Over the biggest weekend of track and field in the country, most of the nation's best athletes finished off their 2025 Track and Field seasons in impressive fashion. Several of the Show-Me State's best showed out in the four national meets, picking up personal bests, state records, all-American status, and national championships along the way.
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Nike Outdoor Nationals/USATF U20 Championships
At Eugene, Oregon's famous Hayward Field, Nike played host to their outdoor national meet while the USATF played host to the U20 Championships. Some athletes competed across both divisions with Nixa's Jackson Cantwell being the most notable of those.
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Photo: Don Sisson
Cantwell picked up the U20 Championship in the Shot Put on Friday evening, tossing the 6kg shot (larger than a standard High School, 12-lb shot) 21.23m (69-8). It was a national record for 17 year olds and just missed the overall national record by two and a half feet. The Nixa star would double back for the victory in the Nike Championship division on Saturday with his 21.84m (71-8) performance with the lighter implement. In ten meets this season, Cantwell finished with a mark over 21.2m (69-6.5) nine times.
Macon's Caelan Harland also competed in both the U20 Championships and Nike Championship divisions. In the U20 division, Harland cleared a personal best of 5.31m (17-5), pushing his MO No. 3 mark up even further than previous. He finished as the runner-up to Virginia standout Victor Oleson who became the thirteenth high schooler to ever clear 18 feet. The University of South Dakota commit came back on Saturday to finish third in the Nike Championship division, clearing 5.03m (16-6). His U20 personal best mark now has him seventh-ranked in the nation this year.
Adrian's Bryson Jacobs picked up a major victory on the weekend, as well, winning the Nike Outdoor Championship in the Javelin. His final throw on Sunday was a big one, to say the least, and major personal best. Jacobs launched a 67.13m (220-3) mark which not only shattered his State record, but pushed him back to the top spot in the country for the 2025 season. It was 2 centimeters ahead of Pennsylvania's Nolan Carey.
On the girls' side, the Ladue ladies made their presence felt with two third place finishes in the 4x200 and 4x400 meter relays.
Photo: Don Sisson
In the 4x200, the team of Laila Murray, Zoe Coleman, Marley Robinson, and Delaney Brinker, the second and third legs being freshmen we did not see much this outdoor season in the open events, ran another sub-1:40 mark, hitting 1:39.93. On Sunday, the 4x400 team of Murray, Coleman, Brinker, and Aaliyah Rogers posted a new State record of 3:45.46, finally taking down the McCluer South-Berkeley 3:45.78 mark from 2007 after coming close several times before.
Photo: Chris Auckley
Delaney Brinker closed out her illustrious career with individual All-American finishes in the 400 meter dash at both the U20 and Nike Championships. She ran 53.70 on Friday at the U20 Championships and followed it up with a 53.73 in the Nike Championship division, finishing sixth and fifth, respectively. It was her fifth time recording a mark under 54 seconds, and her tenth time in ten tries this season clearing 55 seconds.
Photo: Clif Grooms
Meanwhile, in her first and only season in high school, Delaney's sister Zoey Brinker picked up two national titles in the High Jump, securing both the U20 and Nike Championships over the weekend. Her 1.76m (5-9.25) personal best was good enough to get the job done in both divisions, an incredible finish to an incredible lone season for the Ladue senior who will be joining her sister at Kansas State University next year.
Photo: Don Sisson
Pacific's McKenna Lay picked up a third place finish in the Javelin at Nike Outdoor Nationals and seventh place at the U20 Championships, throwing 45.15m (148-1.5) at the former and 41.12m (134-10.75) at the latter. The 45.15m mark was her third best performance of her junior campaign and she will head into the 2026 season with a 47.75m (156-8) mark to her name.
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New Balance Outdoor Nationals
The Rockhurst boys headlined the action at New Balance Outdoor Nationals, making the trip back out to the University of Pennsylvania after shattering the State record in the 4x800 meter relay at April's Penn Relays. On Friday evening, they nearly polished off a perfect season in the event with a national title, but fell just short to Herriman (UT) who broke what many considered one of the toughest national records on the books.
Photo: Chris Auckley
Senior typical leadoff man and 2025 State champion Bill Hayes got the Hawklets started the squad off with a 1:51.20 and handed off to Jacob Bond in first. Bond's 1:53.88 split held serve for his team before handing off to 2024 State champion Andrew Davis. Davis split 1:52.08, but was overtaken by Herriman's third man Tayshaun Ogomo, who took off at the 500 meter mark. Ogomo's 1:48.94 split pushed his squad into first, but Henry Acorn received the baton just a second behind the leaders. Acorn was unable to match his 1:49.35 open personal best from the KC Metro Mile earlier this month, splitting 1:55.28 instead, but still pulling his squad across the line in 7:32.44, dropping their State record by a second. Herriman's 7:26.12 shattered the old National record set by Long Beach Poly (CA) in 2011.
On Sunday, the team of Jack McGovern, Davis, Hayes, and Acorn would finish seventh in the Distance Medley Relay, shattering the State record in that event, too, in 10:06.08. They bettered the mark that Blue Springs South posted at this year's Kansas Relays: 10:20.65. McGovern's run in the Freshman 1 Mile was the squad's other top 8 finish, as he was the runner-up in 4:18.05.
Blair Oaks junior Tomas Gonzalez posted a top 8 finish in the Pole Vault with his 4.90m (16-0.75) and finishing seventh, tying his personal best from earlier this season.
SLUH's Warnicke Beatty ran a massive personal best in the 800 meter run, finishing fifth in the Freshman division, and posting the fastest 9th grade mark in the State this year by over a second. His first career sub-2:00 mark was a massive one as he nearly broke 1:56 in the race: 1:56.09.
Usual suspects Kyndall Spain and Elyse Wilmes led the charge on the girls' side as both athletes, two of the State's all-time best in their respective event groups, dazzled with respective top 5 finishes.
Photo: Kyle Brazeil
Spain, who decided to forgo the AAU circuit this summer and compete in her first Outdoor Nationals event at New Balance, pulled in a runner-up finish in the 100 meter hurdles, running 13.46 (+0.3). This came after a 58.47 personal best in the 400m Hurdles which earned her 4th overall on Friday. Her 13.37 best in the 100m Hurdles from this year's State championships stands as the second best mark in State history and the seventh fastest time in the country this season.
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Photo: Ryan Comstock
Wilmes pushed her State record in the 800 meter run down even further as the New Balance NIL athlete posted a 2:03.74 personal best for 4th overall in a star-studded field. She has now broken 2:05 three weeks in a row after breaking Hannah Long's State record at the Festival of Miles earlier this month.
Francis Howell North's Rebecca McGuire nearly snuck into the top 8 in the Pole Vault, finishing 9th with a 3.80m (12-5.5) clearance, just a centimeter off her personal best from this year's State championships. She finished off an incredible rise up the ranks this spring and will be the top returner in Class 5 in 2026.
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adidas Track Nationals
Photo: Dan Loughlin
At adidas Track Nationals in North Carolina, a handful of boys posted top 8 performances in their respective events, led by Paris's Landen Chapman who won the 800 meter run in the National Elite division. The Class 2 State champion in the event ran a personal best 1:55.37 for the victory.
Notre Dame Cape Girardeau's Ellis Brune cleared a personal best 4.35m (14-2.75) for fifth overall.
Two Missourian Javelin throwers finished 6th and 7th respectively, with Kirksville's Sullivan Clark hitting 50.06m (164-2.75) and Smithville's Jack Linder-Maloney going 49.42m (162-1.5).