This past weekend was a big one across Missouri, Illinois, Kansas, and California, with athletes, primarily in the distance events, turning in breakthrough and historic performances. Headwinds knocked down some of the state's top sprinters and jumpers, but many fought through the adversity to still put up fantastic marks. Here are some of the major highlights from the weekend.
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- At the famous Arcadia Invitational, Rockhurst's Jack McGovern took advantage of the elite national talent and perfect weather conditions under the lights to do what many other Missourians have done before him at Arcadia: break 9:00 for 3200 meters. McGovern's personal best of 8:49.10 was tops among sophomores in the race, keeping him at the number 1 spot in the country for 10th graders and #23 overall. It also lowered his state age group record 10 seconds. Finally, it pushed him to US #4 all-time among sophomores, placing him in elite company only 6 seconds behind all-time great Lex Young from the famous Newbury Park, CA group of the early 2020s. ILMileSplit's Tony Jones caught up with the Hawklet after his historic race on Saturday night.
Arcadia also produced fast times and strong marks from the
Cardinal Ritter girls. The headline performance came when they lowered their overall state-leading 4x100 meter relay mark to 47.19 and hit a new state leading 4x200 mark of 1:38.44, the second fastest mark in State history.
Other strong individual performances came from
Naila Kerr in the 100 meter hurdles (13.95, +0.9) and 300 meter hurdles (44.40),
Logynn Spain in the Triple Jump (11.1m, 36-5), and
Mekenzie Rogers in the 200 meter dash (24.86, +2.1).
They also participated at the
Tiger Invitational at South Pasadena where
Kauryn Durrah put down an 11.86 (+1.9) MO #4 mark in the 100. Emmanuel Ellis had the top mark of the weekend for the boys with a 10.68 (+2.2) Class 3 leading mark in the 100.
MICDS junior
Justyce Sanders also made the trip out, running 25.01 and 55.34 in the 200 and 400. Raymore-Peculiar's
Gabriel Voelker nearly broke 9:00 in the seeded race, running 9:00.33, a big deal for the reigning Class 5 State champion coming back from an injury setback over the winter.
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Back in the Show-Me State, several of the state's top distance runners turned in leading marks. Here is some of the quick hits:
-
Carson Driemeier posted a state-leading 4:10.92 at the Statesman Boys Invitational, running away from Parkway West's
Wade Patten, who still turned in a season best himself of 4:17.26. Later on in the meet, SLUH put another runner under the Class 5 District standard in the 3200 as junior
Benjamin Yoffie followed
Jackson Miller to a 1-2 finish with his 9:21.76 mark, 23 second better than his previous best. He joined Miller and Michael Luna under the 9:30 mark, with two more Jr. Bills lurking in the 9:30s.
- Eureka's
Brooke Samuelson posted a state-leading mark in the 1600 at the Northwest Invitational, running a personal best of 4:52.75 and winning by 38 seconds.
- Liberty (Wentzville) junior
Bella Navarro-Sanchez snuck under the
Viola Johanson's previous state-leading mark with her 10:47.08 personal best at the
Bill Summa Invitational. She also ran 2:16.09 for 800 later in the day, but finished behind Liberty (Kansas City)'s
Tessa Perdue. Her 2:14.63 personal best is the leading mark in Class 5 and #2 overall. Park Hill South's
Thomas Garrett would have had the state lead in the 1600 if Driemeier had not done what he did, as Garrett soloed a 4:12.75 season debut in the event. Blue Springs South's
Burke Schwentker lowered his personal best in the 800 with a 1:54.92 mark for the win and
Kruz Bigham of Benton ran a Class 4 leading time of 1:56.14, just ahead of
Lucas Amador's 1:56.88 at the Statesman Invitational.
- State leading marks were also posted in the 4x400m relay by
Blue Springs (3:22.75) at the Jerry Crews Invitational and
Helias set the top mark at 3:55.13 at Thursday's
Girls Night Out. In total, four teams broke 4:00 this past week with
Ladue doing so at the
K-State Relays,
Liberty at Bill Summa, and Cardinal Ritter at Arcadia.
