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 400m Dash.
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State Outlook
The Girls 400 meter dash may be the most stacked race in the entire state, across all classes. An eye-popping 17 girls return with marks under 58 seconds and that is not to mention the 3 eighth graders who broke that barrier in 2024.
Furthermore, the current Class 5 rankings list is the furthest thing from accurate. Five of the top eleven Class 4 returners are moving up and at least three freshmen are heading into the fold to turn the state on its head. All things considered, and before we move into the rest of the classes, it may take a time in the 55s to earn a medal at the Class 5 State meet this spring.
Let's start with the currently listed top returner: Paige Stuart. The Blue Springs middle distance star is one part of a trio of Missouri's finest heading to Oklahoma State University next year and will prominently featured in next week's 800 meter preview, but could this be the year that she gives the 400 a try again in the state series? After finishing fourth in the event as a freshman, Stuart has opted for the relays and open 800, but with a 55.66 personal best from last year's Dale Collier Invitational, she is among the top returners in the entire State in the quarter mile. Because the 400 is so hotly contested this spring and it is so close to the 800, she may opt to save her talents for their exceptional 4x400 relay again, but do not be surprised to see her give the event a try again this year.
Cardinal Ritter's Kyndall Spain is next at 57.04 from last season (and 56.95 lifetime personal best), but do not expect her to give the 400 a try in the state series as she goes for a three-peat in the 300 meter hurdles and is a crucial leg on at least two of their relays, not to mention that she is a major contender in the 100 meter hurdles.
After her on the list of sub-58 girls are Raymore-Peculiar's Amaya Hill at 57.18, Blue Springs's Madison Gleason at 57.39, and Liberty North's Mia Couch at 57.89. Couch and Gleason earned seventh and eight place medals last spring while Hill ended up fourteenth, but it was Liberty sophomore Harper Grosdidier who came across in sixth. She ran 58.00 last spring.
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Okay, now for the girls who are heading in to cause chaos.
Ladue's movement up to Class 5 will bring an incredible group of quarter milers into the field with a whopping four girls under 58.70. Superstar long sprinter Delaney Brinker leads the way as the 2024 Class 4 runner-up heads into her senior season with a 54.47 personal best from New Balance Nationals Outdoor. She is the top overall returner in the entire state and turns the Class 5 landscape on its head. Her teammates also push some of Class 5's best down on the rankings as sophomore Aaliyah Rogers (57.91), senior Karina Griffin (58.49), and junior Laila Murray (58.61) all have marks better than the twelfth-best returner there.
We will preview the relays later this winter, but this is a fairly clear-cut contender for the State record of 3:45.78, a mark they were just 0.23 seconds off last spring. The other girl near the top of the Class 4 rankings moving into Class 5 is North Point's Alyssa Anderson. Now seven times all-state in Class 4, Anderson will get a shot in Class 5 in her senior season with a 57.18 personal best to her name.
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Last year's eighth grade class was nothing short of a ridiculous in the quarter mile. The top mark belonged to Olivia Hurd, who ran 56.82 at the AAU Junior Olympics. She has already posted a 25.09 200 this winter after running 24.72 last spring and probably should have been profiled in the 200 meter preview last week, but earns a mention here with a the 56.82 mark and a 58.06 posting so far this indoor season. Pattonville High School will not only have Hurd in the mix, but also third-ranked freshman Havyn Smith, who heads into her first high school season with personal bests 11.95w, 24.40, and 57.94, though the 400 mark has dropped to 57.37 this winter. This is a 1-2 punch that should absolutely push Pattonville into the State trophy mix as a team alongside Hurd's sister Gabrielle and the Pirates' other two sub-63 second returners...imagine if they still had Alaj'i Bradley... One more rising freshman to mention in this event include Liberty North's Ainsley Park and her 57.90 personal best, giving the Eagles two sub-58 marks heading into the season.
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Now, take a breath, on to who is back in Class 4. We have barely scratched the surface.
Pleasant Hill's Brooke Beck is another of the trio heading to Oklahoma State next year and is the reigning two-time Class 4 State Champion after holding off Delaney Brinker and running her personal best 54.92. Quietly one of the State's only girls who can run competitive marks from 100 meters to 5000 meters, Beck owns nine individual all-state medals including three in cross country. With Brinker and the rest of the Rams moving out, she should be considered the heavy favorite to win it all for a third straight year in 2025.
With all the movement out, there was bound to be movement in. MICDS sophomore Justyce Sanders should be moving in after a stellar freshman campaign in Class 5. She certainly showed that everything she brought in middle school was transferrable to the high school level. After running 56.96 as an eighth grader two years ago, Sanders dropped down to 55.80 at her Sectional meet last spring and ended up fourth at the State meet. She was the top non-senior in the field and should be Beck's biggest competition.
