With the outdoor track and field season finally upon us, let's take a look at the top athletes from each of our five classes!
Competitions have begun, but that doesn't mean we have stopped unrolling previews for the Class 1 and 2 boys and girls. We are introducing and discussing five of the top athletes in each of the sprints (100, 200, 400, 100/110 Hurdles, and 300 Hurdles), distance (800, 1600, 3200), jumps (long jump, triple jump, high jump, pole vault), and throws (discus, shot put, javelin) events. We are also introducing 3-4 of the top freshmen to watch, plus 3-4 teams to watch and a dark horse team on which to keep an eye.
With all ten articles out and live, check to see how our already previewed athletes and teams are already doing while checking on the Class 1 girls landscape heading into the 2024 season.
More Content to Explore: Meet Calendar | Virtual Meets | Rankings | 2023 Photos | Class of 2024 College Commitments
Recent Drops: | Class 5 Boys Preview | Class 5 Girls Preview | Class 4 Boys Preview | Class 4 Girls Preview | Class 3 Boys Preview | Class 3 Girls Preview | Class 2 Boys Preview | Class 2 Girls Preview | Class 1 Boys Preview | Top Performers: Missouri Girls Track and Field - March 20 | Top Performers: Missouri Boys Track and Field - March 19
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Sprints
Last May's Class 1 state meet showcased an impressive battle in the 100 and 200 meter dashes between Breah Morris and Drexel's Josie Parks. In the end, Morris came out on top in both, but the now-senior Parks appears ready to assume her place as Class 1's best short sprinter.
Parks heads into the 2024 season tops among returners with personal bests of 12.53 in the 100 and 26.31 in the 200. She has finished 2nd, 3rd, and 5th in the 100 in each of the past three seasons at state and should be considered the early-season favorite to pick up the win this time around.
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The second ranked returner in both the 100 and 200 meter dashes is Gallatin's Annabelle Ball. It has been an unlucky run in Class 2 for the senior who has qualified for state four times and yet to seal the deal for an individual state medal as of yet. She has a strong chance at picking up the elusive medal as her 12.72 personal best in the 100 and 26.48 mark in the 200 has her just off state-leading Parks. After years of just missing out, Ball is among the front-runners not just for state hardware, but for state gold in the short sprints.
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The only Class 1 returner with a mark under 16 seconds in the 100 meter hurdles is Rock Port sophomore Ella Meyerkorth. Her 15.92 personal best was among the best in the state last spring, but an unfortunate run in the prelims at the state meet had her post her worst time of the season and miss out on finals in the event. Nevertheless, Meyerkorth is now the favorite for the victory in 2024. She is also ranked 5th among returners in the 300 meter hurdles with a 48.18 (a mark she has already bested this spring with a 47.95) and is ranked 3rd among returners in the 800 meter run at 2:25.73. She will surely have to choose between those latter two events at state, but should be considered a contender in whichever she chooses.
Madeline Sims - Wellington-Napoleon
The top-ranked returner in the 400 meter dash is Wellington-Napoleon's Madeline Sims, who can not only put it down in the open 400 (1:00.44), but showed last summer that she can do damage in the 400 meter hurdles, as well (1:09.62). Sims has shown that she is strong in the middle distance/long sprint events after finishing 3rd at state in the 400 last spring and adding a 2:23.91 800 meter mark to her resume in the AAU series. A 27.34 mark in the 200 also has her ranked 4th among returners after she finished 6th at state last season. Sims could seemingly make some noise all on her own for her team this season in anything from the 200 to the 800 to potentially even the 300 meter hurdles.
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Pattonsburg's Kelsey Crabtree is the top returner in the 300 meter hurdles by nearly two seconds with an impressive 45.93 personal best to her name. In 2023, she picked up a second silver medal in the event at state after finishing third in 2022. In 2024, she will be the heavy favorite to pull in the gold medal in her fourth try. Crabtree is also fourth-ranked in the 100 meter hurdles with a 16.27 personal best and was third at state in the event last May.
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Distance
Mya Wray heads into the 2024 season coming off a dominant fall cross country season. She lost only twice, but never to Class 1 competition en route to an impressive victory at Gans Creek in 19:11.90, 8 seconds off her 19:03.70 personal best. She boasts track personal bests of 2:31.73, 5:18.99, and 11:43.72 in the 800, 1600, and 3200 and is also the reigning state champion in the 1600 and 3200 meter runs, losing only once in twenty-one tries last spring.
