In the four years Hillsboro senior Isaiah Martin competed at the Class 4 state track and field championships, he earned 10 medals.
Each year Martin claimed more hardware from the state, going from his first medal as a freshman in 2015 (fifth in the 300-meter hurdles) to four on Saturday at Adkins Stadium in Jefferson City. Martin accounted for 27 of Hillsboro’s 31.5 points, good enough for seventh place out of 48 schools.
He also checked off a couple of items on his last state to-do list by earning his first medal in the long jump in three tries and finally winning the 300 hurdles in a personal-best 37.80. He had finished fifth, sixth and second in the event the other three years.
Martin ran the 300 hurdles after being called away from an intense final round in the javelin, where he was defending his state championship. After winning the 300, he dashed back to the javelin area across the street from the stadium. Camdenton junior Gabriel Kurtz tossed the spear 181-6 on his first attempt and beat Martin, who came in second at 176-0.
Both of those throws were well short of Martin’s 194-foot performance at the Jefferson County Activities Association championships last month. All season, he consistently threw in the 170s. Trying to be in top form in two events at the same time took its toll.
“The past three weeks I’ve had to run the 300 hurdles and then go back to the javelin and it makes me super tired,” Martin said. “It’s really stressful and it’s hard to focus and get my breath back. It was more stressful this year because there was a big argument among the officials whether they were going to let me throw because I was throwing out of order.”
Last year, Martin was nosed out of the 300 hurdles title by Parkway North’s Jekeel Suber, but this time he turned the tables by beating Viking junior David Buckner for the title.
“That was fantastic,” the always exuberant Martin said. “I ran a beautiful race. I dug it up from somewhere. My goal was to win all four events, but it didn’t go as planned.”
Each year Martin climbed a little closer to the title in the 110 hurdles and went from fourth in 2016 to second Saturday (behind Suber again) in 14.27 seconds.
With his medal from the javelin draped around his neck, Martin sprinted to the long jump, where he came in eighth with a leap of 21-10 for his fourth and final medal of the day.
“More time would be nice for those people competing in the field events,” he said.
De Soto senior Logan Smith had bested Martin in the javelin by five feet to win the sectional title the week before state, and Smith became the first Dragon to claim a state medal (fourth) in the event with a throw of 167-5. Martin and Smith battled it out in this event for almost four months and pushed each other to their best performances.
The other state championship for a county athlete went to De Soto senior Mayson DeRousse, who set a school record on Friday with a pole vault of 15-3. DeRousse had cleared 15-0 as a sectional champion the week before.
Like Martin, DeRousse didn’t win his state title by just standing around waiting for his next attempt. He was trying to clear 14-0 after returning from his leg in the 4x100 relay preliminaries. The Dragons didn’t qualify for the finals in the event.
“It’s been insane the last few weeks,” DeRousse said. “After running the 4x100, I scratched twice at 14-0 and I was a little worried. I cleared 14-3 and 14-6 on my first attempt.”
Liberty junior Nolan Bone is a good friend of DeRousse and they vault together. Bone was second, a foot under DeRousse.
“He was going for 14-6 and it was his last attempt, and part of me was going, ‘Come on Nolan, clear it.’ Then I thought, it’s his last attempt, wait, and it was insane. (De Soto head coach Mike Genge) was telling me not to look and he missed it.”
DeRousse said he used the same pole until he attempted 15-1.
“I was the last to jump so I could take my time and catch my breath,” he said. “My steps were dead on the money and I crushed my (pole). I went to the next pole and did the same steps. I was using a 175-pound pole and I might weigh 150. I put the pole in the box and swung up and I knew I was going over the bar.”
Richey medals in dashes again
Windsor senior Taylor Richey brought home four Class 4 state medals the past two years. After medaling in the 100 and 200 last year, Richey repeated that showing this time, taking third place in the 100 in 12.28 seconds and sixth in the 200 in 25.38. Richey also ran a leg of the Owls’ 4x200 relay team (with junior Keri Voegtle, sophomore Olivia Miloscia and freshman Sydney Winkelmann) that did not qualify for the finals.
