JEFFERSON CITY – Cleveland NJROTC had done everything it could on the track, and all the Commanders could do was anxiously sit and watch the 1,600-meter relay unfold.
Heading into the final event of the Class 2 state track meet, Cleveland had a seven point lead over Lamar, which had a team in the final relay. A second-place finish or better would earn the Tigers the team title. Anything less and Cleveland would get to hoist the first-place trophy.
Lamar entered the final leg trailing in fourth, and anchor Nolan Jeffries surged toward the leaders but crossed the line a tenth of a second out of second place as Cleveland was able to hold on for a 51-50 team victory.
“I don’t have any words for it; I’m excited,” Cleveland’s Dominic Ball said.
Ball won the 110-meter hurdles (14.89) and was on the first-place 400-meter relay (43.66). Ball said that relay taxed him and affected his 300 hurdles. Ball fell in that event and finished in eighth, but that lone point turned out to be critical to the team’s tally.
“I still got points; that’s all that matters,” said Ball, who will run at Ashford University. “We knew it was that close, and we knew since they were on us they had to get third or down for us to win. They were right there in second; I was real nervous watching that.”
Michael Wells did his part to help the Commanders with a win in the 100. He just missed matching his Class 2 record time from Friday’s prelims with his 10.75 – one-hundredth of a second slower than prelims.
“I was only trying to get first and win. It would’ve been good if I broke the record, but I’m not worried about it right now,” Wells said. “If I wasn’t tired (in the 200), it would’ve been more competitive.”
Wells also anchored the 400-meter relay and 800-meter relay, which took second in 1:31.37. He was second in the 200 (22.05).
Metro’s Antonio Marcano Jr. won the 200 in 22.03 and was second in the 100 in 10.95.
Lamar scored big points in the discus with Ben Bailey winning on a throw of 165 feet, 2 inches. Bailey’s teammate Austin Boice finished sixth (151-0) and his brother Sam was seventh (150-7). That gave the Tigers 15 points from one event.
“My first two throws in the finals were 155 each, and then I threw that last one,” Ben said. “All of them felt good.”
After the event, a photographer asked Ben to throw one more for a picture, and he launched it an unofficial 170 feet.
Christian senior Stephen Hedlund earned the school its first state champion in the 300 hurdles with a time of 39.15. The school has only been sanctioned by MSHSAA for four years.
“I relaxed a lot and went over the race in my head all this week,” said Hedlund, who was second in the 110 hurdles (14.92). “The whole thing takes a lot of rhythm. I stuttered a lot last year and finished 10th at state, and this year coach fixed my form and helped me to hit every hurdle right on cue.”
Monroe City junior Carly Spalding had little time to savor her victory in the long jump (18-5 ½). As soon as the celebratory pictures were done, she hopped off the podium and sprinted to the bullpen for the start of the 100-meter dash. She got a good start out of the blocks and captured her second gold medal in mere minutes with a 12.29.
“I like it a lot more; it gets me warmed up more and in the zone more,” Spalding said. “I was still nervous today, but I think the long jump calmed me down. It was very tiring, but it pushes me more.”
Spalding came back later in the day and anchored the 400-meter relay to a victory in 50.44, and she finished fourth in the 200 (25.63), all of which went a long way in helping Monroe City to a second-place finish with 39 points. Stockton won the Class 2 title with 46 points.
Conrad Bollinger of Principia also had to juggle multiple events at the same time. Bollinger had to interrupt his pole vault to run a leg on the victorious 800-meter relay (1:29.56). He returned to the pole vault and quickly regained his rhythm. He cleared 14-9 to capture runner-up for the second consecutive year to Monroe City’s Mike Grinde (15-0).
“I really wanted to get 15 because I jumped 14-9 at districts, but I guess I didn’t have the last form on my last attempts at 15,” Bollinger said. “Last year I had to come from the 4x8 to pole vault, which was terrible. It’s just a mental thing really. Yeah you’re kind of out of breath, but you can still make your best jump even when you’re in that state. You just have to focus the right way.”
The Class 2 distance events were won in dominating fashion. Barstow junior Deko Ricketts blazed a path in the boys 1,600-meter run and turned away a brief challenge by Linn’s Tyler Rush to win by two seconds in 4:27.45.
“I had to make it hurt, and it hurt a lot,” Ricketts said. “My only surefire goal is I knew I wasn’t going to make first place easy for anyone. I had to make it hurt and see what I had in the tank.
“I PR’d by 13 seconds yesterday (10:10.51 for ninth in the 3,200), but the fact is those two-mile guys were well trained and a lot faster than me and had more endurance. But I knew I could beat them in the mile, because I love the mile. It’s my specialty.”
Herculaneum’s Kaitlyn Fischer doubled up her gold medal haul with a wire-to-wire victory in the 3,200 (11:15.90). Fischer won the 1,600 in similar fashion on Friday.
“It would’ve been cool to get a good time, but I knew it was hot,” said Fischer, who won by 30 seconds with officials misting the athletes on the backstretch. “It helped a lot. It was a replenish.”
Fischer now has six gold medals and another year to compete for the Blackcats.
“So far they’ve all been track,” Fischer said. “Hopefully I can get a cross country in there.”