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JEFFERSON CITY – The first wave of summer-like temperatures hit Friday afternoon and forced meet officials to delay the 3,200-meter run to the evening of the first day of the Class 4 state track meet.
After the temperature cooled just slightly, the 3,200 began with Rock Bridge’s Caleb Wilfong leading for most of the first six laps. Things began to spread out on the seventh lap as Marquette sophomore Noah Kauppila moved to the front of the field with Rockhurst’s Zach Herriott.
Kauppila surged again to take sole possession of the lead heading into the final lap, and he held off a late charge from West Plains’ Drew Cargill.
“It went pretty straight from plan,” Kauppila said. “I wanted to stay in the front and let everyone else dictate the pace and see if my kick was good enough on the last lap. I wanted to start my kick early in case they would’ve had anything left to beat me the last stretch.”
Cargill attempted a kick for nearly the entire final 400 meters. He moved up two spots and was gaining on Kauppila but ran out of real estate to finish runner-up in 9:12.91.
“I may have waited too long. I was thinking maybe if I could have them within 50 meters or so I could get them at the end, but Noah got away from me a little bit,” Cargill said.
Kirkwood senior Mike McHugh was slightly delayed getting his track season started as he was recovering from shoulder surgery. There were no lasting effects as he was able to claim the Class 4 long jump with a leap of 22 feet, 6 inches.
“I just jumped as fast as I could, jumped as high as I could and refused to land and got it,” said McHugh, who picked up the win on his final jump. “This is long jump; nothing to it – run fast, jump high.”
McHugh had a torn labrum repaired over the winter to correct a football injury, and while it was healed, the doctors were concerned that he could land awkwardly during the high jump and damage his newly mended shoulder.
Parkway South senior Donnell Walker also knows a little about football. But it was his decision to try other sports that has really paid dividends. Walker earned his second state title of his senior year when he claimed the shot put after a throw of 57-0.
“It feels better to see all the hard work pay off,” Walker said. “It’s exciting to see someone like me who didn’t know nothing about the sport, be able to work hard and come this far; I love the feeling.
“I wasn’t going to do a sport, and my school principal said I could be good at this. It was totally by accident and look where I’m at. When I came to high school, I was going to be a football-only guy. I didn’t know I was going to do wrestling and become a state champion in that, and do track and field, and become a state champion in that either.”
Walker also won the Class 4 heavyweight wrestling title this winter, pinning Lee’s Summit West’s Evan Boehm. He came out on top again as Boehm finished eighth with a throw of 52-9.
Liberty’s Jared Benson accomplished a lot when he cleared 6-10 in the high jump. He set a new PR and broke the school record of 6-9. He also won a Class 4 gold medal.
“Last year I wasn’t really ready and felt like once I got here it was a little overwhelming,” Benson said. “Now that I’m used to it, I came and got a good rhythm going.”
The meet started with the 3,200-meter relay. There were several lead changes and jockeying for position threw the first three legs, but Rockhurst’s Kevin Jantsch erased it all with a strong anchor leg. Jantsch had a slight lead when he got the baton, and he wasted little time in extending it and putting the race out of question.
“Throughout the season my teammates usually put me in good position, and I like running by myself with no one in front of me,” Jantsch said. “I went out like I always did, maybe a little faster. Every time I came around a corner I was just thinking, ‘I’ve got to keep going. I can’t lose it for my team.’”
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