Mountain Grove track and field sends 16 on to state

The Mountain Grove girls and boys track and field teams combined to have 16 athletes qualify for the Class 2 State Championships after earning top four finishes in Mountain Grove on Saturday in the Class 3, Sectional 3 meet.
The Lady Panthers finished third place overall with 57 team points after eight athletes qualified for state, which will be held May 23-24 in Jefferson City.
The surprise win came from the fourth seeded 4x100-meter relay team that won the sectional crown with a time of 50.77 seconds.
That squad features seniors Savannah Hellbusch, Lilly Hines, Raylee Stenzel and sophomore Santana Schwertfeger.
This moves them into fifth all time in school history, passing a 51.04 mark in 2008 featuring Victoria Thompson, Riley Citron, KC Short and Ashley Otwell.
The same group of runners also qualified for state in the 4x200 with their seasonal best time of 1:47.61 for fourth place. This moves them into No. 7 all-time in school history, passing a 2022 mark ran by Reagan Hoerning, Jozey MacPherson, Hellbusch and Stenzel.
The 4x800-meter relay team also advanced to state after their second place time of 10:29.24. This young squad of sophomore Hadley Driskill and freshmen Nyelli Soto, Kynli Blackwell and Keena Roth had the 10th best time in school history. This passes the 10:32.07 from 2010 ran by Alexis Cooper, Channing Boykin, Matty Reed and Whitney Coats.
Stenzel had a standout day individually as she was second in the 200 meters (26.27) and second in the 400 (1:00.42). Her personal record in the 200 moves her to No. 4 in school history, passing Riley Citron’s 26.66 from back in 2007.
Freshman Keena Roth also qualified for state in the 1,600 meters with her fourth place time of 5:47.64. This was a personal record. Soto did not qualify, but was sixth in the race (6:00.56).
Kylie Roth was sixth in the 300-mter hurdles with a time of 50.02 seconds.
Blackwell added a sixth place finish in the 800 (2:38.61).
The Panthers were fourth in sectionals with 50 team points after they too had eight athletes qualify for the state meet.
Mountain Grove’s 4x800-meter relay team won the sectional championship after their time of 8:34.48. Hunter Bartlett (2:06.3), Max Guilliams (2:12.3), Aydon Barbe (2:08.5) and Skyler Oliphant (2:07.3) combined for the 10th best time in school history.
Junior Aden Estep set a personal record with a 22.41 seconds in the 200 meters for third place to qualify. That time is the second fastest in the event in school history.
Estep was also sixth place in the long jump (5.85 meters).
The 4x200-meter relay team of seniors Beau Nelson, Cooper Hoerning, sophomore J.P. Dickey and Estep placed fourth with a time of 1:31.55.
This was the second fastest time in school history, passing a 1:32.04 from 2014 ran by Trystan Short, Seth Akers, Jacob Neuroth and Jamison Cain.
The 4x100-meter relay just came up short, placing sixth with a time of 44.01 seconds.
In the pole vault event, Nelson qualified for state after clearing 12’9.25”, just below his personal record. He finished in fourth place.
Though Dickey did not qualify in the 300-meter hurdles, his time of 41.50 seconds passed Rob Crewse’s 42.40 seconds in 1987 for fifth best in school history.
Andrew Whitson was fifth in the discus with his toss of 143’10”, which passes Charley Douglass’ previous fifth best in school history of 142’7” thrown back in 1972.
Slade Rodgers was sixth in the event with a toss of 39.19 meters.
Malaki Williams earned a team point with an eighth place toss of 12.46 meters in the shot put.
In distance races, Bartlett was seventh (4:59.23) and Oliphant was eighth (5:00.39) in the 1,600 meters.
Oliphant added a sixth place finish in the 800 meters (2:12.29).