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 Long Jump.
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Class 5 Outlook
Blue Springs South's Jasmine Ross popped off one of the best long jump marks we have ever seen in her fifth attempt at last year's Class 5 State meet and ended up earning the 2024 State gold. Her 6.18m (20-3.25, +1.2) was an overall State meet record and MO No. 4 all-time all-conditions. She enters 2025 as the preseason favorite and has already cleared 6 meters again once this winter.
Hickman's Athena Peterson, one of the state's all-around best athletes, may have something to say, though. Peterson was just off the 20 foot barrier in 2024 with a 6.04m (19-9.75) clearance in early April. Peterson is a three-time all-state performer in this event and will be hoping to add a gold medal to her resume this year.
Truman's Katelyn Wink, though, was the runner-up to Ross last spring, clearing 6 meters for the first time in her life at the State meet before climbing to 6.03m (19-9.5) at the Great Southwest Classic. The KU commit has had a busy winter and posted a 5.68m indoor best so far.
Nobody else heads into the season with a 19 foot clearance, though Park Hill South's LaNicia Parker is very close with a 5.76m (18-11.75, +1.2) personal best. The senior was fifth at last year's State meet and climbed nearly a foot and a half from her sophomore to junior season.
Six others boast a personal best over 18 feet led by Nixa's Olivia Reed. Reed cleared 5.63m (18-5.75) at her District meet, but finished ninth at the State meet. It is Francis Howell's Catherine Williams who is the last among the returning all-staters as her 5.59m (18-4, -0.4) mark was good enough for a seventh place medal in Class 5.
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Class 4 Outlook
Missouri's top overall long jump returner is Grandview's Jordin McGee (pictured above and below), whose 6.25m (20-6) personal best came in the AAU qualifier series in June. The three-time all-stater won gold in 2023, but settled for silver in 2024 behind Aaliyah Elliott. Now a senior and nearly two full feet ahead of the next closest returner, expect McGee to climb back to the top of the podium in 2025.
Of course, what would a preview of a short-sprint intensive event in Class 4 be without a mention of Jahmeshia Patterson. The Festus sophomore will get more shine in two weeks because this is not an event she is likely to contest in the State series any time soon, even though she is the second best returner on our list at 5.49m (18-0.25). As someone who can contribute in the running events like she can, an event like long jump which can go wrong in so many ways besides having the actual, physical talent may be out of the question, but we could be wrong.
West Plains junior Mylea Adams is next on the list with a 5.43m (17-9.75) personal best. Adams was hard-luck fifth in both horizontal jumps at her Sectional meet last year behind three seniors and Marshfield's Tilly Greenfield.
Lutheran St. Charles standout Kennedy Williams is the next best returner on mark, but second best on State finish. She was fifth overall last year, jumping a personal best 5.41m (17-9, +2.8). Helias Catholic's Kenadi Harrison (seventh) and Pleasant Hill's Emerson Smith (eighth) are both returning all-staters, as well, with Smith taking the fifth spot in our returner rankings at 5.4m (17-8.5). The aforementioned Greenfield is tied for sixth on our current list with Sydney Lanton out of the John Burroughs School while Harrison finds herself further down out of the top ten among returners.
Moving into Class 4, though, are two athletes sure to shake up the rankings. With MICDS moving down on championship factor and Incarnate Word moving up, Nicole Green and Bailey Hensgens, should absolutely shake up the rankings. Green has had a busy career and may be ready to leap all the way to the top of the ranking in her senior season. The Northern Illinois commit cleared 5.59m (18-4) in 2023, posted a 2024 season best of 5.48m (17-11.75) mark, and has a had a busy 2025 indoor season, clearing 5.38m so far. Hensgens was sixth in Class 3 last year, but owns a personal best of 5.44m (17-10.25), which puts her third on the Class 4 list.
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Class 3 Outlook
We are ready to discuss Amya Bills atop the Class 3 returner rankings in yet another event. Bills, who had one of the best State meets of anyone in Missouri, won three events in her freshman year and should be considered a heavy favorite to repeat in all three. In the long jump, after clearing 5 meters in her first two tries in March, she missed the mark every try until a resurgence in late April where she won her final five meets and cleared 5.4 meters in all but one. Her 5.80m (19-0.5, +0.7) performance on her fourth attempt at State is over a half foot clear of the next closest returner. 
Moberly's Bryleigh Knox enters the season second on marks with her 5.60m (18-4.5) best from her first meet of the 2024 season. Knox cleared at least 4.97m in all nine tries last season and finished fourth at State, her first trip to the long jump podium in her third trip to Jefferson City.
