Kanden Bolton of Crystal City was one scratch away from not making the finals in the long jump at the Class 2 state track and field championships Saturday in Jefferson City.
He was the defending champion in the event, and being a senior, this was his last shot at renewed glory.
“He did it to us last year,” Crystal City head coach Dan Fox said, remembering that close brush with elimination. “My heart was racing.”
On his third and last attempt to advance to the finals, Bolton sailed 6.87 meters (22 feet, six 1/2 inches), tops among the field of 16.
With disaster averted and the meet almost over, Bolton stood at the top of the runway for his first attempt of the finals. He took off and a mixture of adrenaline, training, technique and emotion ignited as he hit the takeoff board for another clean jump. His feet hit the sand at 7.48 meters (24 feet, 6 1/2 inches) – two feet farther than his qualifying leap, breaking a Class 2 record that had stood since 1988.
It was such a long jump that the laser device registering the distance didn’t extend that far. Officials had to haul out the old-fashioned tape measure. Fox said the moment was surreal.
“Going into the finals, Kanden is in control and he didn’t have to jump again because he put himself in such a great position, (but) he wanted more,” Fox said. “He said he was going to beat the state record.
“He hit the jump board and it sucked the air out of the stands. It was almost like time stopped and he stuck the landing and you could hear gasping and it was amazing. The laser device wouldn’t work. It didn’t go that far.”
Immediately following the record leap, Bolton said, his phone blew up with texts from college coaches, friends and family. He woke up Sunday morning sore and said he didn’t get much sleep.
“I wanted to come out hot,” he said about his first two jumps. “It was really warm outside. I was running hard. When I popped off the board (on the winning jump), I was flying through the air and I saw the (official) with the telescope couldn’t extend it far enough and that’s when I knew it was a massive jump. I was in disbelief.
“It still feels unreal. Before we jumped, I asked the (official) what the record was and she said it was 7.16 and I felt like I could get it.”
Bolton’s senior teammate Camden Mayes, his jump buddy for four years, finished sixth with a leap of 6.56 meters (21 feet, 6 1/4 inches). Their combined 13 points at the end of the meet helped the Hornets hang on for a fourth-place trophy with 40 points, a commendable achievement after taking third a year ago in Class 1. Crystal was bumped up to Class 2 this spring and was one of the smallest schools in that class.
Bolton also medaled in the triple jump (second at 13.59) and high jump (third at 1.97) and anchored the 4x100-meter relay to fourth place in 44.06. He graduates as the school record holder in all three jumps and will continue his track and field exploits at Maryville University, on an athletic scholarship.
“He’s the real deal,” Fox said. “Festus and Hillsboro (Class 4) are two powerhouses and would love to have him. He and Camden, they’ve been scoring points since their freshman year and have scored a lot the last two years at state.
“This year’s team was a lot different than last year but had good senior leadership from kids that had a lot of success. We were bummed out we got moved up. We had a strong finish last year, but as this season went on the kids saw they could compete at a higher level.”
I’ve covered some great track and field athletes – heck, great athletes in general – since I started at the Leader in 2016. I’ve written before that Hillsboro alum Isaiah Martin was the most complete athlete I’ve seen locally. So being the nosy journalist, I wanted to compare how Bolton matched up to Martin, who was a state champion hurdler before going on to an All-American career at Purdue University, competing in the indoor heptathlon and outdoor decathlon.
As a junior in 2017, Martin won the state javelin competition. His senior year, he was second in the javelin, won the 300 hurdles, took second in the 110 high hurdles and placed eighth in the long jump at 21 feet 10 inches (metric measurements hadn’t started yet). That’s 6.65 meters. I am in no way diminishing a superb athlete’s jump six years ago. I just wanted to prove a point about the rarity of Bolton’s achievement.
The Jefferson girls finished second for the fourth time, scoring 35 points, 10 behind the three-time champions from North Platte. The Blue Jays also were second in 2017 through 2019 under Alex Rouggly, who is now the Jefferson High principal. First-year head coach Charity Heacock is to be commended for organizing the boys and girls teams into contenders in the JCAA and at the state level. The Jefferson boys finished sixth in the state, seven points behind fourth-place Crystal City.
I’ve been touting JCAA athletes all spring and the first weekend of state competition exceeded my expectations. Now we’ll finish the track and field season with Classes 4-5 on Friday and Saturday. The Festus boys are well-armed to defend their Class 4 title, qualifying in nine events. On the girls side, Tiger freshman Jahmeshia Patterson is about to take center stage in the 100, 200, 100 hurdles and 300 hurdles. With what Bolton did still fresh in our minds, it might be a county freshman who truly captivates the state this week.
Switching to district baseball, sometimes I have to play Solomon when choosing assignments, so when Fox and Seckman surprised us all and reached the Class 6 District 1 championship, I knew that’s where I had to be. Apparently that’s where much of Imperial and Arnold was, too. A big crowd convened at Lindbergh High on a perfect Saturday to watch the Jaguars and Warriors play for a district title in baseball for the first time.
And what a game it was. Fans on both sides, wearing “Beat Fox” and “Beat Seckman” T-shirts, were caught up in the see-saw game. The Warriors led 8-0 before the sluggers from Seckman overwhelmed them 12-8.
Whoever wins or loses, my job is to talk to both sides. That’s always made a lot easier thanks to coaches like Neil Richardson, the Warriors’ head man. If Richardson was broken up by the gut-wrenching defeat to his biggest rival, he didn’t show it. He wanted to talk about his players overcoming an 0-4 start to the season and how the seniors, whatever their role, made the run to the final worth it.
“The whole group is what you want, committed to the game and program,” Richardson said. “(They) are fun to be around and they always have a home here. It’s not all about baseball. They become firefighters, teachers, businesspeople and productive members of the community.”