Over the next several weeks, Missouri MileSplit will be doing a deep dive into the top returners for each event heading into the 2025 Track and Field season. We will have premium rankings pieces highlighting the top 100 returners in each classification as well as an overall outlook for each event for all non-subscribers. Let's take a look a the Boys Shot Put.
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Class 5 Outlook
There is no larger gap in the returner rankings in any other event in any other class than there is in the Class 5 Boys Shot Put. Nixa's Jackson Cantwell returns for his junior season as not only the top returner in the entire state, but also the entire country with his 22.80m (74-9.75) personal best. He is nearly 4 feet clear of the next closest returner in the US and 18 1/2 feet ahead of the next closest returner in Missouri - teammate Hayden Mays. Cantwell (pictured at top and below with Mays) is one of the top football recruits in the country, as well, and is quickly asserting himself as one of the biggest game-changer shot putters in the high school ranks at the moment, as well. Another undefeated regular season and third straight victory at this year's Class 5 State Championships should be a done deal. 
Should something catastrophic happen, then his teammate Mays is the next closest thrower as Nixa looks to pick up a massive 18 points in this event again in 2025. Mays threw 17.21m (56-6.75) at last year's Class 5 State Championships to earn the silver medal. He has already thrown 16.87m (55-4) this indoor season. Francis Howell's Mitchell Weisenborn leads a cavalcade of seniors coming in at the next nine spots among returners with his 16.74m (54-11.25) personal best. He was eighth last May, just behind Kickapoo's Morgan Nicholls who returns with a 16.66m (54-8) personal best. Liberty Wentzville senior Kaileb Rhen comes in fifth with a 16.26m (53-4.25) personal best.
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Class 4 Outlook
Class 4 features two seniors who earned their first state medals in the shot put last season: Parkway North's Mark Goldman and Kearney's Tyrus Smith. Goldman (17.54m) and Smith (17.41m) both boast personal bests over 57 feet and are, clearly, within only 3 centimeters of each other. Smith got the upper hand last May with his runner-up finish, but Goldman was not too far behind in fourth. These two are the clear front runners in the Class 4 field. 
Smith, left, and Goldman, right, 2nd and 4th in 2024
Four boys come in after them with a personal best in the 52s making the "chase pack," so to speak, a highly competitive one. Those four boys are Omar Hussein - Rockwood Summit (52-10.25), Tre Hoskins - Hannibal (52-2.75), Jaxon Hunter - West Plains (52-1.25), and Andrew Howell - Chaminade (52-0.5). All four will be seeking the podium this year after missing out last year. Smith and Goldman are the only non-senior returners with a state medal in the shot put to their name in the current Class 4 landscape.
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Class 3 Outlook
The 2024 Class 3 Champion is back to defend his crown in 2025 and has a wide advantage over the next closest returner heading into the season. Southern Boone's Aiden McDaniel is back for his senior season and looking to pick right back up where he left off. A winner in 11 of the 12 meets in which he competed, including the State meet at which he won by 2 1/2 feet, McDaniel is 4 1/2 feet clear of the next closest returner with his 17.39m (57-0.75) personal best. 
The second best shot putter in Class 3 is Strafford's Gavin Ames, who finished third at the 2024 Class 3 State Championships. He boasts a best of 16.07m (52-8.75). Ste. Genevieve's Paul Taylor was undefeated in 2024 up until the Sectional 1 meet, where the junior finished 2nd and the State meet where he finished 10th, but he returns for the 2025 season with a 15.99m (52-5.5) personal best. Holden's Aiden Christian was next among non-seniors at the State meet with his fifth place finish. He threw 15.66m (51-4.5) last year. Boonville's Braylon Ellison also finished with a state medal in 2024, throwing 15.33m (50-3.5) for eighth overall. It's a spread-out crew of returners that will surely coalesce as they look to take out the reigning champ this May.
Ames, right of Strafford in 3rd, and Christian left of Holden in 5th.
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Class 2 Outlook
Only one Class 2 returner comes back for the 2025 season with a mark over 50 feet: Stockton's Brandon Garner-Sims. The 2024 State champion won by over 2 feet and threw 16.64m (54-7.25). He heads into the spring a whopping 5 feet ahead of St. Pius X (Festus) junior Daniel DeGeare. DeGeare was 12th last year at the State meet, but threw 15.1m (49-6.5) mid-season. 
Penney's Zain Pulliam
Three more boys return with marks over 48 feet: Carter Vroman (Fayette), Zain Pulliam (Penney), and Aadon Magruder (South Shelby). Magruder, Pulliam, and Vroman finished fourth, fifth, and sixth, respectively, at last year's Class 2 State Championships, and Jefferson (Festus) senior Alex Roth was eighth.
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Class 1 Outlook
In between those two brothers are three returning all-staters: Kale Richardson (Bell City), Maddox Thornton (New Franklin), and William Folk (St. Paul Lutheran-Farmington). Richardson finished fourth and threw 14.55m (47-9), Thornton was sixth with a 14.27m (46-10) personal best, and Folk threw 14.1m (46-3.25) last season before finishing eighth at the State meet. 
Bell City's Richardson