University City Girls Track Excels at Rainy District Meet

There was no coin flip needed this year for the University City girls track team.

The top two teams at the Class 3 District 3 Meet receive plaques and the Lions finished in a second-place tie last year with Berkeley. A coin flip was held to determine which school would come home with the plaque and Berkeley won.

This year the Lions finished alone in second place in the meet, which was held in dreary, cold and wet conditions at MICDS. University City was a very distant second to champion MICDS, which had an astounding 244.5 points. The Lions had 83, which was 12 more than John Burroughs, which finished third.

"Our strengths are our sprinters and jumpers and you just have to hold your breath in conditions like these," University City coach Matt Keller said. "You just try to find a way to get by and live to hunt another day. As it turned out we were able to get everybody through that we expected."

The goal at any district meet is to qualify as many individuals to the sectional meet. The top four individuals in each event at the District 3 meet will match up on Saturday at Mexico High School with the top four from District 4. The top four at sectionals will then move on the MSHSAA Meet at the Dwight T. Reed Stadium on the campus of Lincoln University in Jefferson City on May 27 and 28.

"I was proud of the way the girls responded to the adverse weather conditions," Keller said. "It was an ugly day, but it was not bad enough to call off anything. I tip my hat to MICDS. They were just amazing all day."

University City earned its second-place plaque by virtue of solid performances in all of the relay events. The Lions will send all of their teams to Mexico on Saturday. University City finished second in the 4x100-meter relay (Lydia Bohlen, Kayla Heidelberg, Crystal Laden and Jamesha Howard), 4x200 (Bohlen, Heidelberg, Erika Murphy and Laden) and 4x400 (Chantel Bethune, Bohlen, Erisha Porter and Kathleen Simpson), each time finishing second to MICDS.

The Lions also squeaked by in the 4x800 (Bethune, Porter, Howard and Quindara Jackson) with a fourth-place finish.

The Lions did not have a district champion (MICDS won an amazing 14 races Saturday) but they had several second-place finishes in addition to the three relays.  Heidelberg was second in both the 100-meter dash and the 100-meter hurdles. Bohlen was second in the 400-meter dash and Alexis Nelson was second in the shot put.  Murphy was the other Lion sectional qualifier as she was fourth in the 200-meter dash.

The University City boys saw their string of six straight district titles come to an end as MICDS also won the boys' team title. The Lions finished fifth.

The highlight for the Lions was in the triple jump and long jump. They won both events and qualified two in each. Emmanuel Price won the triple jump (42 feet) and Darion Boure finished third. The roles were reversed in the long jump as Boure won (21-6.5) and Price was third.

Price will be competing in four events at sectionals as he also qualified in both hurdle events. He was second in the 100-meter hurdles and third in the 300 hurdles.

The Everett boys helped Westminster Christian Academy to a sixth-place finish in the boys meet. Daniel Everett won the 1,600 (4:31.84) and also finished second in both the 800 and 3,200. David Everett was third in both the 1,600 and 3,200. They also helped the Wildcats to a district title in the 4x800-meter relay (8:12.42). They ran legs as did Peter Duell and Danny Keith.

Orchard Farm had a district champion as Dylan Sinclair won the shot put by one half inch. Sinclair threw a 50-4.5. Priory's Colin Linkul threw a 50-4.

Orchard Farm's Delk Webb made it through to Mexico in a pair of events. Webb was third in the high jump and fourth in the 300-meter hurdles. Tyler McMahon was the other Eagles sectional qualifier, finishing third in the pole vault.

"In my 32 years of coaching this was probably the worst day weather wise that I have been associated with," Orchard Farm coach Dave O'Donnell said. "It was never so bad to have the meet cancelled but it was tough out there. I was very, very pleased with my team. Getting Delk through in the high jump was a pleasant surprise. All of the kids did a good job."

Priory qualified a pair of individuals as Linkul was the close second in the shot put and John Cole was fourth in the 3,200.

The Clayton boys did not have any individual sectional qualifiers but the Greyhounds were able to get two of their relay teams through. The Greyhound 4x100-meter relay team was second and the 4x400 team was fourth. Jeremiah Camp, Tyler walker, Frank May and Kameron Stewart ran in the 4x100. Walker, Stewart and May also won in the 4x400 along with Matt Millett.

The Greyhound girls had a solid day, finishing fifth overall. The Greyhounds advanced three individuals and a pair of relay teams to the sectional meet next weekend. Leah Johnson was third in the 200. Clayton also advanced a pair of throwers as Briah Arms was fourth in the shot put and Amelia Stubblefield was fourth in the discus.

Clayton finished third in the 4x200 (Kayla Brown, Eleanor Gund, Alayna Hutchinson and Johnson) and fourth in the 4x400 (Gund, Hutchinson, Johnson and Lacei Sims).

Westminster Christian won the 4x800-meter relay (Adrienne Kaup, Courtney Powell, Ramya Gruneisen and Dani Roberts). Kaup and Powell also advanced in individual events as did Laura Tarantino. Powell was third in the 800, Tarantino was fourth in the 3,200 and Kaup was fourth in the 1,600.

Kennedy's Kathleen Miller had a good day, qualifying in two events. Miller was third in the triple jump and fourth in the long jump.

Three St. Charles area girls will spend Saturday in Mexico (Missouri). St. Charles' Andrea Haake was third in the 1,600 and Kylie Fenemor was fourth in the high jump. Orchard Farm's Cassey Ward was third in the discus.