McCluer North's Jordyn Buckley had a very busy outdoor season and ended up with all-state medals in the 100, 200, and 400. Heading into the spring, she appears poised to be the best bet at anyone dethroning Beck with her 56.48 personal best. She was third behind Beck and Brinker in 2024.
Lutheran St. Charles senior Elle North is back again, as well, as the 2023 Class 3 champion in this race looks to make it a perfect four-for-four on the podium in the quarter mile in her career. North ran 57.57 for fourth in Class 4 last spring.
Carl Junction's Sydney Ward and St. Dominic's Heidi Zeigler add two more girls under 58 seconds to the mix as both are back to improve upon their respective fifth and seventh place finishes at State last spring. St. Joseph's senior Claire Bucher was eighth at State, capping off a field in which all eight medal-earners were non-seniors.
Zeigler, left, and Ward, right.
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The top returner in Class 3, as it stands, is Ste. Genevieve's Kale Clements. Clements ran 58.30 for second place at last year's State meet, her second runner-up performance in a row and third career state medal in the event. She will have to hold off rising freshman Gabrielle Campbell, though, as the Bayless Broncho brings a 58.00 personal best into the mix. The 400/800 standout is yet another incoming freshman to throw a wrench into the 400 outlook and should immediately contend for State gold.
Bowling Green's Alli Hustedde is not too far behind in her own right as the Bobcat sophomore earned a third place medal and posted a 58.41 personal best in 2024.
In fact, El Dorado Springs junior McKinli Mays is 0.01 seconds behind Hustedde in 58.42 making it four Class 3 girls within less than a half-second of each other.
Mays was fourth in the event last May. The final returning all-stater, and sub-60 second returner is Holden's Adalyn Campbell who owns a 59.42 personal best and was seventh at State.
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Another Class 2 sprint event, another top mark for North Platte's Lindsay Ramsey. The 2024 triple crown winner is hungry for a third straight win in the 400 and fourth straight top 2 finish. Ramsey is the third best returner in the entire state with her incredible 55.03 Class 2 State meet record mark. She has run under 60 seconds in the 400 every race in which she has competed since May 7th, 2022.
Don't crown Ramsey just yet, though, as Lutheran North's Genesis Garner is hot on her heels. Garner ran 55.73 in last year's State finals and nearly pulled off the upset. A two-time runner-up in the 400, Garner will surely be eyeing a win in her senior season.
With two girls under 56 seconds, the next closest returner would be St. Vincent's Reagan Meyer, but as we have mentioned before, expect St. Vincent to move into Class 1 this spring. Her 57.79 becomes the top Class 1 mark among returners by nearly 2 seconds. Highland's Chevie Sharpe earned the third place medal at State last year and is next based on marks, as well, with her 58.41 personal best. Whitfield's Ellen Hunigan and Penney's Teagan Ford are both back for the 2025 season as returning all-staters, as well, and own personal bests of 59.54 and 59.85, respectively.
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Class 1's sub-60 count is only two, which, though it is much fewer than the other classes, is a lot for.a classification that historically does not produce many sub-60 athletes. In fact, the current MileSplit database has only 37 girls who have ever run for a current Class 1 school and broken 60 seconds.
Nonetheless, Class 1's top returner should be St. Vincent's Reagan Meyer once district and class assignments are finalized. Meyer was fourth in Class 2 last spring and has been featured prominently already in the 1600 preview, and will be featured prominently again in next week's 800 preview, as the reigning Class 2 champion in both events. Her 57.79 personal best is nearly two seconds ahead of Jamestown's Alyssa Hees's best mark of 59.72. Hees was first in State prelims last spring, and was leading down the homestretch of the final but ended up fourth in a tight race where just 0.52 seconds separated her from first place.
Lutheran Kansas City junior Addison Grossenbacher is next among returners with her 1:00.59 best, a mark that earned her the silver medal at the 2024 State meet. Stanberry's Marli Hilton was also in that mix of four, finishing third in her 1:00.70 personal best. Stoutland's Mallory Shaw, a State cross country champion in 2022, was fifth in last year's Class 1 400 in 1:01.59, though she has a 1:00.96 best to her name overall. Harper Conhaver and Taylor Swarnes are also returning all-staters, with seventh and eight place medals in their collection, but come in ninth and seventh, respectively among returners on mark behind Norwood's Jayden Chambers and Midway's Moriah Perrenoud-Moore.
Lutheran (Kansas City)'s Addison Grossenbacher
The Girls 400 meter dash is absolutely the most competitive event in the State in 2025 and should be fun to watch both in the open and relay this spring.