Covering track and field meets is infinitely harder than say a football or basketball game because of the amount of schools and athletes involved.
When you’ve got dozens of teams and hundreds of athletes to keep an eye on, it’s impossible to give everyone equal coverage.
There’s a new website to help track all of the results. I had been using
momilesplit for years, but have switched to athletic.net. There are more filters to use at athletic.net to help sort out the 19 events. But it has its flaws. When coaches change relay runners at the last minute, that isn’t reflected in the final results, which list the runners who were entered beforehand. If I’m writing about a relay team, it’s imperative to ask the coach who was on it.
This spring, I’ve noticed the Windsor girls track and field team is having a very successful season under head coach Stephany Dueker. The Owls have finished second at De Soto, third at the Mineral Area Relays at Herculaneum High, first at the Perryville Invitational and two first-place finishes in Potosi.
In its most recent competition, Windsor placed 10th out of 16 teams at the Tiger Town Invitational at Festus, which won the meet and is the defending Class 4 state champion.
“We ran well at Tiger Town. I wasn’t displeased with our effort. It was stinking competitive,” Dueker said.
The Owls are close to breaking the school records in the 4x100- and 4x200-meter relays, and Dueker said it should happen soon. The 4x100 relay, consisting of Natalie Kraus, Ty Schenck, Claire Nivens and Shea Mancuso, took third place in 50:31 seconds at Tiger Town. The same lineup was second in the 4x200 relay in 1:46.47. Both times were season PRs.
Running in heat 2 in the 100, freshman Katie Pallme finished fifth in a PR of 13.25. Pallme’s cleared 9 feet in the pole vault this season.
“She’s got quite a bit more in her than that,” Dueker said of the height. “We’re tinkering with some things at practice. I don’t ever remember a freshman going nine feet before, not even Nicole Barton.”
Throwing the javelin for Windsor are sophomores Madison Smith and Aubrey Palmer and senior Kinsey Kerley.
Junior Jayden Estes and Kerley are improving in the discus. Freshman Claire Wofford and Ella Montgomery are the top Owls in the high jump. In the triple jump are Pallme, senior Natalie Kraus and sophomore Gracie Willtrout.
Windsor was without injured freshman Chloe Williams at Tiger Town. Williams has the team’s fastest 100 time in 13.04, and Dueker said she will not compete in the Jefferson County Activities Association championships that end today (April 30) at Hillsboro. Williams sprints, hurdles and is close to breaking the school record in the long jump.
“We’re a little beat up right now. She’s running good times, but we’re hoping to get her rested for districts,” said Dueker, who guided the Windsor volleyball team to fourth place in Class 3 in 2019.
Windsor graduate Taylor Richey (2018) holds the school records in the long jump in 5.09, the 100 in 12.05 and the 200 in 25.14.
Junior Kiley Johnson has improved leaps and bounds in the hurdles, and she’s run on three relay teams.
“She’s a shining light and an upperclass leader,” Dueker said.
Festus senior Carson Driemeier ran the fastest time in the 1,600 this season so far when he finished in 4:10.92 at the Webster Groves Statesmen Invitational on April 11. Driemeier’s state-winning time in the 1,600 last year was 4:11.77. At Tiger Town, Driemeier set a PR in the 800 in 1:55.87, and ran a leg on the winning 4x1,600 relay that included Hudson Bates, Lucas DeClue and Grant Fink and finished in 18:11.13.
The Festus boys won the Class 4 state title in 2023. If Driemeier turns in the type of performance in Jefferson City he’s been building toward his entire senior year, the Tigers will challenge again. We all know the girls team is the defending state champion and has been winning meets all season with a stacked lineup. The thought of both teams standing on top of the podium at Adkins Stadium on the last day of May is becoming more of a reality.