By Dana Harding (For OzarksSportsZone.com)
SPRINGFIELD – In only its second season, Monday’s Ozark Mountain Conference Track & Field Championships put on quite the show from beginning to end.
While fairly strong winds hammered away at anyone unfortunate enough to run the track’s back straightaway, sunny skies and otherwise pleasant springtime weather made for solid conditions.
In the end, the West Plains boys and Marshfield girls walked away with overall team titles.
CLICK HERE FOR VIDEO OF THE MEET
BOYS EVENTS
Traditional powerhouse West Plains showcased both talent and depth in the boys competition.
The Zizzers rolled to 170 points on the afternoon, besting Bolivar (138.5) and Logan-Rogersville (134.5) in the process.
The team also recorded six first place finishes in the open events and won three of the four relays.
Blake Romans (3200 – 10:23.47), Jaxon Hunter (Shot – 17.83m, Discus – 51.34m), Jared Kraft (High Jump – 2.08m), Chance Bradfute (Pole Vault – 5.27m) and Gavin Kenslow (Long Jump – 6.42m) won individual events for West Plains, with Kraft and Kenslow each setting personal best marks.
The Zizzer relay teams won the 4×100 (Mason Matejek, Kenslow, Kael Harrison, Cameron Miller – 43.01), 4×200 (Matejek, Kenslow, Harrison, Miller – 1:29.06) and 4×800 (Trevin Smith, Roberson, Hunter Stanley, Romans – 8:25.79).
“(Conference) is a big deal,” Gunter said. “We really wanted to win today. We told the kids at the Zizzer Relays, ‘This is a rehearsal for conference, and we’re going to load you up and we’re going to ask you to do more than you’re comfortable doing. It’s about winning conference. It’s not about you, individually.’
“Obviously, in every conference meet, some didn’t place as high, but then others placed higher than we were expecting, and that’s what a total team effort is made of – people stepping up and filling holes. I’m just really proud of them.”
CLICK HERE FOR PHOTOS OF THE FIELD EVENTS
While West Plains is well known for its cross country and distance event tradition, the Zizzers are so much more than laps around the track.
Hunter, for one, showcased the Zizzers’ throwing talent by winning both the shot put and discus events.
“(Jaxon) is an impressive athlete,” Gunter said. “He’s had an impressive career all the way up to this point, and the sky’s the limit to what he can do here, going into districts, sectionals and state this year. I wish this could be the year he puts it all together and really shows everybody how good he is.”
For Hunter, a calm focus in the ring is key to staying consistent throughout the competition and throughout the season.
“It’s a big deal staying consistent, because whether or not you throw a big throw, you’re going to have a mark to rely on to get you to finals, and then you can get a bigger mark. So, right now, we’re just staying consistent throughout the year and, hopefully, in our last state meet, I get my big PR and take it home.”
West Plains benefitted from another huge performance by Kraft in the high jump. His 2.08m jump set a personal best mark and tied for the top result in the state this season.
“I wasn’t down at the high jump when (Kraft) did it, but I got a picture sent to me across my phone,” Gunter said. “Just the look on his face to know he’s finally crossed that border and accomplished a new height – that’s what this is all about.”
GIRLS EVENTS
While the boys competition was pretty much decided in the back half of the meet, the girls title chase lasted until the final event to score – pole vault.
Nursing a 15.5-point advantage heading into the final event, Marshfield needed to place additional insurance points on the board to eliminate the possibility for a late rally – especially after West Plains erased a 28-point gap in the final two track events of the afternoon.
Blue Jay vaulters Chloe Bateman and Atley Rost proved more than up to the task, taking second and fourth place in the event to seal the victory.
“Our vaulters have been clutch all year,” Kaderly said. “Coach Myers did an excellent job with all our vaulters, and they really worked their tails off to be able to compete at this level. I don’t think the girls really knew where we were standing, but we weren’t about to tell them. We just let them go do what they do and compete.”
The vault finish gave Marshfield a 161-point total for the meet, besting West Plains (135.5) and Branson (132) for the victory.
“I think we had a whole lot of surprises today as far as putting people in positions they haven’t done,” Kaderly said. “We did have some flip-flops on a couple of our girls where the No. 2 has beat the No. 1. We’ve got some young girls – some freshmen – that really kind of pulled their weight today, as well.”
CLICK HERE FOR PHOTOS OF THE TRACK EVENTS
Skylee Lamkey (400 – 1:00.47), Tilly Greenfield (High Jump – 1.52m) and Gracelyn Bull (Shot – 12.97m, Discus – 43.70m) each claimed individual victories for the Blue Jays.
While Marshfield only scored victories in four events, the Blue Jays’ depth carried the flag for the team on a day where every point mattered.
MacKenzie Jerrell took second place honors in both shot put and discus behind teammate Bull, and the duo’s performances certainly caught Kaderly’s eye.
“We went one-two in both shot and disc,” Kaderly said. “I thought (Jerrell) would be right there in the hunt, but both of those girls hit season and personal bests in the shot, and Gracelyn hit a new school record and season best in the discus. Throws and jumps, our field events were fantastic today.”
While Greenfield’s numbers were down on the day compared to past results, her motivation to improve and cheer on her teammates never faltered.
“It was disappointing that I didn’t jump as well as I wanted to (in the high jump), but a win is a win, so I’ll take it,” Greenfield said. “I just love (conference). Everybody is supporting everybody in their individual events or relays, and it’s just a really fun atmosphere. I’ll just let it push me to be better next meet.”
On the track, Marshfield captured a single first place win from Lamkey’s 400-meter performance.
After the race, the junior was quick to mention the wind’s brutal effect on the backstretch for runners.
“It was definitely really hard, especially coming out of the blocks and immediately being hit by a headwind,” Lamkey said. “But I pushed, I pumped my arms and I powered through like we’ve been practicing. The tailwind was amazing. It definitely gave me my final push of, like, I can do this.”
For Lamkey, the key to being successful in the 400 is maintaining control and focus over emotions during a race where the staggered lane assignments can be extremely deceptive at times.
“Even when there’s no wind, coming off the corner it’s like you’re all in different places, and you’ll think you’re farther back than you actually are. You speed up, but you don’t want to gas, so it’s just a matter of thinking, you need to run your race – you need to do what you can do and not what other people can. It’s just a whole mental game of tug and war.”
After falling to West Plains a season ago, Kaderly praised his squad for maintaining focus and following through for the victory.
“We won the Big 8 conference five of the past six years,” Kaderly said. “And then coming in here last year, we didn’t quite get the job done. It makes me smile today that we were able to get that done. It’s an individual sport with a team focus, and we tend to try and put team first. I think that’s made our program stronger.”