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Stoutland's Mallory Shaw tried to pull off the come-from-behind victory at the Class 1 State cross country meet this fall, but let Mya Wray get a little too far away this year and could not make up the massive lead she had accumulated. Nevertheless, she was the silver medalist as a sophomore after winning gold in 2022, and improved her 5k best to 19:30.58. Last spring, she ran 2:27.87, 5:25.13, and 12:04.03 in the distance events, earning state medals in all three, and ranked 2nd in the 1600 and 3rd in the 3200 heading into 2024.
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Tarkio's Tommi Martin could fit in the distance or throws section, but lands in the distance section as the only returner with a personal best under 2:20 in the 800. She was dominant in the half-mile last spring, winning all 12 times she competed during the regular season and state series. She won the state meet by over 4 seconds with that 2:19.95 personal best and should be considered the heavy favorite to repeat in 2024. As for the throws, she is the 2nd ranked javelin thrower in Class 1 with a 41.68m (136-9.75) best that she has already surpassed in 2024 (42.02m, 137-10.5). She has also cleared 5 feet in high jump and 15 feet in long jump in her career, making one wonder if she could make appearances in those events this year, too.
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Glasgow's Addison Barringhaus has been a fixture in the state ranks in the distance and cross country events in her short career and this 2024 season should be no different. She heads into the season ranked 7th among 1600 meter runners at 5:41.10 and 4th among 3200 runners at 12:17.17. A 3-time all-stater on the track who has finished 2nd, 10th, and 6th at state in cross country in her career, Barringhaus should be among the state's elites in the distance events once again this spring.
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Molly Milazzo - Newtown-Harris
Molly Milazzo heads into the 2024 season as one of the state's top ranked 800/1600 runners. She posted personal bests of 2:26.14 and 5:35.70, respectively, at last year's Class 1 state meet to pick up 5th place medals in each event. It was truly a massive breakout season for the now-senior who is hoping to close out her track career with a bang in 2024.
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Jumps
Concordia's Dakota Reynolds is tops among triple jump returners in 2024, heading into the season with an impressive 11.16m (36-7.5) personal best to her name. She won the 2023 state title by over a foot last spring as a freshman and appears to be on a historic trajectory for her career. A 4.91m (16-1.5) mark in the long jump was good enough for 8th last May and has her ranked 5th heading into this season. She should be considered among the few to truly watch out for in the horizontal jumps in 2024...and beyond.
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The top ranked long jumper, and only Class 1 long jumper heading into the 2024 season with a mark over 17 feet, is Pattonsburg's Katelyn Jones. Her 5.27m (17-3.5) best sticks out among the rest of her marks from her 2023 campaign, but is also one of four marks over 5 meters in her career. She was a hard luck 5th place at her sectional meet last spring, but did pull out a 7th place medal at state in the triple jump. Her 10.28m (33-8.75) best is ranked 7th among 2024 returners there. After earning a 4th place medal in the long jump in 2022, Jones will hope to climb back onto the medal stand in the event this season.
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Class 1's top pole vault returner is Worth County's Eva Engel. The reigning Class 1 champion heads into her junior campaign after matching her outdoor personal best during indoor season by clearing 3.4m (11-1.75). After only clearing 11 feet (3.35m) once in 2023, she cleared it three times this winter and cleared 3.31m (10-10.5) two more times, surpassing Mound City's Ava Barnes' second-ranked mark of 3.28m (10-9) four times in total just this winter. Engel opened up her outdoor season at that 3.28m mark and should continue to climb this spring as she looks to pull in state gold number two and state medal number three in three tries.
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Class 1's top returner in the high jump is St. Elizabeth junior Sarah Backes. Backes cleared 1.62m (5-3.75) in her first meet of the 2023 season and, even though she didn't clear 1.6m again, a 1.5m clearance at the state meet was good enough to earn her a 4th place medal at the Class 1 state meet. She heads into the season a quarter of an inch ahead of Galena's Kaesha Walter and two inches ahead of Pattonsburg's Annabelle Gardener, who finished 3rd in 2023, Northeast (Cairo)'s Kennedy Kearns, and another Galena product: Melanie Rice.
