Kyla Allen was a freshman when the Jefferson girls track and field team finished second in the state in Class 2 for the third straight year in 2019.
Allen competed for that Blue Jay team at Jefferson City, finishing ninth in the high jump. Her older sister, Taya, was at the other end of her prep career that day in the state capital, earning medals in the 100 hurdles (third), the 4x100 relay (third) and 4x400 relay (fourth). That gave Taya eight state medals for her career – three in the 100 hurdles, two in the 300 hurdles, two in the 4x100 relay and one in the 4x400 – a big contribution to those three team trophies.
Now Kyla is a senior hurdler/jumper with one state medal in hand, taking fifth in the Class 2 high jump last year with a leap of 1.51 meters (a hair under 5 feet). Like her sister, she has battled injuries throughout her career, and also saw her sophomore season go up in smoke when COVID-19 canceled spring sports in 2020.
So far this season, she is healthy and making up for lost time, winning eight medals and three championships at the Blue Jay Invitational on March 29 and the Old Settlement Invitational at Ste. Genevieve on April 1.
“I’m hoping to get more PRs (personal records),” she said at practice on Monday. “I’m excited to continue on as this is one of my healthy years and am excited to see where the season takes me. I’ve already PR’d in the long jump by three inches and my goal is to go to state in all four events. My favorite is the high jump, so I really want to go to state in that.”
On her home track March 29, Allen won the long jump (4.76 meters) and high jump (1.56) and placed second in the 100-meter hurdles (18.41 seconds) and third in the 300 hurdles (52.85). At Ste. Gen, Allen outran the field in the 300 hurdles in 52.13, finished second in the high jump in 1.47 and took fourth in the 100 hurdles (18.44) and long jump (4.57).
“Not an average week by any means,” said Jefferson boys and girls coach Justin Horn. “Kyla’s an exceptional athlete and she works hard and it shows on the track. She’s great at all four events.”
She’s also the latest Jefferson track athlete to earn a college scholarship, to Southwest Baptist in Bolivar, where she said she wants to compete in the heptathlon and major in biology. Taya attends Maryville University in St. Louis and competed in four events for the Saints at the Southwest Baptist Invitational April 1-2.
Anna Heacock, who set the standard for hurdlers at Jefferson by winning both hurdle events at state as a junior in 2018, is setting PRs at Wichita State University. Horn said Kyla’s times in the hurdles are closing in on Heacock’s school records (15.56 and 45.56).
“Anna was a great track athlete here, a great hurdler, (and) Kyla’s right there with her,” Horn said. “Her times show she’s right on Anna’s hip. By the end of the season, I’m sure Kyla will be where Anna was her senior year.”
The next oncoming talent in the Blue Jay track and field pipeline appears to be freshman Maggie Wrigley, who matched Allen’s heights in the high jump in both of last week’s meets. Wrigley also finished second in the 200 in 26.76 at the Blue Jay meet, right on the heels of Potosi senior Anita McCaul (26.69).
“(Wrigley) is an absolute superstar. She’s going to be great,” said Horn, who is leaving Jefferson after the school year to teach and coach football in an assistant role at his alma mater, Hillsboro.
The Jefferson boys 4x400 relay team of Chase Politte, Sean Usery, Jeremiah Chipps, Alex Breese and Josh Blankenship – Horn uses a five-man rotation – finished first at both the Blue Jay and Old Settlement meets. Their time of 3:37.22 at Ste. Gen was a three-second improvement from their home meet showing and a new school record.
The Blue Jay quartet will find making it to state next month more challenging because Jefferson, with an enrollment of 244 and growing, was moved up from Class 2 to Class 3. Horn said the Blue Jays are at the bottom of Class 3 enrollment. Jefferson will compete in District 1 at Notre Dame (Cape Girardeau) with Ste. Genevieve and Potosi, whom the Blue Jay girls beat at the Old Settlement meet.
“Our (boys 4x400) times are better across the board and it’s going to take every bit of that because we’re bumped up to Class 3 this year,” Horn said. “There’s some serious speed in our district, but we’ve got some of that down here (too).”