Mayfield Blazes
There are two years of middle school cross country results for her, but now Fulton senior Emery Mayfield doesn't have any results from her first two years of high school in the MileSplit Database. Over the last 13 months, Mayfield has made up quite nicely for lost time.
Mayfield leads Volkart and Amann 1,150 meters into the Girls Blue 5k.
Mayfield opened her high school racing career by placing 2nd and 3rd at the Linn and Fulton Invitational last year as a junior. She then had a breakout performance at the 2022 Gans Creek Classic. Mayfield battled it out with Montgomery County's Lyric Ford and Malia Rodgers, Platte County's Sisely Mitchell, and Harrisonville's Kayleigh Norris.
Mayfield came from behind to catch Norris and Ford and hold off Mitchell. Mayfield won her first race in excellent, cool conditions in 18:50, 8/10ths of a second ahead of Mitchell.
This year, it was less dramatic. Mayfield was trailed by fellow Mid-Missouri senior Alexandra Volkart of Southern Boone County. Volkart was a stride back as Mayfield hit the 1,000-meter mark in 3:29. St. Joseph's Academy's sophomore Savannah Amann (see previous page), was 20 meters back, 25 meters ahead of a chase pack of eight others, including two fellow St. Joe Angels.
Savannah Amann was 3rd nearly from the start. She finished 3rd and led St. Joseph's to the team title.
St. Joseph's Lucy Rines leads the chase pack from 4th-place on at 1,150 meters.
Mayfield's pace slowed after the quick first K, but her margin only grew. Mayfield hit the 3k mark in 11:08 and had a 15-second lead. Volkart and Amann remained 2-3 while Westminster Christian Academy's Lydia Bailey led St. Joe's Lucy Rines, who was on her shoulder at 3,100 meters, while MICDS' Grace Coppel and Frances Applegate were two strides back.
Emery powered home, with her sculpted arms leading the way. She crossed the tape in 18:40. The performance was 10 seconds faster than her 2022 race which featured a temperature of about 64 degrees, while Saturday's mark came in with a temperature of 71 degrees, according to the nearby Columbia Regional Airport.
Southern Boone County's Volkart, who is finally a senior though it seems like she's been around and very good much longer, finished 2nd in 19:14.7. A hard-charging Amann of St. Joe's had to settle for 3rd in 19:16.1, running out of room to gain more ground. The race was the first one back for Volkart after her spring track season ended after just two meets. That included two wins at the season-opening Festus McCullough-Douglas Invitational that saw her win the Elite 3200 in 11:24 and then the 1600 in 5:17, all before April 1.
Volkart is looking to get back to the amazing form she was in a year ago. Her 2022 Gans Creek Classic may have been the best race of her career. She ran to a 4th-place finish in 18:30.7 in the girls' most competitive race, the gold division, behind only Carolyn Ford, Julia Ray, and Natalie Barnard.
Southern Boone County's Alexandra Volkart looks up at the results board just before crossing he finish 2nd , ahead of 3rd-placer Savaanah Amann of St. Joseph's Academy.
Although Volkart may have been even more impressive the following week, recording a 7th-place finish in 17:43.8 at the Arkansas Chile Pepper Festival. Volkart capped her junior campaign in a similarly impressive fashion. She won the Class 3 title in chilly and blustery conditions on day 2 of the state meet in 18:40, before taking 42nd at the Team Midwest Championships in Terre Haute in 18:14, finishing as the 3rd Missourian.
Southern Boone County had two medalists who led them to a 5th-place finish at Gans Creek. Sophomore Zafaran Satterfield placed 24th. The Eagles totaled 254 points and Alexandra wasn't the only Volkart in Red and Black for the SBC, freshman Julia Volkart placed 4th on the team and 80th overall in the field of 282.
Westminster Christian senior Lydia Bailey placed 4th in 19:21. Lucy Rines gave St. Joseph's two top-5 finishers, clocking 19:42. MICDS' Grace Coppel was 6th while teammate Frances Applegate was 10th. Hannibal senior Jocelyn Dorsey moved up 3 spots in the final kilometer to take 7th and bring the total of sub-20-minute performers to 7 (18:56.8). Union High School sophomore Viola Johanson was 8th in 20:00.2, just ahead of Lutheran South's Reese Schelp, who took 9th in 20:00.8.
DeSoto senior Jailey Pigg, Kearney senior Heidi Adams, Jefferson City senior Ella Jobe, Owensville junior Ilene Limberg, and Rolla senior Kathryn Hirtz rounded out the top 15, placing 10th-15th.