Paul Everett previews the field events while David looks at the events that will be settled on the track.
Girls Field Events
Last spring Sydney Deeken of California High School surprised a few people by defeating multi-state champion Lindsay Vollmer in the High Jump at the state meet. Deeken jumped 5-3 to win Section 2, a few inches short of her winning 5-6 mark in Jefferson City last year. Taylor Alumbaugh, the Section 3 champion has gone 5-4 this year so this event should be very close.
Deeken will also be looking to collect gold in the Triple Jump. She jumped 38-4.75 at her home meet, over two feet longer than anyone else in Class 2 this season and has a great shot at taking down the previous state record of 37-11.25.
Carly Spalding from Monroe City went 18-9 in the Long Jump at the Section 2 meet, almost a foot ahead of the 17-10 by Hannah Oberdiek of South Callaway. However, Spalding the runner up in this event last year, has gone even further with a mark of 18-11 at the Jerry Ball Relays. The state record is just a few inches longer at 19-03.25 by Precious Selmon of Crystal City.
Lauren Allen of Fatima is the defending state Champion in the Discuss and has a six and a half foot lead on the rest of the class this year. Kelsey Benoit of Centralia has a toss over 130' on the year but finished 4th at the Section 2 meet
Kelsey, however, is the state leader this year in the Shot Put, an event she was runner up at last spring.
Jessica Clark of Blair Oaks finished 2nd at state as a freshman in the Pole Vault and holds the state's leading vault by clearing 11-6 last weekend at sectionals. Section 4 champ, Skyler Wooldrige, was 4th last spring.
Boys Field Events
In the High Jump, Dalton Freeze of Stockton started off the year hot going 6-10 at Ash Grove and 6-8 at El Dorado Springs but has not cleared 6-4 in a meet since April 10th. Austin Francis of Salisbury High was state runner up last spring and won the section 2 meet this year. Section 3 champ, Karter Morgan, is also a threat to win gold.
Section 3 Champ Jordan Britton of Hollister is the only all-state returnee in the Long Jump but could face a challenge from Section 1 champion, Romello McCoy of Malden.
Mccoy is the state leader in the Triple Jump. Section 3 Champ, Jordan Britton was 5th last spring. Section 4 champion Freddie Pannell of Trenton is within striking range as well.
Tanner Buschmann of Fatima was runner up in the Discuss last spring and has improved throughout the 2012 season. Section 3 champ Ben Bailey of Lamar has also made some nice improvements this year.
T.J. Schieber of Penney is the defending state champion in the Shot Put but was edged by Adam Roe of West Platte at the Section 4 meet. Section 2 champion Brian Rose of Belle High will have to have a big throw to win gold.
Mike Grinde of Monroe City returns to Jefferson City as the defending state champion in the Pole Vault. He's been undefeated in events in the MileSplit database all season and will look to continue his perfect senior campaign.
Class 2 Boys Track Events
100m: Cleveland NJROTC looks to score a high amount of points in this event to boost their team efforts. Michael Wells, a junior comes in with a PR of 10.69, well ahead of the next competitor. Christian Brune, last years champ, looks to be in championship form as he is coming off of victories in both the 100m and 200m at sectionals.
200m: Wells also holds a better PR in this event. His 21.80 is the only sub 22 time recorded for a Class 2 athlete. Brune was second in this event last year and is currently second on the Class 2 leader board.
400m: Rhett Cook was the top returning coming into this year as he finished fourth last year, and has lived up to the title. He is the sectional 2 champion in the 400 and was second behind Brune in the 200. Challenging will be Dax Dollens and Seth Acton. Dollens finished a close second behind Cook at sectionals, and Acton won his sectional.
800m: Three men come into this race within 1.08 seconds. Leading the charge is Austin Hardy, last years runner up. He is coming off of a victory over a very tough Brandon Shemonia at sectionals. Tom Zeilman, a sophomore from Fatima, has also run under 2:00 and won his sectional.
1600m: Brandon Shemonia comes in the clear favorite. His 4:23 is four seconds ahead of the next favorite and he has run faster before. The Herky duo of Ryan Jackson and Jacob Coffman have both run under 4:30 will provide competition for Shemonia.