This past weekend was a big one across Missouri, Illinois, Kansas, and California, with athletes, primarily in the distance events, turning in breakthrough and historic performances. Headwinds knocked down some of the state's top sprinters and jumpers, but many fought through the adversity to still put up fantastic marks. Here are some of the major highlights from the weekend.
--
- At the famous Arcadia Invitational, Rockhurst's Jack McGovern took advantage of the elite national talent and perfect weather conditions under the lights to do what many other Missourians have done before him at Arcadia: break 9:00 for 3200 meters. McGovern's personal best of 8:49.10 was tops among sophomores in the race, keeping him at the number 1 spot in the country for 10th graders and #23 overall. It also lowered his state age group record 10 seconds. Finally, it pushed him to US #4 all-time among sophomores, placing him in elite company only 6 seconds behind all-time great Lex Young from the famous Newbury Park, CA group of the early 2020s. ILMileSplit's Tony Jones caught up with the Hawklet after his historic race on Saturday night.
Arcadia also produced fast times and strong marks from the
Cardinal Ritter girls. The headline performance came when they lowered their overall state-leading 4x100 meter relay mark to 47.19 and hit a new state leading 4x200 mark of 1:38.44, the second fastest mark in State history.
Other strong individual performances came from
Naila Kerr in the 100 meter hurdles (13.95, +0.9) and 300 meter hurdles (44.40),
Logynn Spain in the Triple Jump (11.1m, 36-5), and
Mekenzie Rogers in the 200 meter dash (24.86, +2.1).
They also participated at the
Tiger Invitational at South Pasadena where
Kauryn Durrah put down an 11.86 (+1.9) MO #4 mark in the 100. Emmanuel Ellis had the top mark of the weekend for the boys with a 10.68 (+2.2) Class 3 leading mark in the 100.
MICDS junior
Justyce Sanders also made the trip out, running 25.01 and 55.34 in the 200 and 400. Raymore-Peculiar's
Gabriel Voelker nearly broke 9:00 in the seeded race, running 9:00.33, a big deal for the reigning Class 5 State champion coming back from an injury setback over the winter.
--
Back in the Show-Me State, several of the state's top distance runners turned in leading marks. Here is some of the quick hits:
-
Carson Driemeier posted a state-leading 4:10.92 at the Statesman Boys Invitational, running away from Parkway West's
Wade Patten, who still turned in a season best himself of 4:17.26. Later on in the meet, SLUH put another runner under the Class 5 District standard in the 3200 as junior
Benjamin Yoffie followed
Jackson Miller to a 1-2 finish with his 9:21.76 mark, 23 second better than his previous best. He joined Miller and Michael Luna under the 9:30 mark, with two more Jr. Bills lurking in the 9:30s.
- Eureka's
Brooke Samuelson posted a state-leading mark in the 1600 at the Northwest Invitational, running a personal best of 4:52.75 and winning by 38 seconds.
- Liberty (Wentzville) junior
Bella Navarro-Sanchez snuck under the
Viola Johanson's previous state-leading mark with her 10:47.08 personal best at the
Bill Summa Invitational. She also ran 2:16.09 for 800 later in the day, but finished behind Liberty (Kansas City)'s
Tessa Perdue. Her 2:14.63 personal best is the leading mark in Class 5 and #2 overall. Park Hill South's
Thomas Garrett would have had the state lead in the 1600 if Driemeier had not done what he did, as Garrett soloed a 4:12.75 season debut in the event. Blue Springs South's
Burke Schwentker lowered his personal best in the 800 with a 1:54.92 mark for the win and
Kruz Bigham of Benton ran a Class 4 leading time of 1:56.14, just ahead of
Lucas Amador's 1:56.88 at the Statesman Invitational.
- State leading marks were also posted in the 4x400m relay by
Blue Springs (3:22.75) at the Jerry Crews Invitational and
Helias set the top mark at 3:55.13 at Thursday's
Girls Night Out. In total, four teams broke 4:00 this past week with
Ladue doing so at the
K-State Relays,
Liberty at Bill Summa, and Cardinal Ritter at Arcadia.