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 at the Girls Javelin.
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Class 5 Outlook
With one toss at Nike Outdoor Nationals in the middle of June, Liberty High School junior and State bronze medalist Malia Cabuyaban earned All-America honors at the meet and became the favorite to win the 2025 Class 5 State title and to be Missouri's best in her senior season.
Cabuyaban unleashed a 13-foot PR of 159-02/48.51 meters to place second and instantly become the favorite for 2025. Behind her, there are three with PRs at 136 feet that won't cede gold to Cabuyaban and will fight for gold, silver, and bronze. Those are Nixa senior Amelia White and a pair of athletes who were All-State underclassmen a year ago; Platte County's then-freshman 5th-placer Kelly Bullano and Belton's then-sophomore 6th-placer Bella Scherfenberg.
Scherfenberg got her first 41-meter toss (136-1/41.48m) at Sectionals. A week later, she nearly matched it at State with a 135-11/41.44m, placing her 6th in a field with 12 upperclassmen and earning her a spot on the podium.
After those four, another foursome returns with bests at 130 and 129. Lafayette junior Riley Mulligan almost made it three underclassmen on the state podium last year, taking 9th with a PR of 39.89m/130-10, just over 2 feet back of 8th. Raymore-Peculiar junior Rhyenne Jones is 6th on the returners list. Her 39.69m/130-2 PR came at Districts, but unfortunately, she was in brutal Sectional 4 in Kansas City. Where she finished behind the three eventual All-State performers mentioned above and the eventual 10th-place state finisher, leaving her 1 foot back of 4th place, in 5th and left to watch state.
Grain Valley freshman Madison Rust was in the same situation, just at Districts, District 4. With three of the top 11 to ever throw the javelin in the state going 1-2-3 and another throwing 140 feet, Rust had to settle for scoring the team points but had to wait to advance next year. While freshman Rust came up short of advancing to Sectional 2 from the West Side, Francis Howell freshman Adelle Metz successfully advanced to Sectional 2 from the East Side of the state.
The hurdler, jumper, and thrower placed 2nd in District 3 and then got a PR of 39.37m/120-2 at Sectional 2 to place behind the same competitor she did at Districts and the top 4 fellow freshman Rust placed behind at District 4. Expect those two to make big strides, especially now that three of the greats in state history have graduated in Kadence Shepherd, Addison Throckmorton, and McKenah Sears.
Class 4 Outlook
Five of the eight All-State performers in the javelin in Class 4 graduated, so there should be plenty of motivation to put the work in and get those as well as the others and get on the podium in May. However, someone is going to have to do a lot of work to get to that top spot because it may be tough to keep Madilyn Olds off it again.
The Carl Junction senior got a big PR at the SBU Invite of 40.84m/134-0 for 3rd behind Republic's Alina Norman and Nixa's Amelia White in late April. Then, at Sectionals, she improved to 42.36m/139-00. That would put her 3 and a half feet clear of the returners this year, but on her 5th throw at state, she ripped off a 45.60m/149-7 throw. The bomb won the state meet by 13-3/4.05 meters, and it puts her leads on the rest of this year's returners by slightly more.
Harrisonville junior Paige Cribbs and Lutheran-St. Charles senior Katelyn Diani-O'Day were he only other non-then-seniors on the state podium with Olds last May. Cribbs has a PR of 135-4/41.27 from Sectionals and placed 5th at State with a 132-3/40.31m. Diani-O'Day placed 7th at State with a 125-6/38.25m but got an early season best of 134-9/41.08m.
Cribbs above and Diani-O'Day below
Class 3 Outlook
The top three state finishers have graduated and moved on, but three All-State performers and six state qualifiers return. Kelly senior Blaire Riley has the best 2024 mark of the returners by far, but that doesn't guarantee she gets to take the gold medal back home with her to southeast Missouri. Riley's best toss as a junior was 39.16m/128-6, a margin of nearly 8 feet on the rest of the returners. She placed 4th at State best with a mark of 36.93m/121-2.
