On Friday, May 28th, the Festus Varsity Boys and Girls Track team competed on the biggest high school stage possible, the Missouri State Class 4 Track meet in Jefferson City. The Tigers entered a handful of athletes on both the boys and girls side, and had a solid showing in terms of results.
Bringing home any hardware is impressive, but the Boys team managed to earn one Gold, two Silvers and one Bronze Medal, en route to an incredible fourth place team finish.
In the Boys results, Reece Johnson competed in the 100m and 200m Dash. He finished in twelfth and fifteenth place respectively with times of 11.13 and 23.20.
Johnson was pleased, and said, “I performed well in the 100m with a new big personal record of 11.13, and I feel very comfortable with the time only being a Sophomore. I took a couple days off from training after State, but I’m already back into it and looking forward to AAU this summer.”
Cullen Krieg and Jacob Meyers each competed in the 800m Run. It yielded a seventh and eighth place finish for the duo, with times of 2:00.70 and 2:00.94 respectively.
In the 1600m Run, the Tigers had excellent finishes from Ian Schram and Krieg. Schram earned the Silver Medal with a time of 4:25.98, while Krieg came in fifth with a time of 4:29.22.
It was another Silver Medal finish in the 3200m Run for Schram, followed this time by Meyers in fifth place. Schram ran a time of 9:27.03, while Meyers finished in 9:33.36.
Schram was elated, and said, “Last weekend was a very exciting and fun few days. It was some very difficult and painful races. I’m disappointed that I placed second in two of my events, but I’m very happy to have won the 4x800m Relay. Now that it’s over I will prepare to have a great Cross-Country season with my teammates.”
Kaian Roberts-Day came in thirteenth in the 110m Hurdles with a time of 15.73.
The highlight of the meet was the 4x800m Relay which was won by the Tigers. Festus took home the Gold Medal with and incredible time of 8:12.77.
Arhmad Branch finished in ninth place in the Triple Jump, clearing 13.24m.
Aidan Grant took fifth place in the Pole Vault by clearing 4.1m. Grant commented, “The State meet was good, but colder than what everyone was expecting. At the practices prior to the meet I felt really good. However, once the meet came around, I didn’t get what I was hoping, but was happy to place fifth at State! I’m continuing my academic and athletics at Western Colorado where I will do the Decathlon!”
In the Javelin, Austin Anderson earned a Bronze Medal with a throw of 49.76m. Anderson noted, “The State track meet went well. It was way colder than expected for everyone, but I was feeling pretty good. I placed third in the Javelin although I feel I could’ve done better. I did not throw my best. Now that track and high school is over, I will be playing college football or running track at a university.”
Lastly, in the Shot Put event, Lucas Smith and Anderson finished ninth and fourteenth respectively, with throws of 14.58m and 13.55m.
On the Girls side, Ella Shy competed in two events, the 100m Hurdles and the Pole Vault. She took fourteenth in the Hurdles with a time of 16.87. In the Pole Vault, she took eighth place with a vault of 3.12m.
Shy was happy with the outcome, and said, “The State track meet was exciting because not only was it a big goal of mine to make it there, I exceeded my goal by PR’ing and medaling in Pole Vault. Even though it was the State meet, I still tried to stay as calm and as focused as possible. I didn’t want my nerves to get the best of me. In the off-season I will continue my training with the Jefferson County Jets and playing volleyball for Festus.”
Girls Head Coach Wesley Armbruster said, “Team success is always the goal for the Festus Girls program, but the 10 athletes and four events sent to last week’s Class 4 State meet had to focus on success in individual events this year.”
The 4x200m Relay team took fifteenth place with a time of 1:51.34. “The team of My’Kaila Batee, Angela Bloodworth, Gabbi Burkard and Alexis Biehle represented the Tigers in the event. Though they were disappointed in the finish, all four athletes gained valuable experience that they can build on for the 2022 season,” said Armbruster.
Finally, Kayla Roberts-Day finished in sixth in the Shot Put with a throw of 10.67.
Armbruster added, “Sophomores Roberts-Day and Shy exceeded expectations as they both brought All-State honors back home to Festus. Having two All-Staters is a nice achievement and one that hasn’t been attained by our program in over five years.”
With the Track season now over, the team will take some time off to heal, but plan to get back at it in preparations for next year as soon as possible.