Other county girls medal winners in Class 4 were De Soto’s Kaitlyn McGinnitey, who finished seventh in the 100 hurdles in 15.64 and Festus senior Caitlin Reed, who pole vaulted 11-9 and came in third.
The other Class 4 boys from the county who won medals were Festus junior Max McDaniel (fourth, 1,600, 4:19.18), Hillsboro senior Kevin Koester (fifth, 1,600, 4:21.72), the De Soto 4x200 relay team of DeRousse, seniors JaDan Brown and Trevor Johnson and freshman Wyatt Radford (seventh, 1:30.97) and Festus junior Jaylan Watson (fourth, long jump, 22-2.75).
Herky boys finish third in Class 3
If the Blackcats wanted to add another state plaque to their large collection in track and cross country, they were going to have to go the distance for it.
Cardinal Ritter ended John Burroughs’ two-year reign atop the Class 3 boys and blazed to first place with 72 points. Trinity Catholic was second with 57 and thanks to gutsy performances by its distance runners, Herculaneum grabbed third with 37.
On Saturday in the 800 finals, Blackcat senior Corben Clubb got the closest look at John Burroughs sophomore Brandon Miller’s historic all-classes record run of 1:49.55. Clubb was in second behind Miller after the first lap and held that spot to the finish in 1:57.22. The temperature reached 90 degrees during the race.
“My whole game plan was to look like a distance runner (but) not move my arms like a distance runner, but I’ll be honest, after the first 100 meters I blacked out,” Clubb said. “The heat was so crazy today. All I saw was Brandon in front of me. I was surprised I was just two seconds behind him after the first lap.
“What helped me was I managed to hear (assistant coach Kyle Davis’) voice to lower my arms and drop my shoulders, so in the last 250 meters I tried my hardest to keep perfect form.”
After storms forced a three-hour delay Friday, the 4x800 was the first event and the Blackcats’ foursome of Clubb, senior Loki Cortner, junior Jacob Arnold and sophomore Jonathon Coffman captured third place in 8:05.20, a season-best for them by 20 seconds.
“We wanted to go for the win. We gave it our best and we can’t be disappointed with our finish,” Cortner said.
“I wanted to run for the seniors and to get the win,” Coffman said. “We were seeded 14th and finished third, so that’s obviously a good finish.”
Cortner and Coffman were just getting started, however, while Miller wasn’t finished outrunning the Blackcats. Cortner and Miller waged a spirited battle for the 1,600 title, with Miller winning by just three seconds (4:23-4:26). Coffman came in fifth in 4:28.93. In the 3,200, he was one spot higher in fourth (9:42.07) while Cortner was right behind him in fifth in 9:48.14.
Herculaneum seniors James Moloney and Chandler Jansen both qualified for Jefferson City in the pole vault and Moloney added to the Blackcats’ score by finishing seventh with a vault of 13-0.
The other county boys medal winner from Class 3 was Grandview senior Owen Johnson, who finished eighth in the 110 hurdles in 15.46.
On the girls side in Class 3, Herculaneum senior Emily Fischer won her second straight state medal in the 800. Fischer was fifth last season and came in seventh Friday in 2:24.26. Blackcat junior Nautica Stricklin qualified for state this year in both the 1,600 and 3,200 and finished eighth Saturday in the 3,200 in 12:03.94.
Grandview started off the track competition Saturday by placing fifth in the girls 4x800 relay. The team of seniors Allison Wakeland and Katelyn McGlaughlin and sophomores Rebecca Wakeland and Kyrsten Elder clocked 10:02.24. Herculaneum’s quartet of Stricklin, Fischer, senior Alexandria Becker and sophomore Chloe Richardson came in seventh in 10:09.11.