by Brian Goatley

Today we traveled to Odessa to finish up the sectional track meet that got postponed on Saturday, due to rain.  On the track side of things, Daelen placed 2nd in the 3200 meter run, with a personal best time of 9:48 to move on to state.  We also saw a school record broken today in the pole vault, where we had Ethan Parshall finish 2nd and Brayden Housh finish 3rd, both with a new school record vault of 14’0”, breaking Brayden’s 13’8” vault earlier this season.  Kenli was the lone girl competing today, and got off to a great start, but then breathing became an issue that affected her finish, but as a freshman, she has had a great year.

All in all it was a great day, and when it was all said and done, the boys team, despite only having five boys in sectionals, ended up 3rd overall as a team, out of 20 teams, just 1 point out of 2nd and just five points out of 1st. Overall an incredible end to the meet, and in the words of Paul Harvey “And now you know the rest of the story.”

We will end up with five athletes competing in seven events at the state meet.  They are as follows:  Shelby McKinney in the javelin throw, Brayden Housh in the javelin throw and pole vault, Ethan Parshall in pole vault, Daelen Ackley in the 1600 and 3200 meter run, and the lone girl, Morgan Mitchell in the 800 meter run.

The state meet will be held at Jefferson City High School on Friday, May 24 and Saturday, May 25.  The team will head up on Thursday to practice at the State facilities. If you see any of these individuals, pass on a congratulations to them.  They have wroked hard this year to get where they are at, and are in great standing to do really well at State.