Catherine Wakeland graduated from Grandview last week. But before she heads to Joplin to attend Missouri Southern State University and continue her career in track and field, she got to compete on her home track one more time.
The Eagles hosted the Class 2 Sectional 1 meet May 17, with the top four finishers in each of the 19 events qualifying for the state championships at Adkins Stadium in Jefferson City on Friday and Saturday. Wakeland will compete there in four events, the maximum for one athlete, after placing second in the 100-meter hurdles (16.25 seconds), first in the 300 hurdles (in a school-record 44.86) and second in the 200 (26.20), and running with seniors Brooke Lunsford and Elyse Wienke and freshman Eydie Thole for second place in the 4x200 relay (1:47.99).
In the 100 hurdles, Wakeland lost to rival Carly Anne Cossou, a sophomore from Chafee, whom Wakeland had beaten at state last year.
“It was a great start, but I couldn’t get enough speed between the hurdles, so that affected my race,” Wakeland said.
“That’s not even close to her best time,” Grandview head coach Josh Holland said. “She can do way better than that.”
The Eagle standout returned the favor in the 300 hurdles, outleaning Cossou to win by two-hundredths of a second, 44.86 to 44.88.
“I thought I was going to fall,” Wakeland said. “(Cossou) is a great athlete; she pushed me and I love it. I’ve been practicing to be the first one to the first hurdle and I got to the second hurdle first, so that’s pretty good. Keep charging through, try not to stutter, that’s like my main problem. I have to be decisive about whether I’m going to use my right leg to leap, or the left. But I’m getting better at it, so it was definitely a really good race and the best competition I’ve had.”
Thole is the only member of the Grandview 4x200 who hasn’t graduated.
“It’s nerve-wracking sometimes, but they’re all very nice girls,” Thole said. The Jefferson quartet of Lia Ott, Megan Wood, Ryleigh Johnson and Zoie Bradley won the 4x200 in 1:47.79, as well as the 4x100 (Ott, Margaret Wrigley, Wood and Bradley) in 49.7.
Lunsford individually qualified in both the long jump (first place in a school-record 5.41 meters) and triple jump (third, 10.34).
The transition from high school senior to graduate is still settling in for Wakeland, who along with her sister, Anna Belle, scored more than 1,000 points for the school’s basketball team.
“I don’t believe it because I keep telling my teammates, ‘I’ll see you tomorrow at practice.’ I’m sure next fall, when I’m not going to Grandview, it will hit me,” Wakeland said.
But first is taking care of business at Jefferson City, where she’ll run in front of larger crowds than she’s seen all spring.
“It’s stressful but a lot of fun. (As a new graduate) you never get to do it again, so it’s memorable.”
State qualifiers for the district-champ Blue Jays include Wood, a state medalist last year, who won the sectional shot put in 11.28 meters; and Wrigley, second in the long jump (5.27).
St. Pius X will be represented at state by junior Elena Ruble, the sectional champion in the javelin with a throw of 36.16 meters, and the 4x100 team, second in 51.21 seconds (Harper Gass, Ruble, Renee Hanneken-Callahan and Bridget Flanagan).
Ruble played setter for the Lancer volleyball team that won the Class 4 state championship last November. She placed fifth in the state in the javelin in 2024. Her PR is 42.39. Ruble said she likes how supportive everyone is in the javelin community.
“I could have been more aggressive today, but it was still overall OK,” she said.
Crystal City graduate Carly Roussin, who finished eighth in the Class 2 long jump last year, will have three chances to medal in Class 1. Roussin was second in the 100 hurdles at Grandview in 16.61, second in the triple jump in 9.88 and won the long jump in 5.11. Sophomore teammate Ryanna Raftery was third in the javelin at 32.08.