The Jefferson girls have won the last three JCAA titles and have finished second at the Class 2 state championships in 2017 and 2018. Paced by Isaiah Martin, who has completed the indoor season and now is competing in the outdoor season for Purdue University, the Hillsboro boys claimed the last two JCAA titles.
Martin, who won 10 Class 4 state medals in his illustrious prep career before graduating last year, isn’t the only track and field standout who’s missing. On the girls side, the sprints should be wide open after Taylor Richey graduated from Windsor last spring. Richey won the 100-meter dash four straight years, the 200 three years in a row and the 400 the last two seasons.
Martin and De Soto’s Logan Smith, a 2018 graduate, were Nos. 1-2 in the first year of the javelin competition and Martin went on to win the state title in the event. Seifeldin Elkhasab of Windsor and Austin Anderson of Festus could be the next two javelin throwers to make their mark in the county and beyond.
“The nice thing is the conference meet isn’t do or die,” said De Soto girls head coach Terry Frank, who noted the Dragons’ only two conference crowns were in 1996 and 2015. “We have a lot of respect as a team for the coaches in the area.”
If the Blue Jays are to continue their position at the top of the county, they’re going to have to do it with a compromised lineup that will not include senior Taya Allen, who has been dealing with chronic shin splints. At the JCAAs last year, Allen won the high jump, was third in the 100 hurdles and sixth in the 300 hurdles.
Allen was named the outstanding female athlete at the Jackson Invitational on April 6 after she won the high jump and both hurdles.
“We’re losing about 35 points without her,” said Jefferson coach Alex Rouggly, who mentioned that Allen could return for the Class 2 District 2 meet on May 4. “We want to make sure it doesn’t move into a stress fracture.”
Not only is Allen out, but senior Anna Heacock just started running the hurdles last week and has been dealing with a fracture in her foot all season. At Potosi last week, Heacock was third in the 100 hurdles in 16.94 seconds and fourth in the 300 hurdles in 52.01. Her winning times in both events at conference last year were 15.80 and 46.22.
At the conference meet Wednesday and Thursday at Hillsboro, Heacock will compete in both of the hurdles, long jump and 4x200 relay.
“Her feet feel great. It’s just getting her legs in shape,” Rouggly said. “She’s come a long way from a time standpoint.”
De Soto senior Kaitlyn McGinnitey could be Heacock’s biggest competition in the hurdles this spring. McGinnitey was second to Heacock in the 100 hurdles last year, and was six-hundreths of a second slower.
“Kaitlyn’s had a great year. I think she’s going to take a step in the right direction,” Frank said. “She definitely deserves it. Anna’s amazing when she’s right. I wouldn’t count Jefferson out of anything. I hope they get healthy. I want this sport to be great and if we can’t beat them at their best, I don’t want to beat them.”
Junior Abi Chipps could be ready to rise to the top of the JCAA in the 100 and 200. Chipps was second and fifth in the events respectively in the conference last year. She ran 12.99 in the 100 at Potosi and was third. Chipps will get lots of competition from Crystal City senior Emma Shirley, who was second in the 100 (12.89) and 200 (26.65) at Potosi.
The relays are where the Dragons made the most noise at the JCAA meet last year when they won the 4x100, 4x200 and 4x400 and came in third in the 4x800. Frank said there’s a bit of gamesmanship between coaches prior to the conference meet as they don’t want to divulge who their relay teams will be. It’s led to bad feelings between some of the coaches in years past.
“That’s only this meet. The conference meet is unique because you have to spread out your athletes so they don’t know who’s in my relays,” Frank said. “It used to be really squirrelly. I remember shouting matches.”
While he was reticent to name who would comprise three of his relay teams, Frank said that the 4x800 squad would be Erika Mellor, Kayla Vogelsang, Lillie Kaempfe and Jewell Kohler. All four Dragons were part of the Class 3 fourth-place team at the state cross country championships last fall.
Rouggly said he’s loading up his 4x400 girls team because it’s the last event of the conference meet and the title could be decided by it.
Freshman Kierston Vandeven will be busy for the Blue Jays at the JCAAs when she competes in the 200, 400, 4x200 and 4x400.
“She has gotten better in every meet,” Rouggly said. “She’s going to turn some heads. She’s getting closer and closer to breaking a 1:00 in the 400.”
Herculaneum senior Nautica Stricklin won the 1,600 and 3,200 last spring, then ran to her fourth consecutive JCAA cross country title in the fall. Festus senior Melissa Wolk could be Stricklin’s top competition in both events this week.
After finishing ninth in the javelin at the Class 4 state meet last year, Hillsboro senior Halle Roland is back to defend her conference crown in the event, as is teammate Kelsey Boyd, a senior, in the shot put.
Without Martin running from event to event, all eyes will be on Hillsboro senior Isaac Readnour, a state qualifier in the triple jump last year. Coaches around the conference have said that Readnour could score in four events. Readnour is the JCAA’s reigning champion in the 110 high hurdles and the triple jump, was second in the long jump and fourth in the 300 hurdles.
Also in the boys competition, the top four runners from the county in the 100 either graduated or didn’t go out for track this year, leaving the field wide open in that event and the 200.
Festus senior Max McDaniel won the 1,600 and 3,200 conference titles last year and is the favorite again this year after he pulled away from Herculaneum junior Jonathon Coffman in the 1,600 earlier this month at De Soto. McDaniel finished 10th in the 3,200 in 9:32 running against some of the top competition in the midwest at the Eastern Relays at the University of Louisville last week.
Festus head coach Chris Partney said McDaniel will compete in the 1,600, 3,200 and 4x800 relay.
“I don’t see a lot of people competing with the times he’s run,” Partney said. “He’s just an elite athlete who hopes to do well at state.”
Festus senior Jacob Pauly could be a top competitor in the 110 and 300 hurdles after finishing in second and third respectively last season.
“Readnour hasn’t beaten Jacob yet in the hurdles and 200,” Partney said. “They are two-tenths of a second apart in everything. If the other coaches in the conference are talking about Readnour, I’d like that attention to stay on him.”
Owen Johnson (a 2018 Grandview graduate) set the JCAA record in the pole vault last season by clearing 15-0. Mayson DeRousse was second in the pole vault at conference but won the Class 4 state title in the event about a month later. Jefferson’s Tanner Davis (eighth in the pole vault in the JCAA last year) won the event at Potosi, but did so with a clearance of 11-6.
The Hillsboro boys swept the throwing competition (discus, shot, javelin) last year but Martin and Mike Lalk are gone.