JEFFERSON CITY – University City’s Emmanuel Price is no stranger to the triple jump, but he is definitely just getting started this year.
Price, who finished fourth in the event as a junior, had no plans of triple jumping this year. The team knew there were points that had to be scored if the Lions were going to attempt to topple defending champion Grandview. Price shifted his focus to the relays, but that changed as the state series was approaching.
“We saw the event was wide open for points, so I really didn’t start jumping until the meet before districts,” said Price, who hit 44 feet at that first meet.
Three meet after starting the event this season, Price bounded down the runway 48 feet, 5 inches to claim the Class 3 triple jump state title Friday. His experience in the event returned quick dividends. Price also knew he had to get in the right place to take on the state field.
“I started warming up at 11:30 and we didn’t start until 2 o’clock,” Price said. “I actually took some real jumps before the meet because I’m usually one of those people who gets going when the competition is going on, so I decided to get those out of the way at the beginning.”
Price still has the 300-meter hurdles, where he qualified third fastest at 39.07, the long jump and the 400-meter relay. His 10 points became even more valuable after Grandview was disqualified from the 800-meter relay for an exchange outside the zone.
Grandview did qualify three runners into the finals of the 100-meter dash – Jaymes Kelly, Jaron Alexander and Larry Smith. Platte County senior Naron Rollins tied the Class 3 record with a 10.66 in his preliminary heat.
The 3,200-meter run was delayed until after the rest of the meet’s schedule had been run because of temperatures in the mid-90s. The delay didn’t slow Festus senior Drew White down at all, but it did leave him a little hungry.
“It’s hot out here and I have the (1,600-meter run) tomorrow, so I was kind of thinking I’d just go for the win,” said White, who won the 3,200 in 9:34.57.
The rescheduled time threw off White’s routine, and he abstained from eating because he didn’t want to feel bloated on an especially hot day. That left him focusing more on finding something to eat than celebrating his gold medal.
“I’m really hungry right now because I haven’t had anything to eat since 8:30 this morning,” said White, who will run for Missouri next year. “I didn’t eat anything after the (3,200 relay), and that was a terrible idea, but I didn’t want to feel sick. I felt really weak just I think from not having anything to eat.”
White’s victory helped Festus into the day-one lead with 25 points after five events.
Festus senior Jason Walker contributed 10 more points to that Tigers’ total with his first-place discus throw of 165-07.
“From when I got second place (last year), that’s all I thought about till now,” Walker said. “I’ve been here for three years so I know how everything works and how everything is run, and it definitely helped a lot. Ten points is huge for us and hopefully we can keep adding to it.”
Cardinal Ritter got on the board early with 10 points in the 3,200-meter relay after Charles Jones Jr. moved from fourth to first in the first 200 meters and then cruised around the track on the final lap to give Lions a victory and new Class 3 state record of 7:50.58.
“We talked about splits before the race, but I told them to just keep me in the race and I’ll finish it up,” Jones said. “I didn’t want to leave it to any chance, so I wanted to get out on the first lap and pick it up as the race went on.”
