Last week, the Festus Girls Varsity Track team won the coveted JCAA team championship, ending an eight-year drought. The Tigers performed incredibly well, scoring in all 19 events and bringing home 17 All-Conference honors. The total points scored by Festus was 191, which was the highest total for any championship team in a decade. In a big step up in competition from a regular-season meet, the Tigers took the challenge head-on, dominating the two-day competition.
The sprinters blew away the field. Leading the pack for the Tigers was Alexis Biehle, who finished with All-Conference performances in all four of her events. Finishing third in the 100m, and fourth in the 200m she also teamed with My’Kaila Batee, Amiah Pittman and Makayla DeClue to win the 4x200m relay with a season-best time of 1:50.48.
Not only that, in the 4x100m relay, Biehle teamed with Ella Shy, DeClue and Sophie Nolen to finish in second place. Also, with an incredible sprint performance, in the 400m, Pittman finished in second place.
Showing solid improvements all season long, Festus did well in each of the four jumping events. In the Pole Vault, Shy vaulted 2.90m to win the event. Nolen finished tied for second in the event and both Shy and Nolen finished with All-Conference honors in three events. Also bringing home an All-Conference finish was Haley Heibeck, who triple-jumped a new personal best of 9.73m, to finish in third place.
Festus dominated the throwing events as well, scoring two athletes in all three throwing events. Continuing her incredible season, Kayla Roberts-Day won the Shot Put for the second time. Ciara McDonald finished fifth in the Discus while Rylie Moore took sixth in the Shot Put. Both also finished with All-Conference honors in the Javelin as well, while Taylor McMillin finished in third place in the Discus.
The distance runners made their presence felt as well. Contributing big to the team victory, Allison Faerber and Madison Caskanett finished in first and second, respectively, in the 1600m run. In the 800m, Kaylea Holmes took third, while Ava Leftwich finished fifth, and in the 3200m run, Leftwich finished in fourth. The 4x800m relay team of Caskanett, Holmes, Faerber and Jeannie Thornborrow won the gold medal.
It was certainly an impressive performance for the Tiger Track team, but this meet was just the beginning. Festus must now remain poised and prepared for the big meets yet to come if they want to win the MO State Championship.
