The State Series began for Class 4 and Class 5 schools on Saturday. The three stages that makeup the MSHSAA Postseason began with the District meets, before next Saturday's Sectional meets, and finally the State Championships, oddly after Labor Day this year on Friday and Saturday, May 30, and 31, after the MSHSAA Calendar rolled back a week this school year.
The Ladue Lady Rams are the defending Class 4 State Champions and are trying to end the reign of the Cardinal Ritter Lady Lions. Cardinal Ritter has an amazing streak of four consecutive state titles going, all in their first four seasons of competition in Class five since being bumped up because of their previous success. Their first postseason test to see who may come out on top at the end of the month in Jefferson City was determined Saturday in Manchester at Parkway South. However, that battle was a bit overshadowed by one personal achievement. The leader of the Ladue crew is senior Delaney Brinker. The sprint superstar was the Class 4 400-meter State runner-up and anchored the Rams' state title-winning 4x400 for a second year in a row in 2024. Brinker and the Lady Rams ran 3:45.19 to top off their team title with a Class 4 4x400 state meet record. She and he Rams also claimed the 4x200 in 1:40.28.
She had already posted marks of 54.85 at the prestigious Arcaidia Invitational in California to kick off her season before winning the Kansas Relays in 54.36 and moving to 6th on the All-Time State performance list. Then she recorded a 23.98 200 meters at the Ladue Brusca-Strobach Invitational on April 26. That was a second-place finish to Pattonville freshman phenom Havyn Smith, who won in 23.90, shocking herself.
On Saturday at Districts, Brinker had placed 2nd in the 100 to teammate Laila Murray in the 100-meter dash, 12.10 to 12.20 seconds, to kick off the meet in its 3rd event on the track.
In track, one second is a long time. Time is measured in thousandths of a second and reported in 1/100ths of a second, unless there are ties and at that point, then it is reported in thousandths. The cameras that record athletes as they hit the finish line record at 1,000, 2,000, 3,000, even up to 6,000 frames per second. It easily shows the difference between athletes who finish 1/10th of a second apart. Three full seconds is a really long time. When Brinker made the final turn and hit the homestretch, long before her competitors, it was shocking. She dug deep and crossed the finish line. The video board with the results showed 53.10 seconds.
Brinker's teammate Laila Murray placed second, posting a time of 56.10, which made her the 5th fastest in the state this season, yet it was still THREE FULL SECONDS back of Delaney's 53.10. Brinker finished about 23 meters ahead of Murray
Brinker also passed one of
the, and maybe still, Missouri prep sprinter "Greatest Of All Time"rs, Alishea Usery of Berkeley. The other favorite option for Show-Me-State High School GOATS remains 2023 Raytown South alum Zaya Akins, now at the University of South Carolina. While Brinker's performance was stunning, including the timing, with 2, 4, or 6 weeks left in her season. And even with the advancement of supershoes (training and competition shoes with lots of technically advanced features like carbon plates) that have changed the game in recent years (and if you aren't taking advantage of them you are missing out and falling behind the fact) the fact that she's jumped so many greats, including the now former Ladue school record holder Montanae Speight, who now sits 5th on the All-Time Missouri list with her 53.6, the fact that she's run this fast with so much time left to run so much faster is a testament to her hard work and dedication and her coaches and family around that supports her.
While most were shocked at Brinker's performance, Ladue Head Coach and sprint guru Nick Buckvar wasn't.
He said in an email Sunday, "Saturday's official results only showed others what I've known for the past three years...Delaney Brinker is one of the best quarter-milers in the country and in Missouri history. We purposely don't race a lot of open 400s, so this performance was definitely overdue for 2025. Her only real instructions were, "Just be You. Be the best version of yourself today."
"When I saw 53.10, my first thoughts were how happy I was for her and how proud I was of her. But I wasn't shocked, it was almost like we've done this before, like I've seen the time before. I guess because I've been writing those numbers for her workouts and race breakdowns for the past year."
"Last year, we had 53 seconds as the expectation, but for various reasons, it just never happened. I've told her over and over again that I don't need to see it on her MileSplit profile, because I saw the truth in every workout she did last May-June. All of which indicated she was sub 54.
"How fast will she ultimately run before her prep career ends in late summer? With her meticulous level of preparation and dedication to recovery, and the confidence she continues to build, I put no limits on her.'
Delaney gave up gymnastics to focus on track last year. She's also a twin. Sister Zoey Brinker saw all the fun Delaney and her teammates were having and finally came to her senses this year. This Winter, she started doing the high jump and long jump during the indoor season. It turns out she's rather good. She has personal records (PRs) of 1.75m/5-9'' in the high jump and 5.54m/18-2.25'' in the long jump. The pair each took home two individual gold medals Saturday as Ladue won the Girls District 2 team title over Cardinal Ritter and the rest of the 9 team field, 153 to 128 points.
Ladue senior Delaney Brinker runs 53.10 for 400 meters, to move to 2nd on MO All-Time List.s
Brinker celebrates her historic lap.
It will sure be fun to watch what Delaney will do over the next two weeks, and in June, and beyond, including at the collegiate level at Kansas State University.
Ladue senior Zoey Brinker won the high jump with a clearance of 1.65m/5-5'' and the long jump with a leap of 5.49m/18-0.25''.
