Whenever, wherever Carson Driemeier runs, he wins. When the stakes are at their highest, Driemeier settles into his perfect form and effortlessly glides farther, faster than his opponents, which have been thrown against him from across the state for four years.
Sensing his prep career is about to end, the Festus senior kicked off the postseason at the Class 4 District 1 meet at Hillsboro High on May 16 with the kind of performance that attracted the attention of Division I schools and eventually landed him a spot on the Iowa State University team.
The defending state champion in the 1,600, Driemeier won the district title with a time of 4:46.37. To illustrate just how successful the county is in distance running, the top four runners in the 1,600 were from the county. De Soto senior Carson Koerber (second, 4:46.46),
De Soto junior Cruz Anders (third, 4:46.60) and Festus sophomore Lucas DeClue, Festus (fourth, 4:46.90) took all four sectional bids in the 1,600. In a similar situation in the 3,200, Driemeier won in 10:23.10, while the county supplied the other three sectional qualifiers in Koerber (second, 10:23.30), Festus sophomore Grant Fink (third, 10:23.44) and DeClue (fourth, 10:23.62).
Driemeier’s third district title came in the 800 in 1:59.51. Anders (second, 1:59.67), Festus senior Luke Wacker (third, 2:00.11) also advanced in the 800.
In all, Festus pushed athletes through in 15 events for Saturday’s Sectional 1 meet at Kirkwood High. The top four athletes in each of the 19 events will qualify for the state championships May 29-30 at Adkins Stadium in Jefferson City. After winning state in 2023, the Tigers have finished just outside of the four-team winner’s circle the last two years. They were third in District 1 with 153 points. Poplar Bluff won with 170.5, and Cape Girardeau Central was second with 164. De Soto (fourth, 75) and Hillsboro (sixth, 37) are also at Kirkwood.
Festus senior Jackson Frank blazed his way to the district crown in the 100 in 10.89 seconds. The JCAA champion in the 100, Frank finished ahead of the next three sectional qualifiers, who were all under 11 seconds.
“He hurt his groin a couple of weeks ago,” Festus head coach Chris Partney said. “He hasn’t run in a couple of weeks. He’s barely practiced because we’re doing stretching and strengthening. The last two days he looked really good in practice, but we’re a little nervous to put him in the 100 and 200. That’s a big load for him.”
All four of the Tiger relays made it through districts. The 4x800 came down to De Soto and Festus. Both teams ran PRs, and the Dragons were first in 8:22.95, and the Tigers were second in 8:25.70. The Festus 4x400 relay set a PR in 3:29.80.
Senior David Russell Jr. made it to sectionals for Festus in the long jump (second, 6.60) and the triple jump (third, 13.23). Playing wide receiver for the school’s football team last year, Russell caught 41 passes for 838 yards and scored 11 touchdowns and was named to the all-Mississippi Area Football Conference first team. He’s signed with Truman State University to play football.
“I try to compete as hard as I can every time,” Russell said. “I have the mindset that I’m going to win, and I got second, which isn’t bad, and I get to sectionals.”
Junior Antonio Pinkston, the MAFC defensive player of the year for Festus, moves on in the shot (third, 14.96 PR) and javelin (second, 47.85).
Defending state champion Tigers cruise to district title
The Festus girls track and field team took a giant leap toward repeating as the Class 4 state champions by winning 10 District 1 championships and pushing athletes into 17 of the 19 events in the next round.
Aside from the high jump and the long jump, the Tigers dominated District 1 at Hillsboro High on May 16 with 211 points. Second-place Poplar Bluff scored 107. Hillsboro (sixth, 60) and De Soto (seventh, 45) also had qualifiers for Saturday’s Sectional 1 meet at Kirkwood High. The top four qualifiers in each sectional event will compete in the state championships at Adkins Stadium in Jefferson City on May 29-30.
“When we put the white jerseys on for the postseason, the kids compete,” said Festus head coach Wes Armbruster as districts resumed after a weather delay. “They’re doing exactly what we hoped they would today.”
