Jenkins, Meyerkorths lead Rock Port to Class 1 Girls Title

The Lady Blue Jays won the MSHSAA Class 1 title this year with 73 points, a 22-point margin of victory.

The Northwest Missouri school previously won titles in 1990, 1991, 1993, 1994 and 2008.

Last year, Rock Port took fourth place.

This spring, the Lady Blue Jays had a bulk of the points spread out. The relays generated 14 points. Throwing events netted 17 and the hurdles had 18.

Rock Port had two state champions in the two-day event at Licklider Track and Field at Adkins Stadium, held May 17-18 in Jefferson City.

Rock Port finished with four elite performances from the meet -- two by Rylee Jenkins and two by Ella Meyerkorth.

Ella Meyerkorth, a sophomore, won the 300-meter hurdles in 44.82, a new Class 1 meet record. Fellow northwest Missouri athletes Kelsey Crabtree of Pattonsburg and East Atchison/Tarkio's Elizabeth Schlueter followed.

The previous mark was set in 1987 of 44.94 by Stacey Fitts from Miami. Meyerkorth is the third state champion in the event for the Lady Blue Jays, joining Mandy Runkles (1993, 1994) and Abbie Hale (2018).

In the 100-meter hurdles, Schlueter won with Meyerkorth taking second and Crabtree took third.

Tarkio/East Atchison's Elizabeth Schlueter won the 100 meter hurdles.

Meyerkorth was sixth in the javelin as well.

The other state champion was Jenkins, who won a title in the discus for the third time in her career.

The senior won the event this year with a throw of 44.58 meters/146 feet, 3 inches -- and it came on her first throw. She won the title as a sophomore and junior as well. As a freshman, she was a runner-up.

Jenkins feats are impressive. Despite her school size, she currently sits 2nd on the season state discus performance list with a season's best of 46.39m/152-2. That also puts her 15th on the All-Time MOMileSplit.com State Performance List. But how many athletes on those lists also were decent 400 and 800 meter runners, running legs to help their teams to 2nd and 3rd place finishes in the 4x800 and 4x400.  

Jenkins is the school's first three-time champion, passing Lynda Danley, who was another two-time champion back in 1981 and 1982.

The senior also got on the medal stand with a fifth-place showing in the javelin, throwing 38.18 meters/125-3.

Jenkins finished with four all-state medals with two trips to the podium on relays.

Rylee Jenkins is #2 on the state discus performance list, won her 3rd Class 1 title, and was All-State in the 4x4 & 4x8

She was on the 4x800-meter relay team being the third leg with Jacoby Driskell, Norah Watkins and Avery Meyerkorth also on it. The quartet ran 10:10.87 to take second. That same group with nearly the same order -- Driskell, Watkins, Meyerkorth and Jenkins -- was third in the 4x400 in the final race of the state meet.

Avery Meyerkorth, a junior, added two more medals as well.

Rock Port's Avery Meyerkorth (middle) placed 2nd in the 800, while defending champion Tommit Martin of Tarkio/East Atchison (left) placed 3rd and won the javelin. 

She was the runner-up in the 800-meter run (2:21.03) and was fourth in the long jump (5.14 meters/16-10 1/2)

Watkins, a sophomore, also had four all-state medals.

She was third in the 3,200-meter (12:20.20) and was seventh in the 1,600-meter run (5:37.51).

In an event dominated by northwest Missouri, freshman Landrey Kelly was sixth with a jump of 2.62 meters. She was the fourth athlete from that part of the state to get on the podium.

Tarkio Scores 51 Points to add 2nd Place Trophy to Last Year's 1st

Last year's runaway champions Tarkio/East Atchison graduated plenty of talent, but still had stars Tommi Martin and Elizabeth Schlueter. Senior Martin, a Missouri State commit, didn't repeat as 800 champion, still taking 3rd in 2:22.25, but did add another state title to her resume after winning the javelin with a throw of 41.64m/136-7, moving up from 6th last year.

Schlueter won the 100 hurdles in 15.66 before taking 3rd in the 300 hurdles in 46.72. 

Tarkio came up just short of repeating in the 4x400, taking 2nd in 4:11. They also took 3rd in the 4x800, with Martin on both squads and Schlueter on the 4x400.
 

Pattonsburg Takes 3rd with just Three

Pattonsburg wracked up 48 points to earn the 3rd place trophy, edging Liberal by 1 point. The Lady Panthers scored 34 of their 48 points in the jumps. Pattonsburg had three just qualifiers and the trio came up big to earn a trophy to take back to Northwest Missouri.

Sophomore Annabelle Gardener won the high jump with a clearance of 1.61m/5-3.25. Junior Katelyn Jones won the long jump Friday with a Class 1 meet record of 5.60m/18-4.5 before taking 2nd in the triple jump Saturday with a best leap of 10.87m/35-8 to total 18 points. 

Senior Kelsey Crabtree took 3rd in the long jump in 5.36m/17-7, behind winner and teammate Jones, and ran to a 3rd place finish in the 100 hurdles in 15.82 before, as mentioned above, taking 2nd in the 300 hurdles in 45.09.  

Bartons lead Liberal to 4th place Trophy

At the 2016 Class 1 State Track and Field Championships, Liberal junior Alexys Barton must have not been satisfied. She earned three silver medals, taking 2nd in the 800, 1600, and 3200. She may have even vowed to not let herself experience being so close to victory without enjoying the experience again,  In 2017, the senior and then-future University of Kansas Jayhawks runner claimed the state titles in all three distance events. She scored 30 points to lead the Bulldogs to a 6th-place finish.

Seven years later, Liberal and Alexys' younger sisters Ally Barton (a freshman) and Abby Barton (a senior) took to the track at the state meet. They led the Bulldogs to claim the 4th and final trophy, scoring 47 points, ahead of 5th place Worth County (44), Albany (34), and King City (34). Drexel (27) rounded out the top 8 teams. 

The sisters guided the ladies from Southwest Missouri to powerful performances in the long sprints, middle, and distance races to secure the program's 5th trophy. The Lady Bulldogs won the 4x400 in 4:09 with anchor Ally Barton splitting a 59.20. They won the 4x800 by nearly 10 seconds in 10:00 with Abby and Ally splitting 2:26 and 2:23.

In the open 800, freshman Ally won the state title in 2:19.76 while senior sister Abby was in 4th in 2:23. In the 1600, Ally moved to the lead on the final lap and didn't look back, winning in 5:22

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Chris Auckley contributed to this article