The area had 59 all-state finishers and seven state-championship performances over the two days of the Class 3 state track meet, but no athlete had a better weekend than El Dorado Springs senior Daelen Ackley.
Ackley opened up his final state track meet anchoring El Dorado Springs’s 3200-meter relay team to a fourth-place finish. He ran the fastest split of any athlete in the race going 1:54.55 on the anchor to take El Dorado Springs from sixth to fourth.
Later on Friday, Ackley engaged in a 3200-meter duel with Southern Boone County’s Connor Burns that will go down as a legendary race of the Missouri State Track Meet. Burns ran an all-class state-meet record time of 8:48.76 to win the race. Ackley finished runner-up also breaking the nine-minute barrier with a time of 8:59.47. Both times bested former Willard Olympian Jason Pyrah’s Class 3 record of 9:07.48 set in 1987.
Ackley entered Friday looking for gold and he found it.
He went head-to-head with Burns again in the 1600. Burns had a slight lead going into the final lap but Ackley dropped a 57.76 over his final 400 meters to finish with a time of 4:05.96 to win the Class 3 1600-meter state championship. He was just over two seconds away from Pyrah’s Class 3 record. Ackley’s 1600-meter time is the ninth-fastest in the nation according to MileSplit.
Ackley, who is signed with Notre Dame, finished off his high school career by running a 1:53.52 in the 800 to win the race by almost three full seconds.
East Newton had a strong two days on the boys’ side by scoring in eight events to finish third in the team standings.
The 3200-meter relay team of Mason Silva, Chase Sorrell, Kelton Sorrell and Gabe Bergen got things started with a bang by winning a third-straight title in the event with a time of 8:06.52.
PHOTOS: CLASS 3 STATE TRACK, DAY 1 – CLICK HERE
All three of Kelton Sorrell, Chase Sorrell and Bergen claimed four all-state finishes over the two days. The three combined with Michael Crowe to finish seventh in the 1600-meter relay. Bergen earned all-state finishes in both the 110-meter hurdles (fourth) and the 300-meter hurdles (third). Kelton Sorrell placed third in the 800 and eighth in the 3200. Chase Sorrell finished sixth in the 1600 and seventh in the 3200.
Dominic Shaw scored East Newton’s only points in the field placing seventh in the discus.
MV-BT Liberty’s Jentry Acklin brought home the area’s final state championship on the boys’ side in the 300-meter hurdles with a time of 39.26.
Buffalo’s Alex Richardson picked up a pair of runner-up finishes in the javelin (170’7) and the discus (176’8).
Lamar’s Trace Willhite (fifth in discus and fourth in javelin) and Hollister’s Tristen Parker (sixth in the 200 and seventh in the 400) both earned two all-state finishes.
On the girls’ side, three southwest Missouri girls won state titles.
Catholic’s Grace O’Reilly defended her top seed and won the high jump on Friday afternoon with a leap of 5’6.
Warsaw’s Jillian Guiot launched a throw of 130’4 on her first throw of the javelin competition to take the event lead. That throw held up through the entire event to give her the state title. Her throw in meters was 39.72, which was 1.29 meters better than her season-best coming in.
The final state championship was won on Saturday by Lamar’s Phajjia Gordon in the discus throw. Gordon qualified for the final out of the first flight. On her second attempt of finals, Gordon unleashed a throw of 122’1, which would stand up as the event-winning mark. Gordon’s best mark of the season coming in was 35.86 meters. She improved that mark by 1.37 meters on Saturday.
Gordon also finished fifth in the shot put.
Mountain Grove’s Macey Penner finished her high school career with all-state finishes in the 1600 (third), 3200 (fourth) and the 800 (eighth). Clever’s Jayleigh Flood also earned three all-state finishes on in the 400 (seventh) and 100 (eighth) while running a leg on Clever’s sixth-place finishing 1600-meter relay team. Fair Grove’s Brooke Daniels earned her three all-state honors running legs on Fair Grove’s 400-meter relay (seventh) and 800-meter relay (eighth) while individually taking eighth in the 400.
Kaitlyn Mueller, Emma Padgett and Savannah Ipock all joined Daniels on each of the two all-state relays.
Ava’s Hannah Evans (fifth in high jump and seventh in long jump) and Mountain Grove’s Jozey Sharp-MacPherson (seventh in the 200 and fifth in the 800-meter relay) also claimed multiple all-state finishes.
