The senior at Northwest competes in the javelin, high jump, long jump and triple jump for the track and field team. Campbell qualified for the Class 5 state championships in Jefferson City in the high jump and triple jump last spring. He cleared 6-6 in the high jump to finish seventh and score the Lions’ only two points.
Last spring, Campbell threw the javelin 145-2, set a school record in the long jump (21-9.75) and his triple jump of 43-10 was a personal record.
“Because of Tanner, we should be very strong in the field events,” Northwest head coach Ken Campbell said. “He should have a chance to qualify for state in all four field events.”
Seniors Joseph Keller (800, 4x400, 4x800) and Eli Kruse (110 hurdles, 300 hurdles, 4x200, 4x400) and juniors Dominic Guiffrida (110 hurdles, 300 hurdles, 4x400), Cody Poskin (1,500, 1,600, 3,200) and Dalton Hografe (200, 300 hurdles, javelin, long jump, triple jump) provide plenty of balance in sprints, distance and field events.
“We should be a pretty well-balanced team with good athletes in each event,” Ken Campbell said. “The hurdles have traditionally been a strength for us, and I feel like we are getting stronger in that area with Eli and Dominic.”
Kruse, Guiffrida and Keller are on the 4x400 team, with a number of candidates looking to fill the fourth spot. The Lions’ 4x800 should be strong with Keller, Daniel Nicholls and Poskin, again with the fourth up in the air.
Senior Brendan Rickenbaugh had top throws last season in the shot put of 38-3.75 and discus of 114-11. Sophomores Dusty Morris and Dallas Pearson both cleared 10 feet in the pole vault last season.
In the first season of the Suburban Conference pool competition, the Northwest boys and girls are both in the top-tier Yellow pool with Eureka, Hazelwood Central, Hazelwood West, Lafayette, Lindbergh, Marquette and Ritenour.
The Lions remain in Class 5 District 1, but the district site has moved from Oakville to Hillsboro. Fox and Seckman also are in District 1.
“The new district and sectional assignments have literally taken us out of the St. Louis area,” Campbell said. “In sectionals, we will be competing against District 2. Those are schools from the Springfield area.”
Since the Seckman Invitational was canceled on March 15, the Northwest boys’ first competition of the season is at the Lindbergh Invitational on Saturday.
Seniors Kaitlyn Bell and Megan Fortner both qualified for the Class 5 championships last year for the Lions. Bell is a two-time state qualifier in the 300 hurdles and is among the school’s all-time runners in the 300 and 100 hurdles. Fortner came out for track for the first time her junior year and launched the javelin 129-02 to finish sixth in the state. Fortner also threw the shot put at state and came in 13th.
Junior Erica Schamel and sophomore Alyssa Jones both compete in the high jump and triple jump and Jones also is in the long jump. Schamel cleared 5-3 in the high jump to finish fourth in the state.
Senior Jordan Adams throws the shot put and discus and junior Carley Scholz is in the pole vault.
“We usually score a lot of points from our field events, and this year should be no different,” Northwest girls head coach Glen House said. “We have qualified in field events at the state meet in 10 of the last 11 years and should have multiple athletes in field events at state again this year. Megan Fortner and Erica Schamel should be among the best in the state again this year.”
The Lions have talent on the track as well. Juniors Claire Meisch (3,200) and Audrey May (1,600) have both turned in top 10 times in school history in their distance events. Junior Jillian Thomlinson qualified for sectionals in the 300 hurdles last year.
Bell, Thomlinson, May and Samantha Brown will make up Northwest’s 4x400 and 4x800 relay teams.
“We may be a little stronger in the field events, but we also have some strong events on the track,” House said. “Our goal is to return our state qualifiers from last year in the four events we qualified (in) and we hope to contend for state titles. We also think that we can have state qualifiers (in) an additional three to four events. We also would like to build on our second-place finish at districts and contend for the district title.”
Warrior boys hope for “Hat” trick this season
The Fox track and field star with four names qualified for three Class 5 state events in 2018 and returned to Arnold sixth in the triple jump (45-4.50).
Donald Luke Hatfield Jackson returns for his senior year as one of the more talented field athletes in the area. He just missed the state medal stand in ninth in the long jump and his high jump of 6-2 was good for 13th. Jackson holds the school record in the long jump (22-1) and triple jump (46-1).
“We anticipate he has a great chance to medal in all three events this year,” said Jennifer McCallister, head coach of the Warriors’ boys and girls track and field teams.
Senior Chase Waters qualified for state in the shot put the past two seasons and his throw of 49-4 placed him 10th last year. Junior Austin Dearing will also put the shot.
“We expect (Waters) to go to state again,” McCallister said. “We’re hoping Austin will get through this year.”
Fox’s 4x200 relay team qualified for state but didn’t make it to the finals. Jackson and seniors Darryl Krieger and Brayden Williams and junior Elygh Moore will make up the quartet in the event this year. Moore sprints in the 100 and 200.
The Warriors’ 4x400 is made up of some combination of junior Jakob McMillin, Jake Pisoni, Krieger, Jackson, Ethan Phillips and Mateo Bluemel.
Pisoni will also run the 400 and McMillin the 400, 1,600 and 4x800.
The Fox girls were without a representative at last year’s state meet, but the Warriors do have three seniors capable of breaking through this spring.
Sisters Macyn and Sydney Young are the team’s top sprinters in the 100 and 200. Amie Martin leads the way in the 1,600 and 3,200. Martin qualified for state in the 3,200 as a sophomore.
“Our girls’ numbers are down this year so we will struggle to fill out all of the events,” McCallister said. “Competing with the soccer program in the spring definitely hurts our numbers.”
In league competition, Fox and Seckman are in the Red pool, one tier down from the Yellow.
Jags go distance on track
Two of Seckman’s top cross country runners are back on the track this spring for the Jaguars in the distance events.
Senior Zachary Reed was sixth in the 1,600 in 4:25.06 at the Class 5 track and field championships last season. Reed was two seconds off of the all-state pace at the Class 4 state cross country finals last fall when he came in 26th. He is recovering from a foot injury.
The Jaguars competed at the Fort Zumwalt West Invitational on Saturday and senior Nathan Key set a PR in the 1,600 in 4:37.60, good for second place. Key, Reed, Jacob Duester and Jake Reynolds form the Jags’ 4x800 relay team that set a school record at sectionals last year in 8:09.
Reynolds returns for Seckman and he can compete in any event between the 100 and 800.
Senior Dylan Hawk is perhaps the team’s top sprinter and will run the 100 and 200 this spring before heading off to Cape Girardeau to play football at Southeast Missouri State University. Hawk came in fourth in the 100 at Zumwalt West in 11.84 seconds.
The Seckman girls will be led on the track by senior Morgan Stirnemann and juniors Ashley McMahon and Stephanie Anthonies, who is a three-time state cross country qualifier. McMahon came in seventh in the 100 in 13.77, one-tenth of a second ahead of Stirnemann, who ran a leg of Seckman’s state-qualifying 4x100 team last year.
Anthonies came in second in the 800 on Saturday in 2:32.33 and second in the 1,600 in 5:33.91.