The most exciting races aren’t always just on the track.
With one event left in the Class 4 state track and field championships Saturday at Adkins Stadium in Jefferson City, the Festus girls trailed Jefferson City 41-38 for the fourth (and last) team trophy. Both schools had made the finals of the 4x400 relay, in which the Tigers were seeded eighth but still had a chance to pass the Jays on their home track. Jefferson City was seeded seventh.
Ladue scorched the oval in a meet record 3:45.91 to win and the seedings held up as the Jays placed seventh (4:04.69), comfortably ahead of Festus in eighth (4:06.25). That spelled no team trophy for the Tigers, who ended up fifth with 39 points, still their best finish by far since moving up to Class 4 in 2015. Festus also finished fifth, in Class 3, in 2014.
Ladue won the Class 4 girls championship with 68 points, followed by Father Tolton Catholic of Columbia (54), Parkway Central (52) and Jefferson City (43).
Super freshman Jahmeshia Patterson led Festus by scoring in the 100 hurdles, 100 and 200 and running anchor in the Tigers’ only state-champion performance, the 4x100 relay. Patterson qualified for the finals in all four events on Friday, then within the span of four hours Saturday reached the medal stand in all four.
In her first event in the finals, the 100 hurdles, Patterson placed fourth in 14.46 seconds. About 30 minutes later, in front of a packed grandstand on a magnificent sun-splashed day, the only freshman in a field of eight sprinted to third in the 100 in 11.94 seconds. Next was the Tiger 4x100 quartet of Elsa Muellersman, CeCe Hawkins and Makayla DeClue hauling the baton until Patterson grabbed it and sprinted away from the pack down the stretch to win in 47.91. Finally, Patterson finished fourth in the 200 in 24.58, less than a second behind the winner, Parkway Central senior Skyye Lee (23.93).
“My motto this weekend was, run, run, run,” Patterson said after the 100 hurdles. “I was really nervous and I thought I was going to be dead last (in the hurdles) because I’m just a freshman. Everybody’s so much faster than me. But I got fourth and that’s fine with me.
“(The crowd) didn’t affect me. I was focused on my bubble, myself. I block everybody out and run my race and push as hard as I can.”
Patterson’s quick ascension to the state level belied her humble demeanor as she led Festus to an overpowering victory in the Jefferson County Activities Association championships last month as well as a district crown and titles in several other meets this spring.
The Tigers’ other medal winners at Jefferson City were junior Alexandra Yates in the pole vault (seventh at 3.12 meters), senior Ciara McDonald in the javelin (second, 41.55) and the 4x800 relay team of Lucy Boyer, Katelyn Thurman, Bailee Tolbert and Ella Jo Jokerst that took seventh in 9:49.78.
“Honestly, I love ’Meshia and everything she does,” said DeClue, a junior. “I know everyone on the team is doing great things, but she’s so young and talented, I think she deserves everything she’s getting. She’s so humble and kind to everyone and I just love her so much.
“We (4x100 squad) knew we had the capability. We weren’t overconfident. We were ready to run the race and see what the outcome was. I got the handoff from CeCe and we were in first. There were girls all around us trying to catch us. Once I hand it to ’Meshia, she just takes off. It’s so wonderful.”
Hillsboro’s girls won medals in four events and finished 24th with 12 points. Senior Krysta Miller made it two straight years on the state medal stand in the long jump and triple jump. She moved up to third in the long jump at 5.75 and was seventh in the triple at 10.61. Sophomore Maleah Lambrich was sixth in the pole vault at 3.12 and senior Lauren Nichols tossed the javelin 38.10 meters to place eighth.
The Festus boys, trying to defend their state title and capture their third consecutive team trophy, got leapfrogged by Hillsboro late in the meet when the Hawks scored 16 points in the 300 hurdles. Senior Nick Marchetti won it in 38.95 and Clayton Brown was third in 39.46.
Hillsboro, second in the state last year, finished fourth with 39 points. Festus slipped to seventh with 29.
The Hawks were double-trouble in the 110 high hurdles as well, Marchetti taking fourth in 14.86 and senior Dalton Ross sixth in 15.0. The other Hillsboro boys medalists were the 4x800 relay (sixth, 8:06.50), junior Landon Pogue in the 3,200 (eighth, 9:52.10), senior Greg Mann in the 1,600 (seventh, 4:25.24) and junior Preston Brown in the javelin (third, 54.40).
Most schools would be happy to have two all-state hurdlers; Hillsboro has three.
“The season was everything I needed,” Ross said. “I had a really rough junior year that didn’t go the way I wanted. This year’s progression was great.
“Today didn’t go as well as I was hoping for. I felt I was primed for a good race. Everything I can control went great. But I got hit hard going over the second hurdle and I fell.”
Marchetti completed one of the most diverse and impressive athletic careers by any county athlete in recent memory. He was the kicker on the Hawk football team that played for a state championship in December. He also led the soccer team at the same time, terrorizing goalkeepers as he smashed school scoring records. He played a vital role on the conference-champion basketball team this winter, averaging nine points and three assists per game. And now he leaves with state track medals and a diploma.