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Bethany Slovensky - Wellsville-Middletown
Bethany Slovensky rounds out an impressive 1-2 punch for the Wellsville-Middletown as she heads into the 2024 season with top eight ranked marks in the long jump (2nd), 100 meter hurdles (2nd), and the 300 meter hurdles (3rd). In 2023, Slovensky finished 2nd, 2nd, and 4th in each event, respectively, and closed out the season with marks of 16.06, 47.84, and 5.15m (16-10.75). This season, she has already added the triple jump to her repertoire again with a personal best 10.32m (33-10.5) clearance, which would be among the top eight performances by Class 1 returners last season. Watch for Slovensky to tear it up this spring in the horizontal jumps and hurdles.
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Throws
West Nodaway's Ava Graham heads into the 2024 season as the reigning state champion and 2nd ranked athlete based on performance in the shot put. Her 11.93m (39-1.75) personal best came just at the right time last season as it earned her the state gold and capped off a stellar sophomore season. She sits just behind Class 1 newcomer New Haven's Aubri Meyer, an accomplished thrower in her own right coming off Class 2 bronze in 2023, but should be considered a major contender for the shot put crown once again.
Not to be outdone, but Graham chucked a massive personal best in the discus at last summer's AAU Junior Olympics and is now 2nd among returners in that event. She boasts a 40.11m (131-7) mark that far outpaces her in-season best of 34.36m (112-8.75). In fact, she threw at least 2 meters further than the 34.36m mark in all 4 of her postseason meets after finishing 8th at the Sectional 4 meet and missing out on state.
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Rock Port's Rylee Jenkins is the reigning 2-time state champion in the Class 1 discus and is another thrower whose summer personal best is well ahead of her in-season personal best. Jenkins posted a 42.72m (140-1.75) mark at the Missouri Valley AAU District Qualifier and would go on to finish 5th at the AAU Junior Olympics with a 42.21m throw. Jenkins has two state golds and a silver in the discus to her name so far and has not lost in the MSHSAA season in the discus since April 12th, 2022. She is already climbing in the javelin this 2024 season and should be a strong contender in both events this spring.
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Among javelin returners, Jamestown's Jolene Sorrells is the best of the best. She heads into the 2024 season with top Class 1 mark at 42.37m (139-0) and is looking to climb into the spot that Knox County's Jennifer Hinkle has left behind after finishing 2nd to her at state in 2023. Sorrells was 3rd in 2022 and has only lost 3 times in the last 2 seasons - once at a non-state meet. She will surely be among the contenders for state gold this spring.
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Brunswick's Joslynn Brown has an impressive resume as not only the 3rd ranked returner in the javelin (37.66m, 123-6.75), but also the 2nd ranked returner in the triple jump (10.96, 35-11.5) and 4th in the long jump (5.03m, 16-6). She earned state medals in all three events last spring, picking up 4th, 2nd, and 5th place medals in her freshman season.
Brown now heads into 2024 with a chance at elevating her team into a trophy spot with her prowess in the horizontal jumps and javelin. And not to be outdone, she has cleared 4-11 in the high jump, too, and is 9th ranked among returners in that event, too.
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The state runner-up in last year's Class 1 shot put, Polo's Hanna Vaught boasts a personal best of 11.85m (38-10.5) and is coming off a major breakout season in 2023. She improved nearly 2 meters to jump from 12th at her Class 2 District 8 meet all the way up to 2nd in Class 1 state. She is also the 5th ranked returner in the javelin with a 36.68m (120-4) mark and finished 5th at last year's state meet.
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Incoming Freshmen to Watch
Liberal's Ally Barton headed into the 2023 cross country season as a potential game changer in the race for the Class 1 individual championship. She boasted middle school personal bests of 12:40.80 in the CC 3200, as well as 2:24.13 and 5:43.20 in the 800 and 1600, and even debuted with a 20:24.05 5k mark. She finished out the fall at 20:11.42, picked up a District 2 individual win, and took 3rd behind Mya Wray and Stoutland's Shaw. She is should be a major contender in all three distance events this spring, and even the 400 meter dash as she has posted a 1:02.62 mark already this spring to go along with 2:31.21 and 5:45.81 marks in the 800 and 1600.
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The throws scene is a big one in Class 1 and incoming freshman Maggie Osburn should shake it up quite a bit this spring. She heads into the 2024 season with personal bests in the lighter shot put and discus of 10.97m (36-0) and 28.15m (92-4.25), but has already boosted the discus personal best all the way up to 30.43m (99-10) in the early goings. Keep an eye out for Osburn as she gains more experience with the heavier implements and makes a run at state medals in the shot put and discus this spring.
