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 Girls 300m Hurdles.
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Class 5 Outlook
The top 5 2025 Class 5 returners are all under 45 seconds led by the inimitable Cardinal Ritter senior Kyndall Spain (pictured at top). Spain's final high school season is shaping up to be one for the history books as she has shown this indoor season she is ready to take the Class 5 sprints scene by storm, especially with her 300 meter hurdles prowess. Her 42.43 personal best is 20th best in the entire country among 2025 returners, much less Missouri, and she should be considered the favorite for a third straight 300 meter hurdles title this spring.
Hickman multi-event standout Athena Peterson (above) is second among returners with her 43.11 mark from last year's State prelims. The 10-time all-state athlete is still looking for her first individual state title as she enters her senior year. Park Hill South's LaNicia Parker is next among returners with her 44.34 best and leads a chase pack which includes Jaimy Birmingham (44.68) and Alexa Adams (44.79). These three were fourth, eighth, and ninth at the State meet, respectively.
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Class 4 Outlook
With the graduation of Skyye Lee, the hurdle events are back up for grabs in Class 4. Lincoln College Prep's Aniya Byrd is tops among returners with a 44.51 personal best. She was third and one of three non-seniors in the top eight at State last May. Pleasant Hill's Laura Irwin (5th) and Clayton's Emma Musiek (8th) were the other three all-state athletes and are second and fifth on personal beset time. Irwin ran 45.08 in the State prelims last May while Musiek posted her personal best of 45.94 en route to a Sectional victory. 
Lincoln College Prep's Aniya Byrd
Movement up to Class 5 will have an effect on returner rankings as Ladue's Laila Murray, the fourth best returner with a 45.75 personal best, will most likely be moving out. Festus's Jahmeshia Patterson opted for the shorter sprint events in her freshman year, but she is third among Class 4 returners with her 45.49 best.
Pleasant Hill's Laura Irwin
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Class 3 Outlook
Class 3 features another reigning State champion with Boonville's Effie Morris coming back for her junior season. Morris was undefeated last season except for a loss to Zoe Martonfi at the Tri-County Conference Meet, but ran 44.36 and beat her when it mattered the most. She leads five total girls under 46 seconds and seven total 2024 all-staters into the 2025. Martonfi was the only senior in the top eight last May.
Boonville's Effie Morris
Winfield's Jersy Nelke is a back-to-back Class 3 champion in the 100 meter hurdles, but has yet to climb to the top of the podium in the longer hurdles race. She was third last spring and ran a personal best of 45.43 in the State finals. In fact, all of the top six returners in Class 3 claim their personal best at the State meet finals. Maryville's Brylee Acklin was ran 45.72 for fourth, Morgan Hilbrich from St. Michael the Archangel was fifth in 45.78, St. Pius X Kansas City senior Lauren Waldron was sixth in 45.79, and Fair Grove's Brooke Daniels ran 45.86 for seventh. 
Winfield's Jersy Nelke
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Class 2 Outlook
Another reigning State champion makes her way back in Class 2 with Fayette's Browyn Eubanks hoping to defend her crown in 2025. The junior went from 50.61 as a freshman to undefeated State champion with a 45.28 personal best as a sophomore, winning the Class 2 title by less than a quarter second over Grandview Hillsboro's Catherine Wakeland. Wakeland is, as a result, the second fastest returner in 45.51. She won 10 of 11 meets before finishing second in the State prelims and finals to Eubanks.
Fayette's Eubanks, above, and Grandview R-2 (Hillsboro)'s Wakeland, below.
Archie's Mollie Andrews was State runner-up in 2023 with her 46.16 personal best and finished seventh last year. She ran 46.52 as a junior. Plattsburg's Sophie Schmitten ran 46.56 as a sophomore and finished fourth at the State meet. Charleston's Treasure Kimble is fifth among returners by a hair with her 47.65 personal best and was eighth at State last May.
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Class 1 Outlook
Rock Port's Ella Meyerkorth continues the theme of reigning State champions returning for another go at it in 2025. Meyerkorth ran a Class 1 meet record 44.82 to win the Class 1 State title and give an important 10 points to her team's championship effort. Tarkio's Elizabeth Schlueter (below), the champion in the 100 meter hurdles, was third, nearly two seconds behind Meyerkorth, in her personal best of 46.72.
Meyerkorth's lead grows after Schlueter and Drexel junior Grace Francis with her 46.84 best. La Plata's Macy Davidson ran 47.94 in the State prelims, but ended up eighth in finals. Greenwood's Ally Johnson was fifth in 2025 and has a 48.66 personal best to her name. The next five girls are between 49 and 50 seconds.