Panthers win several event district titles

Both the Mountain Grove boys and girls track and field programs combined to win several district event championships and qualified several athletes to this week’s sectional meet to be held on their home track.
Coming off their first South Central Associntion (SCA) Conference title in a decade, the Panthers combined to scored 130 team points to place second in the district team standings at the Class 3, District 5 meet held in Cuba. Athletes qualified for sectionals in seven individual events and all four relays moved on.
A young 4x800-meter relay team won the district championship after completing their reace in 8:47.36, which is the 10th best in school history. The team of junior Aydon Barbe, sophomore Hunter Bartlett with freshmen Skylar Oliphant and MaxGuilliams averaged just under 2:12 per runner.
Both Bartlett and Oliphant also shined in two other races. Bartlett won the district title in the 800 meters (2:09.93) and Oliphant placed third (2:1`1.77).
Oliphant was second (4:51.52) and Bartlett was fourth (4:51.78) as both runners also advanced to sectionals in the 1,600 meters.
Aden Estep had a big day as he won the district title in the long jump with a leap of 19’10.25”, which puts him 10th in school history. This put him past Kenny Pridemore’s 19’9” from 1979.Estep’s second place time of 22.51 seconds in the 200 meters gives him the second fastest time in the event in school history. Now that he’s passed Tommy Hutchinson’s 22.56 seconds from 1990, he has his eyes on Justin Satterfield’s school record of 22.27 seconds, which was set in the 2010 state finals.
JP Dickey advanced in the 300-meter hurdles with his third place time of 42.97 seconds. He was sixth in the 110-meter hurdles (16.52).
Earning team points in races, but not qualifying for sectionals, includes Jaxon Kelly in the 100 as he finished sixth (24.36) and Guilliams was seventh in the 3,200 (11:28.56).
The 4x100-meter relay team of Beau Nelson, Cooper Hoerning, Estep and Dickey ran a seasonal best time of 44.23 seconds, giving them second place. It also ties them with Ben Taylor, Sean Rutz, Evan Williams and Satterfield for the sixth fastest time in school history from their run in 2009.
Trystan Short, Seth Akers, Jacob Neuroth and Jamison Cain set the school record of 43.69 seconds in 2015.
The 4x200-meter relay team was second place with a time of 1:34.31 and the 4x400 finished third (3:36.69).
In field events, Andrew Whitson won the district title in the discus with his toss of 40.15 meters. Slade Rodgers finished fourth (37.12 meters).
Malaki Williams qualified for sectionals in the shot put with his toss of 13.52 meters for second place while Payton Metty just missed qualifying finishing in fifth (13.21 meters).
Nelson qualified in the pole vault after clearing 3.81 meters for fourth place. Coming in fifth was Clatyon Maloney (3.81 meters).
Hoerning did place eighth in the triple jump (12.17 meters).
The Lady Panthers were third in team points with a 95 after having athletes advance to sections in seven individual events and in three relay races.
Senior Raylee Stenzel had a big day as she won the 400 meters district title with a time of 59.56 seconds, which was her first race in the event under 60 seconds. This passes Katie Wolter for the third best time in school history (60.19 in 2016).
Stenzel was also second in the 200 meters with a time of 26.77 seconds.
She then ran the anchor leg in both two relay races that featured seniors Savannah Hellbusch and Lilly Hines along with sophomore Santana Schwertfeger.
The 4x100 was second (51.77) and the 4x200 was also second (1:49.24).
The 4x800-meter relay team of sophomore Hadley Driskill and freshmen Nyelli Soto, Kynli Blackwell and Keena Roth won the district title with their time of 10:43.21.
Keena Roth ran the anchor leg with a 2:35 split.
She also finished second in the 1,600 (5:48.13) and second in the 3,200 (17:27).
Soto was third in the 1,600 (5:50.23).
Kylie Roth qualified in the 300-meter hurdles with a fourth place time of 51.80 seconds.
Blackwell qualified for sections in the 800 with a third place time of 2:38.53.
Hellbusch didn’t qualify, but did earn team points by placing fifth in the 100 (13.23) and eighth in the 200 (28.13).
Schwertfeger added a sixth place leap in the long jump (4.76 meters) and eighth place leap in the triple jump (9.62 meters).
Rowen Kelly was eighth in the high jump (1.38 meters).