Two girls wrestling state medalists from Festus High competed among the nation’s best at the AAU Scholastic Duals in Ft. Lauderdale, Fla. on June 22-28.
Addison Cupp and Dani Gullet will be seniors at Festus this school year. At the MSHSAA girls wrestling state championships in Columbia in February, Cupp finished third in Class 1 at 105 pounds and Gullet was third at 140. Mya Hairston won her second state title for the Tigers at 100 and graduated this spring.
Cupp, Gullet and Hairston built on the success and the example set by Lauren Mills (2023), a two-time state medal winner. Festus came close to winning its first state team trophy last season.
After training at Lafayette High last month, Cupp and Gullet traveled with Team STL to Florida. AAU touts the Duals as “the largest and toughest dual meet tournament in the world.” The massive tournament featured 2,860 wrestlers spread across 16 states.
This is the final school year where the boys and girls wrestling state championships will be held together. Starting in 2027, the girls will move to the Hearnes Arena a week before the boys take the stage at Mizzou Arena. Both buildings are within shouting distance across the expansive parking lot at the University of Missouri.
Jefferson County has built a lasting legacy when it comes to girls wrestling. Cupp and Gullet are working hard to be the next Tigers to stand atop the state podium.
Festus High athletes have been in the news a lot, and deservedly so. We’re starting this year’s fall sports previews with cross country. Again, deservedly so. Let this sink in for a moment: County teams have captured 41 state championships. The Tiger girls are the latest and are turning up the mileage to defend their Class 4 state crown. The boys are led by the county’s top runner in senior Carson Driemeier, who won the individual state title at Gans Creek last November. After a streak of eight consecutive state titles (2014-2021), the Festus boys have finished second two of the past three years.
The Festus football team made it to the state championship game for the first time in school history last December. Hillsboro played in the Class 4 final in 2023. Both will challenge each other all season for conference and district supremacy. Like the intense, close rivalry between the school’s baseball teams, there’s not much difference between them on the gridiron.
The Festus baseball team has won five straight district titles and annually has become a threat to reach the final four. When their season ended in May, several of its members joined the Festus Post 253 American Legion baseball team. Post 253 just concluded its season in Sedalia at the state tournament. Summer baseball requires commitment. As the temperatures climb, the dugout becomes more of a bunker.
Alec Kisena has been the Post 253 manager the past two years.
“It’s been a little bit (2019) since Festus has won state,” Kisena said. “The goal was to make it there, but I told the boys they set the new standard where the World Series (every August in North Carolina) isn’t a goal anymore, it’s an expectation.”
Kinzie Kerr will be a junior at Festus. She was part of the Class 4 state track and field championship team in May. Along with other members of the Tigers, Kerr competes for the Jefferson County Jets Club. The Jets have been producing state champions for decades.
As far as I’m concerned, when it comes to women’s track and field, there’s Jackie Joyner-Kersee and then everybody else. The Olympic champion from East St. Louis has been a perfect ambassador for the sport for generations of young athletes.
Kerr and the Jets competed in the Jackie Joyner-Kersee AAU National Showcase on July 17-20 at Joyner-Kersee’s alma mater in East St. Louis. Joyner-Kersee was there to support the athletes. She posed for a photo with Kerr, who took first place in the heptathlon, a combination of the 100-meter hurdles, high jump, shot put, 200, long jump, javelin and 800.
Alas, the new school year is upon us. The first day of practice for fall sports is Aug. 11. MSHSAA was busy during the break between school years, implementing new state laws and its own bylaws for home-schooled students, moving state events and increasing the pay of officials. I hear a constant buzz from those very officials that there’s still a great need to expand their ranks. Hopefully, the call to duty for a new generation will pay off.