On Thursday, April 1st, the Festus Boys and Girls Varsity Track teams competed in the Farmington Quad meet at Farmington High School. The three other schools participating in the meet were Farmington, Herculaneum and Jackson.
The Tigers made a great effort, and set 56 new personal records, to come in with a team score of 154.5 points, good for second place on the day. Jackson won the meet with 189 points.
In the High Jump, Freshman Delaney Willis set a personal record, jumping 1.37 meters, to finish in third place. She also had a personal best in the Triple Jump with a leap of 9.17m.
The long distance runners had a great day too. Sixteen new personal records were set in these events. The 3200m run saw seven Tigers set personal records, including Demi White, Abby Schnable, Jeanie Thornborrow, Taylor Thompson, Ava Leftwich, Kayla Holmes and Ava Wilson.
Head Coach Wesley Armbruster was pleased with the results, and said, “Early season meetings have stressed the importance of taking chances, and the Festus distance squad took full advantage.”
Courtney Fadler set a personal best in the 1600m with a time of 6:11. She will be looking to crack the six minute mark soon. Armbruster noted, “Fadler’s performance displayed resiliency at its finest. After experiencing an injury this winter, she was unable to train much of January and February.”
Sophomore Presley Perry set personal bests in the Javelin with a throw of 27.43m, the 400m run with a time of 1:09.10 and a 200m time of 30.27. “She finally got her first real chance to show the potential contributions she could make to the 2021 Festus squad,” said Armbruster.
My’Kaila Batee set three personal records. The first was in the 100m with a 14.36 time. Next she ran a 30.73 time in the 200m. Lastly, in the Long Jump, she cleared 4.40m.
On the boys side, there were some notable performances as well. In the 800m Run, Ian Schram ran a 1.58.7 and Cullen Krieg ran a 159.67.
In the Long Jump, Cayse Martin jumped 19’11” to win first place, and Arhmad Branch jumped 19’8” to take second place.
In the Triple Jump, Branch finished second with a jump of 39’9”.
Lucas Smith finished first in the Shot Put and fifth in the Discus.
In the 100m Dash, Martin ran an 11.82 to take third, and Reece Johnson finished fourth with a time of 11.84.
In the 1600m, Jacob Meyers won the event with a time of 4:34.09, and Nathan Wolk took third with a time of 4:41.43.
Lastly, in the 3200m, Peyton Willis finished 3rd with a time of 10:33.0.
In other exciting track news for Festus, the MSHSAA announced that the Class 4, District 1 track meet will take place at Festus High School.
Both teams will be in action on Saturday, April 10th, in the Mineral Area Relays.