“I started doing (hurdles) this year and found out it was more of my forte, so I pursued it and Dalton and Clayton Brown pushed me to become a better runner,” Marchetti said. “Having competition from other schools is great, but when it’s your own (teammates) it’s spectacular.”
Preston Brown, the Hawks’ starting quarterback the last two seasons on the gridiron, said he thought he could have done better in the javelin, where he trailed champion Theodore Grace of Kearney, also a junior, by almost five meters.
“I probably thought about it too much, but had a decent throw and got third place,” he said.
Festus senior Cody Evans’ fifth-place javelin throw of 51.70 was a PR and just a half-meter off the school record.
“That was my whole goal this year,” Evans said. “I didn’t get (the record) but I’m happy with where I stood. This was a whole other level. The competition is all the way up. There’s nothing like it.”
Like Preston Brown in football, Festus sophomore Carson Driemeier will start preparing soon for his role this fall as the leader of the Tiger Class 4 state champion cross country team. With head coach Bryant Wright returning for another season, Festus will again be the team to beat in November.
Meanwhile, Driemeier showed he can tear up the track, too, pulling off a come-from-behind victory in the 3,200 Friday. Isaac Rivera, a senior from Lincoln College Prep of Kansas City, set the pace early and led with one lap to go. Driemeier, only a sophomore, showed tactical savvy in blowing past Rivera to win by five seconds in 9:17.48.
De Soto’s Carson Koerber, also a sophomore, chased Driemeier all spring and finished fourth Friday in 9:41.24. He’s an all-stater in cross country and can look forward to two more years of tracking the Festus standout.
“I was thinking they (Rivera and Lincoln Prep teammate Aidan Kimnitzer) were going to take off, but I held on for whatever I could, and in that last 100 meters I knew I had to kick or I wasn’t going to get it,” Driemeier said. “It was hot. People were splashing us with water. It was a fun race.”
On Saturday, Driemeier finished fourth in the 1,600 in 4:17.01, with junior teammate Tate Uding coming in sixth in 4:24.87.
“It’s been a great experience with my teammates, coaches,” Driemeier said. “The racing has been amazing.”
In the Class 5 meet at Jefferson City, Seckman senior Haley Sexton claimed her school’s only medal, tying for second place with a personal-best vault of 3.63 meters, only .07 meters behind winner Anna Ferguson of Battle (Columbia).
Sexton said her years as a gymnast helped prepare her for success in the event.
“It’s really fun and I get to be with all my friends from Pole Vault STL,” she said. “It’s so fun to fly through the air. It’s so different and unlike anything else. The goal is just to get here (to state). So we’re good.”
State track and field championships
At Adkins Stadium, Jefferson City,
May 24-25
Class 5
GIRLS
County team scores: 31. Seckman, 7; Northwest 0
County state medalists (top eight medal)
Pole vault: 2 (t). Haley Sexton, Seckman, 3.63
BOYS
County team scores: 32. Northwest 6; Seckman 0
County state medalists (top eight medal)
Javelin: 3. Luke Powell, Northwest, 53.38 meters
Class 4
GIRLS
County team scores: 5. Festus, 39; 24. Hillsboro 12; Windsor, 0; De Soto 0
County state medalists (top eight medal)
Triple jump: 7. Krysta Miller, Hillsboro, 10.61 meters
Pole vault: 6. Maleah Lambrich, Hillsboro, 3.12; 7. Alexandra Yates, Festus, 3.12
4x800: 7. Festus, 9:49.78
100 hurdles: 4. Jahmeshia Patterson, Festus, 14.46 seconds
100: 3. Jahmeshia Patterson, Festus, 11.94
4x100 relay: 1. Festus, 47.91
Javelin: 2. Ciara McDonald, Festus, 41.55; 8. Lauren Nichols, Hillsboro, 38.10
Long jump: 3. Krysta Miller, Hillsboro, 5.75
200: 4. Jahmeshia Patterson, Festus, 24.58
4x400 relay: 8. Festus, 4:06.25
BOYS
County team scores: 4. Hillsboro, 39; 7. Festus, 29; 37. De Soto, 5; 50. Windsor, 1
County state medalists (top eight medal)
Pole vault: 7. Wyatt Johnson, Festus, 4.05 meters
4x800-meter relay: 4. Festus, 7:59.92; 6. Hillsboro, 8:06.50
Long jump: 8. Layton Hollis, Windsor, 6.70
3,200: 1. Carson Driemeier, Festus, 9:17.48; 4. Carson Koerber, De Soto, 9:41.24; 8. Landon Pogue, Hillsboro, 9:52.10
Javelin: 3. Preston Brown, Hillsboro, 54.40; 5. Cody Evans, Festus, 51.70
110 high hurdles: 4. Nick Marchetti, Hillsboro, 14.86; 6. Dalton Ross, Hillsboro, 15.0
1,600: 4. Carson Driemeier, Festus, 4:17.01; 6. Tate Uding, Festus, 4:24.87; 7. Greg Mann, Hillsboro, 4:25.24
300 hurdles: 1. Nick Marchetti, Hillsboro, 38.95; 3. Clayton Brown, Hillsboro, 39.46