If Festus repeats, Armbruster will have led two different sports to four state titles in a row. The track and field team won in 2025, and the girls cross country team has won back-to-back (2024-2025) Class 4 crowns. In the last three weeks at the Jefferson County Activities Association and district meets, the Tigers have been competing among themselves as much as against their opponents.
As impressive as qualifying all four to sectionals is, running PRs in three of them is more so. Festus has so many talented moving parts, Armbruster could rearrange the athletes in the events and still be just as dominant at sectionals.
“We’ve shown our cards here in some way, but we also have the ability to shuffle relay legs,” Armbruster said. “A lot depends on Lucy (Boyer). She was on our 4x400 in the state finals last year. We’ll put the lineup together based on what we think our team needs to make a run at (a state title) in two weeks.”
On all three state champion teams with the Tigers, Boyer won the 800-meter run in 2:23.02, was fourth in the 1,600 in 5:26.19 and was fifth in the 3,200 in 12:25.77.
“We’re asking a lot of Lucy today,” Armbruster said. “We’ve got her in three open events.”
Boyer paced with freshman Kyndall Gildea in the 1,600, and helped Gildea surge ahead out of fifth place into third place in a PR of 5:25.95.
“Kyndall has been close to breaking into our top 10 all time and she did it today,” Armbruster said, “It was a good race for them to run together and get Kyndall to her goal.”
The district meet began with the 4x800 relay, and Festus won in a PR of 9:59.57. The Tigers also won the 4x100 (PR 48.60), 4x200 (PR 1:44.87) and 4x400 (4:08.18).
Senior Katelyn Thurman ran anchor on the 4x800. Thurman was on the previous state champions.
“I want to support my team and make sure everyone’s having fun,” she said. “I don’t want anyone to get in their heads, especially when there’s bigger things to come. We weren’t trying to do anything crazy in this race. We still wanted to bring it in strong. The best thing was letting the moment in. Knowing it’s my last districts with my teammates is really special.”
Keeleigh Hankins made her fifth throw in the javelin her farthest at 39.35 meters, jumping over Poplar Bluff sophomore Lillie Johnson’s 37.78 for second place and Hillsboro junior Jersey Robinson’s third-place heave of 36.93. Johnson and Robinson both recorded PRs. Hankins won the JCAA title the week before with a PR of 39.41. She was 16th at state last year.
“On that (fifth) throw, I was thinking just give it all I’ve got and try to smooth it down because I was feeling choppy at the beginning,” Hankins said. “I took a deep breath and did my best.”
Junior Kinzie Kerr is the perfect example of how diverse the Tigers are and how that could lead to another state title. Kerr won the triple jump in 10.85, was fourth in the 100 hurdles in 15.66 and ran a leg on the 4x400. Because of injuries and her own teammates’ talent, Kerr didn’t compete at state last year.
“We have a really good hurdle program, and when you’re the third person behind some people who are pretty good, she couldn’t get the breakthrough,” Armbruster said. “She’s helped the relay teams off and on this year. She won the district championship in the triple jump.”
“I started my (triple jump) prelims horribly,” Kerr said. “My run-through was horrible and I barely got through (to the finals). I was sitting in fourth until my last jump.”
A staple of the Tigers’ success in the relays for three years, senior CiCi Hawkins showed her individual skill by winning the 400 in 1:00.65. Hawkins was on all of the relays, except the 4x800.
“She has carried our relays for three years, so she doesn’t get a lot of the individual attention that others on our team do,” Armbruster said.
After not competing in the conference meet, Festus junior Jah’Meshia Patterson appears to be in postseason form after winning the 200 in 25.05, the 100 hurdles in 14.37 and coming in second in the 100 in 12.22. Patterson has been a state medalist in the 100 and 200 the last two years, and won a medal in the 100 hurdles in 2024. Armbruster said she’s less than a second behind her PR in the 100 hurdles.