team and EA, we really push each other in the 4x8, because we have pretty close times," Jenkins said. "It has been a battle all year. ... Each individual runner is pushed by each of EA's team."
The Rock Port team includes Norah Watkins, Mikayla Makings, Avery Meyerkorth and Jenkins.
A couple of other members of those 4x800 rivalries defended their own state leads. Platte Valley freshman Mya Wray raced to titles in the 3,200-meter run and 1,600-meter run while East Atchison junior Tommi Martin won both the 800-meter run. Martin also won the javelin where she ranks third in Class 1.
Another East Atchison standout, senior Faith Anderson, won both events that she leads Class 1 in with the high jump and 300-meter hurdles.
Worth County sophomore Eva Engel defended the lead in the pole vault against second-ranked Ava Barnes of Mound City. Engel is working back from an injury and won the event then stopped vaulting.
"She was a little concerned after she cleared 10-foot that her ankle/foot was bothering her a little bit, but she sat down and did some stretches and exercises," Worth County coach Janice Borey said. "Then she said that she wanted to do one more. So we did one more. The way she was vaulting I think she could have cleared a couple more heights. She was on-point."
The three other relays on Saturday all set state-leading times with Worth County's 4x100-meter relay running a 51.74, East Atchison's 4x200-meter relay running a 1:50.88 and East Atchison's 4x400 relay team running a 4:14.57.
"I was very proud of them," Borey said of the 4x100. "All the cylinders hit correctly. They were just really flying through it. ... They were pretty excited. They are not far off the school record."
It just gets tougher for the District 8 competitors next Saturday in Plattsburg with District 7 including Drexel stars Josie Parks (the Class 1 100-meter leader), Olivia Shipps (the Class 1 shot put leader) and Emily Wheeler (the Class 1 100-meter hurdles leader).
East Atchison won the girls' title with Rock Port taking second and Platte Valley third.