3200m: Ryan Jackson comes in with the best PR with a time of 9:38 from the Tiger Town Invitational. Shemonia, who holds a PR of 9:41 will likely be a tough one to beat. Also, the Linn boys of Tyler Rush and Kaleb Wilson both had a great XC season and have both run competitive times this year in the 3200m.
110H: Dominic Ball has the chance to contribute a lot of points for Cleveland NJROTC's efforts. His time of 14.96 is just .02 seconds off of Blake Alexander. These two finished 2-3 last year with Ball coming out on with the runner-up finish and Alexander a third place finish.
300H: Stepehen Hedlund and Nick Jeffries have both run under 40 seconds for this event and both won their sectional. Also, Dominic Ball of Cleveland could contribute even more points as he is ranked third going into this weekend. Reid Echelmeier, the top returner in this event is fourth and is not far behind either.
4x100m: Carrollton and Principia come into this weekend with a virtual tie. They have run times of 43.16 and 43.19. This race should be one of the closest of the day.
4x200m: Principa comes in favorites as they have run under 1:30. Cleveland NJROTC sits in second and the speed of Michael Wells should make an impact on the outcome of this event.
4x400m: Maplewood-Richmond Heights has owned this event in recent years. This year looks to be the same as they have the top time from the season, running just under 3:28.
4x800m: Fatima has run 8:10.51 which puts them seeded first. Herculaneum, a historic distance program looks to challenge as they are ranked second with their 8:14 from sectionals
Girls Track Events
100m: Last year, Carly Spalding won the prelims but faded to third in the finals. This year, she has run 11.94 which is faster than the Class 2 record of 12.12 set back in 1993. Also close to the record is Chandler Wilson, the sectional 4 champion, who has run 12.09.
200m: Wilson has the faster time in this event by a mere .01 seconds. Wilson's time is 25.54 while Spalding has run 25.55. This one will be a close one as these two duke it out.
400m: Na'kea Shepherd was second in this event last year and is the top returner. Her time of 58.99 is the only Class 2 time under 59 seconds and she looks to be the favorite going into this weekend.
800m: Savannah Beaver is the top returner and she has had a successful junior season. Her 2:20 is the fastest time by 2 seconds. She was the sectional 3 champ in both the 800 and 1600 and looks ready to contend for a title this weekend.
1600m: Kaitlyn Fischer can get it done on the track. She ran 5:09.69 at her conference meet and blew away the field at the sectional 1 meet. She won this event last year and won it in Class 3 as a freshman. Watch for her to continue her success in this event this year.
3200m: It’s hard to go against Fischer. She won this event last year, as well, and she has a better time this season over the field by almost a minute.
100H: This will likely be a battle between the 2nd and 3rd place finishers from a year ago. Mary Jane Kapp has run 15.44 and won sectional 4. Emilyn Dearman has also run 15.44 and won sectional 3.
300H: Dearman finished second in this event as well as the 100H last year. She comes in ranked first and is coming off of a sectional victory in section 3 last week. Kailey Chapman, a sophomore from Spokane, looks to provide competition as they raced at sectionals and Chapman was just .3 seconds behind her.
4x100m: Monroe City posted the fastest time in Class 2 for the year at sectionals to move atop the leader board. Also, South Callaway has run under 51 seconds and should make this a close contest.
4x200m: Palmyra leads this one going into State as they are the only runs to run under 1:47. South Callaway was under a second back at sectionals, and these two teams should be battling out again this weekend.
4x400m: Stockton is the favorite as they have posted a 4:08, quicker than any other team. Both Centralia and Principia are sectional champs and have run 4:10, leaving this race up for grabs.
4x800m: Going into the weekend, Stockton and Lutheran (St. Peter's) are tied atop the leader board. Lutheran High school won this event last year but graduated one of their runners. Stockton, the fifth place team from last year, returned all of their runners. Stockton has Josie Pyle, the second ranked Class 2 800m runner while Lutheran currently has runners ranked 6th, 8th, and 10th in Class 2.
CLASS 1 PREVIEW