Clifton Grooms photo
Morgan Hilbrich had a stellar final month of the season with wins at her conference, district, and sectional meets, but fell just three centimeters short of a medal, finishing in ninth at the State meet. She heads into the season with a 5.53m (18-1.75) personal best.
Just behind her is Kylee Richey out of Versailles High School, whose all-conditions personal best of 5.51m (18-0.75, +2.3) came at the 2023 State meet where she finished third overall. Richey had a strong 2024 season with eight victories in this event to her name, as well as a seventh place medal at the State meet, nearly meeting her all-time mark with a 5.50m season best.
Other returning all-staters include Winfield's Isabel Reinebach, who will be considered fifth among returners when Hensgens moves up to Class 4, and Lone Jack's Miley Ward. Reinebach was fifth at the State meet in 2024 when she jumped her career best mark of 5.39m (17-8.25). Ward earned an eighth place medal, just holding off the afore-mentioned Hilbrich, with her personal best mark of 5.24m (17-2.25).
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Class 2 Outlook
Only one Class 2 returner boasts a career best over 18 feet: Jefferson (Festus) standout athlete Margaret Wrigley. Jasper Swiss army knife Crystal Smith is over 18 feet as well, but we expect her to move back to Class 1 this year. Wrigley was the State runner-up in 2024 by a toenail, finishing just 1 centimeter behind Malden's Angela Dobbins. Her career best of 5.61m (18-5, +0.8) has her in the driver's seat heading into 2025 as she third career State medal in the event and first gold. Smith, on the other hand, has experience winning the State meet, just not in the long jump. Last year, in her first go-around, she ended up third in Class 2 and enters 2025 with a 5.50m (18-0.5) personal best. Expect her to be among Class 1's best as she will be one of only two girls over 17 feet.
Seven others head into the season with marks over 17 feet, led by Mark Twain sophomore Ella Moss. Moss was fourth in 2024 and posted a big personal best mark of 5.39m (17-8.25, +0.1) to do so. She had only cleared 5 meters one other time in twelve tries before that. The second through eighth place finisher at the Class 2 State meet are back for 2025, in fact, but Archie's Mollie Andrews (below), who was not among those medalists, is next on the returners performance list.
Andrews, the reigning pole vault champion, cleared 5.37m (17-7.5) to win her District meet, but ended up fifth at her Sectional meet. State fifth place finisher Rilyn Sherwood also cleared 5.37m (17-7.5, +0.2) in 2024 after earning a silver medal in the triple jump.
Elsberry's Joanna Talbot, South Callaway's Reece Pahl, and Crystal City's Carly Roussin are all returning all-staters as well, though we are projecting Roussin to drop into Class 1 this season and be among the top three ranked jumpers there with her 5.18m (17-0, +1.7) best.
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Class 1 Outlook
With the movement of Smith and Roussin into the ranks, the Class 1 Girls long jump outlook, which was not particularly close, will be a two-horse race. Reigning State champion Katelyn Jones is nearly a foot and a half ahead of the rest of the field with the massive personal best and Class 1 meet record 5.60m (18-4.5, +0.5) last May. Smith, with her 5.5m best, will be second and Roussin will be third with her 5.18m best, but nobody else is close. Expect the Pattonsburg senior to be the heavy favorite come this May to repeat in the long jump as she looks to hold off Smith to retain her Class 1 title.
Three others return will all-state medals to their name, led by Rock Port's Avery Meyerkorth. Meyerkorth is part of a sister-duo that helped the Blue Jays climb all the way to the top of the Class 1 team podium in 2024 as her five points in this event helped push them to 73 total points.
Avery Meyerkorth, right, and Ella Meyerkorth, left, walk down the track with their teammates and coaches, celebrating their state team title and headed to collect their 2024 1st place state team trophy.
She returns for the 2025 season with a 5.14m (16-10.5, +1.0) personal best, the last mark among Class 1 returners over 5 meters. Knox County's Adison Strong was seventh as a freshman and she comes into 2025 fifth on the performance list with her 4.92m (16-1.75, +1.5) personal best. La Plata's Macy Davidson also went home with a State medal as she was eighth after jumping her career best mark of 4.89m (16-0.5, +0.9).She is tied with Olivia Cross for sixth among returners. Chadwick's Mayce Daugherty and Madison's Kaylee Knight have both also cleared 16 feet in their careers, though Knight was eleventh at the State meet and Daugherty was sixth at her District meet in 2024.
La Plata's Macy Davidson placed 8th in the long jump at State with a PR of 16-0.5, then added two more 8th place medals in the flat 100 and the 300 hurdles.