There was a lot of drama at the Class 1-2 State Track and Field Championships. On the boys side, both the Class 1 and Class 2 team battles ended in ties for first. In Class 1, Hayti and Hermitage were crowned as co-champions.
Crystal City was led by a pair of sophomores, Kanden Bolton and Camden Mayes, to the 3rd-place trophy. A year after winning the 4x100 and 4x200 while finishing 5th as a team and graduating plenty of talent, King City surprised even themselves by earning the 4th-place trophy. Senior Ty Mooney won the 200, was 2nd in the 100, and helping the Wildkats to 2nd and 3rd-place finishes in the 4x200 and 4x100.
Green City junior Asher Buggs-Tipton tried to extend his state undefeated streak and state title total from eight to 12. He dropped the triple jump this year in favor of the 100-meter dash, making his quest much tougher with the short turnaround between the 110-hurdles and 100-meter dash.
Tina-Avalon junior Tucker Singer kept his great season rolling in the shot put. One of the state's best regardless of class, Singer captured the Class 1 state title with a 17.91m/58-9.25 toss. Little brother Tanner Singer was 4th, just 8-inches short of a 1-2 finish.
See some more of the drama in captioned photos below, or check out photo galleries.
Divine Lapse
Boys in the Class 1 110-meter hurdle prelims take off after the gun.
It was like a subtle note, a divine honor for a great coach, official, and man, Ron Whittaker, two weeks after he passed away after a short battle with cancer.
The third set of hurdles were set up at the wrong markers, or not moved from the girls 100-meter hurdles markings to the the boys 110-meter hurdles markings for the Class 1 and Class 2 110-meter hurdles preliminaries. That oversight forced a rerun of the races at the end of the first day of the Class 1-2 State meet, with all of the hurdles at the correct positions.
Whittaker was the hall of fame coach at his alma mater
Mexico High School and the head track judge for MSHSAA for about the last 15 years. Whittaker had a routine of checking the hurdles when they were set for each new race at the state meet. He would start at one end of the track while MSHSAA state track and field meet co-director Dennis LIcklider would start at the other end, both checking each set of hurdles and meeting in the middle after making adjustments when necessary.
Looking back, the oversight of leaving one set of hurdles at the wrong spot, feels like a reminder of Ron Whittaker, great official, greater man.
Follow the Leader
With one lap to go in the Class 1 Boys 1600, Nodaway Valley/Nodaway Holt junior Riley Blay leads a trail of followers with one lap to go in the race. Blay would win in 4:27 to earn his 6th MSHSAA State cross country or track and field title.
I had this many state titles
Nodaway Valley/West Nodaway/
Nodaway Holt's
Riley Blay talks to a reporter after winning the Class 1 1600. With the last two Class 1 state cross country titles and the Class 1 800, 1600, and 3200 state titles last year, Blay entered the meet with five state titles on his resume and added two more (1600 and 3200) and a 2nd-place 800 finish. Blay now has seven state gold medals and one more year to add to that total.
