For fans of prep track and field, the top two Jefferson County schools to watch this spring are the same as a year ago: Festus and Hillsboro.
That was confirmed Saturday as Festus hosted its traditional season-opening “Early Bird” meet, which also is known as the McCullough-Douglass Invitational.
Hillsboro won the boys meet, scoring 94 points to top 23 other teams, including second-place Poplar Bluff (77 points). The Hawks got a measure of revenge in beating the Tigers (fifth place with 51 points) on their own track. Festus outpointed Hillsboro 76-63 at last year’s Class 4 state meet, the Tigers’ first-ever state title in track and field.
It was just the opposite result on the 23-team girls side Saturday as Festus sprinted to the title with 120 points, almost double runner-up Hillsboro’s 67.
The field included the Columbia Rock Bridge boys, last year’s Class 5 state champions and the Parkway Central girls, who were third in Class 4.
In her first two high school outings in the 100-meter dash, Festus freshman Jahmeshia Patterson won both. At the Herculaneum/Festus dual meet March 15, Patterson won the 100 in 12.07 seconds. Saturday on her home track, she sprinted to first place in 12.10, besting a field of seven juniors and seniors.
Patterson also won the 200 Saturday in 25.79, beating two local all-state sprinters in Jefferson junior Margaret Wrigley (second, 26.31) and De Soto junior Neo Bourn (third, 26.92). Wrigley finished third in the 200 in Class 2 at the 2023 state meet and Bourn was sixth in the 100 in Class 4.
After anchoring the 4x200 relay to a winning time of 1:47.90, Patterson battled it out in the long jump against Wrigley and Hillsboro senior Krysta Miller. Wrigley won with a 5.59-meter leap, ahead of Patterson (5.37) and Miller (5.30). Miller won the triple jump in 10.56.
Patterson, who transferred from Hayti in the Missouri bootheel to Festus before the start of eighth grade, gives the Tigers the potential for up to 40 points per meet (10 points per win in a maximum of four events). That’s not uncommon in the Jefferson County Activities Association, except that she is just getting started as a freshman.
“I feel like the (Festus) girls can be great this year,” said Patterson, who played basketball this winter and moved up from the freshman squad to JV, hauling in 38 rebounds in 10 games. “The training here is amazing. I may be tired some days, but I work.”
Junior P.J. Krodinger, coming off her final-four finish with the St. Pius X basketball team, finished fifth in the 200 at Festus in 27.33. She took third in the 400 at state last year (Class 2).
Hillsboro junior Emily Wright, who finished fifth in the 100 hurdles and eighth in the 300 hurdles at the Class 4 state meet, won both events at Festus, clocking 15.62 and 49.76.
Wright’s state time (15.24) in the 100 hurdles broke a school record that had been held by her sister, Maya, a 2022 graduate and multiple state medal winner. Their older brother, Sam, won the state title in the 200 as a senior in 2021. While Emily was hurdling at Festus Saturday, Maya and Sam were competing for Missouri Science and Technology at the Miner Invitational in Rolla. Sam finished fourth in the 400 hurdles in 55.29 while Maya was third in the 100 hurdles in 15.36 and ran a leg on the fourth-place 100 relay.
“My dad’s here and my mom’s at Rolla,” Emily said. “They’ll switch off. My time in the 100 hurdles was better than my last meet. My time in the 300 hurdles wasn’t as good as I wanted it to be. Breaking that (300 hurdles school) record is something that’s moving me forward this year.”
Competing against many larger schools, the Jefferson girls were seventh with 42 points. With Wrigley capable of medaling at state in the 100, 200 and 400 as well as the long jump, the Blue Jays could close the nine-point gap that kept them from a top-four state finish a year ago.
“Obviously, I was trying to jump as far as I could (Saturday),” Wrigley said. “It was really cold, so I told myself I’m going to do my best, and whatever happens, happens.
“I’ve been practicing on my long jump a lot, trying to get up instead of going out. I felt it was a pretty good jump, and I turned around (after landing), and they said the number, and I was like, ‘no way.’ I ended up scratching on my next jump, and then I jumped even farther on my fourth jump, so that was really cool.
“I had many layers on, hot hands, anything I could (to get warm). I tried to get some laps in without draining myself too much. I did all of my dynamic warmups and hoped for the best.”
Nick Marchetti’s best came in the 300 hurdles at Festus, where the Hillsboro senior, a four-sport athlete, won in a personal-record 39.85. His sixth-place time at state last year was 40.21. Marchetti finished third in the 110 hurdles at Festus in 15.30 and senior teammate Dalton Ross was fourth in 15.47.
Marchetti pulled the rare triple play of earning all-conference honors in three sports. He’s Hillsboro’s all-time career scoring leader in soccer and was the placekicker for the Hawk football team for three years. He played basketball in the winter and said he’s leaning toward playing soccer at Rockhurst University in Kansas City. For now, he’s focused on helping the Hawks win another state team trophy.
“There’s definitely room to improve,” Marchetti said as he caught his breath after winning the 300 hurdles. “In basketball there are breaks. Here, you run as hard as you can until you cross the finish line. It’s more exhausting.”
Marchetti won the first of what could be many duels this spring in the 300 hurdles against St. Louis University High senior Jacobi Oliphant, who was second Saturday in 40.04.
“(Jacobi’s) a great runner and he’s a competitor just like me,” Marchetti said. “Hopefully we’ll see each other at more races to help each other improve.”
The JCAA consistently produces some of the top cross country teams in the state and many of those runners also compete for state medals on the track. Herculaneum junior Nate Wright, an all-state harrier in the fall, was second at Festus in the 1,600 in 4:29.42 and Hillsboro senior Clayton Schneider was third in 4:32.61.
Festus sophomore Carson Driemeier, third in the state for the Class 4 state champion Tigers in cross country last November, won the 3,200 Saturday in 9:11.71, a remarkably fast clocking for so early in the season. That’s seven seconds faster than the winning time in the state Class 4 3,200 last year (9:18.66 by Webb City’s Evan Stevens). The Festus school record is 9:04.08, set by Drew White in 2012.
At last year’s Class 3 state meet, Herculaneum senior Jacob Moreland threw the discus 40.90 meters to finish 11th. At Festus, he won with a toss of 44.75, well ahead of Jefferson sophomore Carter McCabe at 42.11. Moreland also was second in the shot put in 14.73.
Seckman senior Haley Sexton won the girls pole vault in a personal-best 3.44 meters. She was seventh in the state in Class 5 last year. Sexton also was the highest finisher from the county in the high jump, tied for third at 1.47. She’s committed to vaulting at Central Missouri State University in Warrensburg. This is just her second year doing the event. In the offseason, she trains with Pole Vault STL in O’Fallon.
“I never had a fear of it because I did gymnastics for 15 years, so being in the air is what I do,” Sexton said.
Festus junior Jneyvaun Lacey won the boys’ long jump in 6.66. Hillsboro junior Preston Brown was third in 6.38 and won the javelin with a throw of 57.45, six meters farther than second place.
Festus senior Ciara McDonald, a starting forward on the basketball team, helped the Tigers secure the team championship by winning the javelin in 39.36.