The University of Missouri has been playing host to several collegiate indoor meets over the past few weeks, showing off their brand new 200-meter banked track, and on Friday they hosted one of the strongest displays of distance running anyone has seen this winter. Collegiate pacers led early laps to help the preps post some blazing times.
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Sparks Fly in the 800 Meter Run
The Mizzou Elite HS Distance Invitational kicked off with the Girls 800 meter run approximately a half hour after the Missouri (Collegiate) Invitational concluded. Blue Valley North (KS) senior Audrey Brown started off the meet with an impressive 2:14.20 career best, six seconds faster than her mark from the Arkansas High School Invitational three weeks ago and similarly faster than her all-time best outdoor mark from her injury-shortened junior season. The long-sprint/middle distance specialist is looking forward to a healthy high school finale in 2025.
The top Missourian in this race was Blue Springs South's Ella Rew, who ran an all-conditions career best of 2:22.77 and placed fourth in the surprisingly small field.
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In the Boys 800, six heats of races produced fifteen marks under 2:00 and six under 1:57. Austin Anderson (TX) junior Colby Huntress led the way with a 1:53.15 indoor personal best, two seconds ahead of his performance on Texas A&M's track just under a month ago. Huntress ran perfectly executed splits of 55.45/57.71 and even closed faster than his third lap split which shows that he could have more in the tank than that US No. 11 mark.
The Kansas contingent was led by Canyon Buehler and his 1:54.83 personal best. Buehler, out of Blue Valley Southwest, was one of the top Kansans on the cross county course this fall with a 15:18.90 mark and eighth place finish at the 5A State meet. His performance is six seconds ahead of his outdoor personal best and marked the second time he had eclipsed that 1:58.17 mark already this indoor season.
Missourians also brought the heat in the 800, led by Dora's Cade Nold and Herculaneum's Nathaniel Wright. Both seniors nearly matched their impressive 2024 outdoor personal bests with 1:55.60 and 1:55.66 performances, respectively. Nold was the Class 1 champion last spring and broke 1:54 in Tennessee shortly thereafter. Wright posted three marks under 1:56 in 2024, but ended up 11th at the Class 3 State meet. His indoor debut tells us he is back in a major way after what was surely a disappointing end to his cross country career.
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Bentonville (AR) Boys Put On A Show
The real headline of the evening was the performance put on by the boys of Bentonville High School in Arkansas. On Friday night, they showed that they are one of the deepest programs not just in Arkansas or the Midwest/South, but in the entire country.
It started with a 1:54.28 performance from Harper Jones in the 800. The Iowa State commit ran 1:52.19 last spring and is already trending toward that mark this winter. The Tigers also saw 2:00-2:01 performances from Asher Heiner (2:00.01), Logan Hurley (2:00.91), and Jackson Price (2:01.86).
In the Mile, their newest additions Brian Burns and his brother Sean Burns linked up with Carter Beasley to put three boys under 4:30. The Burns brothers recently completed a move from Southern Boone County High School in Missouri after their father, Marc, accepted a position as the Head Women's Distance Coach at the University of Arkansas. Brian ended up winning the Mile in a new personal best of 4:10.89, splitting 2:04.88 through the first 809 meters and 2:06.01 in the second half.
Beasley was fourth overall behind Pella (IA) star Canaan Dunham and top Missourian Luke Sievers in 4:15.02. Dunham and Sievers both ran all-conditions Mile personal bests of 4:13.09 and 4:13.77, though Sievers' en route 1600 was also under his 4:12.48 best.
Sean Burns is now the leader of a strong contingent of freshmen for the Tigers as his 4:26.57 mark is now US No. 3 among freshmen in the Mile. Bentonville boasts two others in the top 30 nationally now, as well, as Cole Galindo and Leo Arivett both broke 4:40 on Friday night.
Sean Burns cut nearly 7.5 seconds off his mile personal record in Columbia.
In the 3200m run, Bentonville continued to show off their prowess when Owen Kelley dropped a new US No. 1 3200 and US No. 2 3200/2 Mile performance: 8:55.89. He noted after the race that his squad is ready to put together some relay teams that will contend for national accolades, including the national 4x800 record of 7:36.99. He also mentioned potential Distance Medley Relay and 4x1600 attempts at the National meet later this winter.
Tishan Abeyagunawardene broke 9:30 for the first time in his career, running 9:29.43 for ninth. Two other Tigers dipped under 10:00 in sophomores Dean Pickett and Vini Pimentel, with fellow sophomore Daniel Furlano just missing out at 10:03.45.
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Driemeier, Voelker Clear Missouri State Record in the Indoor 3200 Meter Run
Behind Bentonville's Kelley was a battle between two of the Show-Me State's best juniors: Festus's Carson Driemeier and Raymore-Peculiar's Gabriel Voelker.
