The Ozark Highlands Conference Track and Field Championship track meet, scheduled for Monday, May 2, got moved to Tuesday, May 3, due to the threat of storms. The meet was held in Butler and moved to a day meet. Despite being wet and a little chilly early on, the weather turned out to be pretty good for a track meet.
On the Girls side, Kiera Strauch placed 4th in the 100 meter dash with a time of 14.52. Hannah Klaiber finished 2nd in the 200 meter dash with a time of 28.11. Hannah then went on to also win the 400 with a time of 1:05.60 and the 800 with a time of 2:37.17. In the 400 meter dash, Audrey Goatley also placed 3rd in a time of 1:08.16, with Gracie Mead finishing 5th in a time of 1:11.14. Olivia Graves joined Hannah in the 800, finishing 5th with a time of 3:02.11. In the 1600 meter run, Audrey Goatley finished 1st with a time of 5:45.67, with Colbie Wood finishing 5th with a time of 6:12.50. In the 3200 Audrey was 2nd with a time of 12:40.66 with Colbie finishing 3rd with a time of 13:35.80. Christian Steuck finished 5th in the 100 meter hurdles with a time of 20.25. Morgan Mitchell finished 4th in the 300 meter hurdles with a time of 55.03. The girls 4 x 100 meter relay, consisting of Olivia Graves, Camille Bland, Kiera Strauch and Camden Julian, finished 4th with a time of 1:01.32. The girls 4 x 200 meter relay, consisting of Olivia, Gracie Mead, Kiera and Morgan Mitchell finished 3rd with a time of 2:05.96. The girls 4 x 400 meter relay, consisting of Morgan Mitchell, Gracie Mead, Kenli Rader and Hannah Klaiber finished 2nd with a time of 4:36.96. The girls 4 x 800, consisting of Morgan Mitchell, Colbie Wood, Kenli Rader and Audrey Goatley, finished 1st with a time of 11:17.59. In high jump, Camille Bland won with a height of 5’1”. She was joined by Gracie Mead in 3rd, and Camden Julian finishing 5th. In triple jump, Kiera Strauch placed 3rd with a jump of 29’1.25”. In the girls discus throw, Megan Margrave found herself in 5th place with a throw of 70’7.25”. In the shot put, AbiGayle Schmitt finished 4th with a throw of 27’1.25”. And in the javelin throw, Christian placed 2nd with teammate AbiGayle Schmitt placing 4th.
On the boys’ side, Kuliath Kephart placed 4th in the 100 meter dash, with a time of 11.88. Justin Brown finished 3rd in the 200 meter dash with a time of 24.89. In the 400 meter dash, James King finished 5th with a time of 57.21. Daelen won the 800 with a new school record and Missouri class 3 leading time of 1:55.03. He was joined by Connor Goatley in 2nd and Braxton Watts in 4th. Daelen and Connor then went 1st and 2nd in the 1600, as well. Daelen then also went on to win the 3200 with a time of 9:36.60. The boys 4 x 100 meter relay, consisting of Landon Murry, Will Seitz, Riley Massie and Justin Brown, placed 3rd with a time of 48.41. The 4 x 200 meter relay, same boys as the 4 x 100, placed 2nd with a time of 1:41.05. The boys 4 x 400 meter relay, consisting of James King, Landon Murry, Connor Goatley and Daelen Ackley placed 3rd with a time of 3:43.35. The boys 4 x 800 meter relay, consisting of James King, Braxton Watts, Connor Goatley and Logan Fisk, finished 2nd with a time of 9:02.77. Kuliath Kephart won the high jump with a jump of 5’7”, followed shortly by teammate Will Seitz in 2nd with a jump of 5’5”. Dillon Hargrove finished 5th in triple jump with a jump of 35’8.25”. And in the pole vault, Ryland Brower finished 4th with a vault of 6’6.75”.
At the end of the day, the boys team found themselves in 3rd place as a team. The girls team found themselves on top, as the 2022 Ozark Highlands Conference Team Champions. Overall, everyone competed and fought very hard. I couldn’t be more proud of how they performed. We are getting to that Championship time of season and they are starting to shine when it matters the most. Next up for the El Dorado Springs track team is the Missouri Class 3 District 7 Track and Field Meet, held on Saturday, May 14 in Buffalo. Those who would like to attend, there is a $5.00 admission fee to get in. This will be an all day meet. To move on to the sectional meet, the following weekend, athletes will have to finish in the top 4 of their event.