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Moriah Perrenoud-Moore - Midway
Midway has a strong newcomer in the 400 meter dash in Moriah Perrenoud-Moore. She has already opened up the season with victories at Adrian and Butler and leads Class 1 regardless of age in the early goings with a 1:02.01 mark. Watch out for her in the 200 and 800 meter runs as we move into April, as well, as it is typical to see strong quarter-milers have success in either or both of those events, too.
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Top Teams
Rock Port has three Class 1 superstars that truly carry the torch heading into the 2024 season in Avery Meyerkorth, Ella Meyerkorth, and Rylee Jenkins.
The three athletes have already been mentioned in their respective event groups and appear poised to push Rock Port into the 30s all by themselves. Norah Watkins also moves the needle for the Blue Jays with ranked times in the 1600 (5:40.51) and 3200 (12:17.80).
Ultimately, it may be Meyerkorth sisters that push their team over the edge with their prowess in the hurdles, 800 meter run, long jump, and, now, the javelin, as Ella has already thrown a Class 1 No. 2 mark of 37.8m after clearing 34 meters twice last summer. With 40 points in just the individual events, they may not even need the 10 points they picked up in last year's 4x800 meter relay to climb all the way to the top of the podium this season.
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Tarkio heads into the 2024 season looking to defend their 2023 title. It was an impressive 70 points that pushed them ahead of Drexel's 60 points, primarily in the middle distance events, hurdles, and high jump.
Two victories in the 4x200 and 4x400 made a massive difference for Tarkio's title team and they will return at least half of those teams. Tommi Martin is a major returner with huge personal bests in the 400, 800, and javelin. She was a part of the champion 4x400 team, as well. Elizabeth Schlueter provided significant points in the 100 and 300 meter hurdles last May and returns as 3rd and 2nd, respectively, this year. Grace Oswald was a part of the 4x200 team that won and heads into the season ranked tenth in the pole vault. Payton Woodring is ranked 8th in the high jump just under 5 feet. They have a couple of athletes on the cusp of contributing state points this season, at least on a relay, so expect the East Atchison co-op to be among the teams vying for the team title again in 2024.
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Pattonsburg's big three of Kelsey Crabtree, Annabelle Gardener, and Katelyn Jones push the Panthers to 3rd on the preseason rankings in Class 1.
Crabtree, profiled above, has impressive personal bests in the hurdles, picking up 15 points in our preseason projections, boosted by a top ranking in the 300 meter hurdles. Jones is the top ranked long jumper and 7th in the triple jump, adding 12 points to the mix to go along with 5 more from Gardener in the high jump. Crabtree seems to already have added the javelin to her repertoire, as well, as the senior has already posted a personal best 33.16m (108-9.5) mark. With help from a role player or two, Pattonsburg could improve upon last year's 10th place finish and climb into the top 4 in 2024.
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Galena's claim to fame will surely come from their stellar sprinters and jumpers in 2024. Melanie Rice and Kaesha Walter lead the way in the high jump and Averi Foster appears to add a point in the triple jump with a 10.26m personal best. She was 8th in the event last spring. Jasmine Temich posted personal bests of 12.64 and 26.21 in the 100 and 200 in 2022 and, while she was unable to improve upon those marks in 2023, she still ran 12.97 and 26.60 to enter the season ranked 4th and 3rd in Class 1 in the preseason. Could these four team up to pick up relay points like three of them did in Class 2 in 2023? And can Chaley Plottner move into the top 8 in the javelin? If both of those things come true, Galena could be a major contender in the team race this May.
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Dark Horse Team to Watch
New Haven moves into Class 1 this season and is among the teams to watch by virtue of the strong throws squad.
Aubri Meyer and Mekela Waters are state-ranked in the shot put, sitting at 1st and 4th with personal bests at 12.1m and 11.52m, respectively. Alayna Lagemann has also posted a mark over 35 feet, (10.67m), 8th among Class 1 returners. The district standard is 10.50m. Waters enters the season 5th in the discus, just behind teammate Katherine Holtmeyer in 4th. Their respective 35.26m and 35.42m marks, along with Lagemann's 31.88m, truly shake up the discus ranks in 2024. The district standard there is 31.39m. Meyer is currently ranked 9th in the javelin with a 35.64m personal best and could easily climb her way on to the podium.
It's a throws trio that could post over 30 points on their own and lift New Haven all the way on to the podium this spring.