Festus' Carson Driemeier, right, Raymore-Peculiar's Gabe Voelker, left
Running side-by-side for the entire race, Driemeier led Voelker on every split except for the fourteenth, but when the dust had settled, the two would cross the line nearly simultaneously with Driemeier taking second place overall, just 0.32 seconds ahead of Voelker. The reigning Class 4 State champion in the Class 4 3200 and Class 4 State title winner in the mud this fall, Driemeier's 9:06.28 is a state record in the 3200 meter run, though it still stands second to Connor Burns's 8:43.24 2 Mile from the 2023 season. It was also an all-conditions personal best by five seconds and was twenty seconds of what he ran in Louisville two weeks ago.
For Voelker, his 9:06.60 mark also went under the State record of 9:09.92, set by Victor Mugeche in 2018 on the old Hearnes Fieldhouse track. It was also a nine-second personal best indoor or outdoor and proves that he still has more in the tank coming off a stellar cross country campaign.
Class 5 State Champion Henry Acorn crossed in 9:24.26 for fifth overall, just ahead of teammate Kai Somasegaran in 9:26.09. Liberty's Todd Yeates also dropped under 9:30 with a 9:27.81 all-conditions personal best. For all three boys, it was their 2025 indoor debut and showed that making it to the Class 5 State meet in the 3200 in the Kansas City area this spring is going to be a tall task. Rounding out the Missourians in the top ten was Hunter Stahl in a new all-conditions personal best of 9:34.17.
Liberty's Yeates leads Kai Somasegaran, Roman Garcia, Henry Acorn, and others midway through the 3200.
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Starlyn Edwards, Gabbie Bishop Represent Arkansas Well in Mile and 3200 Runs
In the Girls Mile, Paragould (AR)'s Starlyn Edwards ran a perfectly-executed race to pick up the victory in a new personal best of 4:56.73. After breaking 5:00 for the first time at the beginning of January, Edwards has dropped under again and is trending toward a stellar outdoor track and field season. Just behind her was Providence Academy (AR) freshman Maggie Bishop in 4:57.00, a US No. 5 mark for freshmen.
The top Missourian in the field was Cor Jesu's Mary McKenzie, who ran just off her outdoor 1600 personal best for the full mile with a mark of 5:11.13. Rockwood Summit's Caterina Rossomanno came in just behind her in 5:11.96, also just a shade off her outdoor 1600 personal best.
In the 3200, Providence Academy (AR) junior Gabbie Bishop took advantage of the pace-setter and showed serious mental fortitude to run a US No. 1 3200 and US No. 5 3200/2 Mile mark of 10:15.84. After losing the pace-setter, Bishop showed no signs that she would be denied the victory, the all-conditions personal best, or top US mark as she, like the winner of the boys' race would go on to do, negative split the race. Bishop is coming off a cross country season in which she won the Arkansas 3A State title and RunningLane Championship, while breaking 17:00 in the process. She appears to be building off that stellar season significantly already.
Revord paced early while Bishop and Cragnolino finished off superb 10:15 and 10:40 3200 performances.
Gabbie Bishop dug deep to christen the new Mizzou track with a 10:15 on its first high school 3200 race.
The only two Missourians in the 3200 field were Eureka's Daphne Bishop and Ft. Zumwalt North's Lukah Sandine. Bishop, the leader of the State champion Wildcats this fall, ran 11:38.93 while Sandine, who just missed out on Class 5 all-state honors this fall, finished in 12:11.69, an all-conditions personal best.
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Other Notable Missourian Performances
Other notable Missouri performances included strong marks from Liberty (Wentzville) seniors Ayden Taylor and Cale Eldredge. Taylor continues to put up strong times after nearly breaking 15:00 this fall and ran 4:15.12 in the Mile on Friday. Eldredge appears to be fully recovered from a summer injury that hampered in cross country season as he dropped an indoor personal best in the 800 of 1:57.49, just 0.13 seconds off his outdoor best from last spring.
Lee's Summit West's Jack Williams nearly dropped under the 4:20.60 1600 personal best he posted during his sophomore season in 2023. He ran 4:20.96 for the full Mile, which would be a 1600 personal best had en route times been made available.
Jack Williams
Benton's Kruz Bigham, sixth place finisher in last year's Class 4 800 meter run, is already close to that 1:56.89 outdoor best after running 1:57.70 Friday night. Webster Groves senior Colton Richardson is closing in on his personal best of 1:57.58 with his 1:58.62 mark. Wrapping up the sub-2:00 boys was Collegiate School's Owen Garrett who ran 1:59.55, just off his outdoor best of 1:59.04.