Class 3 Boys All-State Finishes
1st – Daelen Ackley (El Dorado Springs) – 1600 (4:05.96)
1st – Daelen Ackley (El Dorado Springs) – 800 (1:53.52)
1st – Jentry Acklin (Liberty) – 300 Hurdles (39.26)
1st – East Newton (Mason Silva, Chase Sorrell, Kelton Sorrell, Gabe Bergen) – 4×800 (8:06.52)
2nd – Alex Richardson (Buffalo) – Javelin (170’7)
2nd – Daelen Ackley (El Dorado Springs) – 3200 (8:59.47)
2nd – Alex Richardson (Buffalo) – Discus (176’8)
3rd – Kelton Sorrell (East Newton) – 800 (1:56.95)
3rd – Gabe Bergen (East Newton) – 300 Hurdles (39.68)
3rd – Avery Voysey (Strafford) – Javelin (168’10)
3rd – Bradan Dickinson (Cassville) – Shot Put (53’11.25)
4th – Drew Ripko (Liberty) – 300 Hurdles (40.58)
4th – Gabe Bergen (East Newton) – 110 Hurdles (15.34)
4th – Trace Willhite (Lamar) – Javelin (168’6)
4th – El Dorado Springs (Braxton Watts, James King, Connor Goatley, Daelen Ackley) (8:16.50)
5th – Trace Willhite (Lamar) – Discus (160’0)
6th – Warsaw (Grant Chapman, Nate Banfield, George Montez, Cameron Seevers) – 4×800 (8:21.82)
6th – Kaden Coffman (Salem) – 100 (11.17)
6th – Chase Sorrell (East Newton) – 1600 (4:21.10)
6th – Tristen Parker (Hollister) – 200 (22.33)
7th – Dominic Shaw (East Newton) – Discus (150’11)
7th – Chase Sorrell (East Newton) – 3200 (9:39.98)
7th – Tristen Parker (Hollister) – 400 (50.65)
7th – East Newton (Gabe Bergen, Chase Sorrell, Michael Crowe, Kelton Sorrell) – 4×400 (3:30.64)
8th – Tyler Watts (Liberty) – Javelin (158’4)
8th – Kelton Sorrell (East Newton) – 3200 (9:42.05)
8th – Connor Goatley (El Dorado Springs) – 800 (2:00.66)
8th – Fair Grove (Esais Baird, Canyon Crowley, Liam Draper, Kody Stacye) – 4×100 (44.21)
Class 3 Girls All-State Finishes
1st – Grace O’Reilly (Catholic) – High Jump (5’6)
1st – Jillian Guiot (Warsaw) – Javelin (130’4)
1st – Phajjia Gordon (Lamar) – Discus (122’1)
3rd – Makynzie Burns (Hollister) – 100 Hurdles (15.66)
3rd – Macey Penner (Mountain Grove) – 1600 (5:15.01)
3rd – Hannah Klaiber (El Dorado Springs) – 800 (2:21.85)
4th – Savannah Manthey (Salem) – Javelin (120’4)
4th – Macey Penner (Mountain Grove) – 3200 (11:43.86)
5th – Hannah Evans (Ava) – High Jump (5’3)
5th – Phajjia Gordon (Lamar) – Shot Put (38’7.5)
5th – Mountain Grove (Kailyn Wake, Raylee Stenzel, Reagan Hoerning, Jozey Sharp-MacPherson) – 4×200 (1:46.85)
6th – Rylee Darnell (Seneca) – High Jump (5’1)
6th – Maliya Clark (Clever) – 100 Hurdles (16.01)
6th – Clever (Riley Britton, Kierstin Maddox, Rylee Lansdown, Jayleign Flood) – 4×400 (4:15.10)
6th – Maisie Phillips (Aurora) – 300 Hurdles (48.75)
7th – Abigail Woolsey (Liberty) – 300 Hurdles (48.91)
7th – Makena Hall (Aurora) – 100 Hurdles (16.18)
7th – Hannah Evans (Ava) – Long Jump (17’2.75)
7th – Katelyn Fyock (Seneca) – Triple Jump (37’7.5)
7th – El Dorado Springs (Morgan Mitchell, Kenli Rader, Audrey Goatley, Hannah Klaiber) – 4×800 (10:11.72)
7th – Riley Morris (Cassville) – Discus (111’3)
7th – Fair Grove (Kaitlyn Mueller, Emma Padgett, Savannah Ipock, Brooke Daniels) – 4×100 (51.54)
7th – Jayleign Flood (Clever) – 400 (59.94)
7th – Jozey Sharp-MacPherson (Mountain Grove) – 200 (25.48)
8th – Brooke Daniels (Fair Grove) – 400 (60.29)
8th – Fair Grove (Kaitlyn Mueller, Emma Padgett, Savannah Ipock, Brooke Daniels) – 4×200 (1:49.64)
8th – Marcy Miller (Lamar) – High Jump (5’1)
8th – Macey Penner (Mountain Grove) – 800 (2:22.17)
8th – Cassville (Marianne Mccrackin, Annie Moore, Tori Mitchell, Jolie Evans) – 4×800 (10:14.61)
8th – Jayleign Flood (Clever) – 100 (12.63)
8th – Chloe Smith (Clever) – 3200 (12:06.32)
