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 Boys Long Jump.
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Class 5 Outlook
A whopping twelve boys return for the 2025 season over 6.7 meters (approximately 22 feet) in the Class 5 Boys long jump. For the second year in a row, Battle's Vernell Holt is atop the rankings heading into the spring.
Holt has become Battle's de facto leader as a state qualifier in the 100 meter dash and the reigning State champion in the long jump. His slightly wind-aided 7.45m (24-5.25) leap was MO No. 13 all-time all-conditions, US No. 31 all-conditions, and good enough to hold off Poplar Bluff's Darius Graham for the Class 5 victory. He won 10 of his 11 attempts at the long jump last season and has cleared 7 meters 7 times dating back to last year.
Hickman's Langston Thomas is next on the list and hits our outlook for the third time this winter. A top returner in the short sprints, Thomas is also a returning all-stater in the long jump after finishing third in 2024 and ending his season with a 7.18m (23-6) personal best. Lee's Summit West's Amari Perkins is third among returners with a 7.08m (23-2.75), but was eleventh at the State meet. He did take a major step forward in 2024, though, adding nearly 2 feet to his best mark. Rock Bridge's Donivan Taylor makes it four returners over 7 meters with his 7.03m (23-0.75) personal best. Taylor was a part of the Bruins' crew at State last year, but finished in the dreaded ninth place spot. He is another one who added nearly 2 feet to his best from 2023 and will be a key to Rock Bridge's journey back to the top of the podium. Nixa's Jaren Davis and Blue Springs junior Kynston Sipes are tied for the fifth spot with a 6.94m (22-9.25) personal best. Davis was the top freshman in 2024 in the entire state regardless of classification by a wide margin while Sipes was the third best sophomore in the entire state. These two may represent the future of the event in Clas 5 as they are the first two non-seniors on this list.
Kynston Sipes
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Class 4 Outlook
Only one Class 4 returner boasts a personal best over 7 meters: reigning State champion Ty Wiethop. The Camdenton junior had a significant breakthrough in May and now heads into this spring with a wide margin on the next closest returner. His 7.17m (23-6.25) is nearly a foot ahead of the next closest competitor - Sikeston's Christopher Artis.
Artis was runner-up to Wiethop in 2024, even though they both jumped wind-legal 6.96m (22-10) marks. Wiethop won the tie-breaker, but that just goes to show how close it could be again this year, even with the gap between their personal bests.
Festus's Jneyvaun Lacey is not too far behind, and neither are St. Charles senior Jordan Rowe nor Marshfield's Brayden Hicks. This trio of returners, two of whom earned medals at State last year (Rowe - 5th, Hicks - 6th), are all within five inches of Artis. Lacey was fifth at his District meet, but has cleared 6.91m (22-8) in his career, while Rowe comes in with a best of 6.86m (22-6) and Hicks, the reigning State triple jump champion, has cleared 6.84m (22-5.25).
St. Charles' Jordan Rowe
Marshfield's Brayden Hicks
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Class 3 Outlook
The 2023 bronze medalist and 2024 silver medalist, Tyler Erwin, is back for the 2025 season with his sights set on grabbing his first State gold in the long jump. Erwin came in behind Bowling Green's Bleyne Bryant last spring, but now that his conference rival has graduated, Erwin, with his 7.03m (23-0.75), is the top Class 3 returner and early favorite for the title.
Central (New Madrid County)'s Ja'Kwon Jones narrowly missed a 7 meter clearance last spring with his 6.99m (22-11.25) mark, which was second among sophomores in the entire State in 2024. After snagging a fifth place medal in his freshman campaign, Jones did not clear 6 meters at the 2024 State meet and ended up fourteenth. He is the second best returner now, though, just four centimeters behind Erwin for the State lead. Lutheran South's Ike Fronabarger gets another mention, this time in an event in which he may be even better. Fronabarger moved over to Lutheran South last year, but was unable to finish out his sophomore season after clearing 6.82m (22-4.5) in late April. He is only 5 centimeters back of his outdoor personal best this indoor season as of early February.
Those are the three returners over 22 feet, but there are eight others over 21 feet, led by Eldon's Andrew Beanland and pole vault star Tomas Gonzalez. Beanland, one of the top three 100 meter dash returners, was ninth in the long jump at the State meet last year and cleared 6.61m (21-8.25). Gonzalez was seventh and improved by over a foot from his freshman to sophomore year. With a 4.88m personal best in the pole vault to his name, Gonzalez has shown he can jump just as high and far as anyone in Class 3.
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Class 2 Outlook
Last year's Class 2 State runner-up is this year's top returner as East Prairie's Connor Marcum is back for one more shot at State gold in the long jump. Marcum was nearly two feet back of the winner, Crystal City's Kanden Bolton, but should be considered the early favorite for the Class 2 crown with his 6.9m (22-7.75) personal best. He is the only returner with a career mark over 22 feet.
Jack Michaud of St. Pius X (Festus) and East Buchanan's Trey Johnson (below) sit second and third in the returner rankings with respective 6.68m (21-11) and 6.65m (21-10) bests. Michaud's career has been short and his season ended at the District meet last spring, but he should vault all the way up to the top of the title contenders list for the 2025 season. Johnson, on the other hand, is no stranger to the State meet as the five-time individual medalist with a gold medal in the Javelin to his name is back for another one in the long jump this year. He was fifth last May.
Only two others return with marks over 21 feet, and, coincidentally, are the only two others who earned State medals last year. New Heights Christian senior Logan Decker was eighth last year, but returns fourth in the rankings with his 6.54m (21-6) personal best. Mansfield's Malachi Ussery (below) was just ahead of Decker at last year's State meet, finishing seventh, but finds himself just a centimeter behind him with a 6.53m (21-5.5) career best.
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Class 1 Outlook
Brunswick's Colby Jenkins had himself a field day, literally, last year as he brought home victories in both horizontal jumps in Class 1, winning the long jump with a personal best 6.78m (22-3) mark. The top four finishers and four of the top five finishers in last year's Class 1 long jump are back for 2025. Jenkins was first or second at all nine of his 2024 meets and returns as the top-ranked long jumper in Class 1.
Chadwick's Tristan Smith is second among returners based on mark, but is not a part of the aforementioned 2024 all-staters. After winning six meets in a row heading into the State meet, he ended up fourteenth in Jefferson City. His Sectional mark of 6.65m (21-9.75) stands as his personal best heading into 2025. North Harrison's Wyatt Maize is also not a part of the aforementioned all-staters, but he is third among returners based on his 6.58m (21-7) mark. The now-sophomore posted a "No Mark" result at the 2024 State meet. Hunter Miller (second), Zane Becker (third), and Tyler Wilson (fourth) are the returning all-staters and are also in order on the returner rankings list. Miller cleared 6.54m (21-5.5), Becker 6.52m (21-4.75), and Wilson 6.45m (21-2). Add sixth place finisher Justin Miller and his 6.25m (20-6), as well as Tyler Robinson's 6.3m (20-8) best, and this year's field becomes maybe one of the deepest we have ever seen in Class 1.
Newtown-Harris' Hunter Miller, left, Jamestown's Tyler Wilson, middle, and Jefferson (Conception)/Platte Valley's Justin Miller on the awards podium in 2024 in 2nd, 4th, and 6th.
Rich Hill's Zane Becker in 3rd in 2024.