That edged out Fair Grove's Brooke Daniels. The then-junior came up big in Jefferson City and pulled off a 2.5m/8-2'' personal best toss of 36.75m/120-7 to place 5th! Which came after the 300-meter hurdles, where the sophomore ran a 0.75-second PR to take 7th in the prelims. A day later she dropped another 0.83 to finish in 45.86 and take 7th to earn her 2nd All-State medal in two days.
The third returner All-Stater and third returner over the 120-foot club is Buffalo junior Shelby Samek. Samek pulled off a 4'4'' PR at State of 36.65m/120-3 to take 7th for an All-State medal as a sophomore.
There are three other returners with 2024 marks at 118 and 117 feet. Chillicothe's Tori Stoner and Doniphan's Freedom Bates posted best marks of 36.25m and 36.11m, but it was Macon sophomore Reece Barnett who made it all the way to State and placed 12th with a mark of 34.06m/111-09 in Jeff City. Barnett comes in 6th on the returners list after earning a season-best of 35.84m/117-7.
Class 2 Outlook
A new Class 2 javelin state champion will be crowned in 2025 after two years with the graduation of Harrisburg's back-to-back state champion Emma Fischer. The top three state finishers have all graduated, while four All-Staters and nine state qualifiers return.
Licking's Jadyn Barnes, left, and St. Pius X (Festus), right
Belle junior Aubrey Rehmert is the top returning State meet finisher - 4th 38.01/124-8 - and 2nd on the returners list with a 40.59m/133-2 mark. The 4th place State finish was her second straight.
Licking senior Jadyn Barnes sits atop the returners list with a 40.62/133-3. She placed 7th at state and has a State bronze from her sophomore year.
Those two have a nearly 7-foot lead on the St. Pius X (Festus) junior Elena Ruble. Ruble placed 5th at State as a sophomore and had a best of 38.49m/126-3 to make her the third-best returner.
Belle's Aubrey Rehmert and Highland's Bailie Crist
Class 1 Outlook
Appleton City senior Alexis Turner made big strides as a junior in 2024. She improved from 11th to 3rd at State and added more than 7-6 (2.3m) to her personal best. She's the top returner from the State meet and her 2024 PR of 126-3 (38.49m), which came from her bronze medal state performance, is the best of Class 1 returners. She leads three All-State returners and seven returning State qualifiers.
Rock Port junior Ella Meyerkorth could win multiple events at the 2025 state meet, though she would probably settle for winning just one again if things could play out just like last year. In 2024 Meyerkorth won the 300 hurdles in 44.82, took 2nd in the 100 hurdles, was 6th in the javelin, and she and her sister Avery, and the Lady Blue Jays scored 73 points to cruise to the state team title. Ella's PR of 125-7 (38.29m) from Sectionals puts her second on the javelin returners list and was nearly 2 meters behind her state mark, so she should be able to contend for a title off the track, especially if the meet schedule is favorable and allows spreads events out and she gets plenty of recovery.
Brunswick's Joslynn Brown was one of the freshman stars of the 2023 state meet. After a regular season javelin PR of l23-6 (37.66m), she added three All-State finishes to her resume, a 4th in the javelin. Her sophomore campaign wasn't as quite as spectacular, but she nearly matched her javelin PR, hitting the 37-meter mark twice and earning another state medal in the triple jump. An off day at state kept her from the podium again in the javelin at state. Brown is third on the returners list with a 2024 best of 37.54m/123-2 and should be in the mix when for the title in May.
Drexel's Izzy Richardson made the most of her first state meet. The junior got nearly a foot PR on her first attempt at State and held on for a 7th-place finish and an All-State medal. That toss of 35.90m/117-9 makes her the 4th best returner. Silex freshman Kherington Morris just missed an All-State medal in her first season. The freshman was clutch, throwing the spear 35.15m/115-4 on her third attempt to move to 9th place and make the 9-person final. She didn't improve over her final three attempts, but the experience, especially as the only freshman in the final, should be valuable.
Walnut Grove senior Ellie Smith may be ready for a big breakthrough in 2025. Smith has placed 14th and 10th at State the last two years. Her State mark of 34.85m/114-4 puts her 6th on the returners list. It came on her third and final throw at State and was a more than 9-foot improvement in the event.