By Christopher Tenpenny
On a rainy day in Odessa, the Harrisonville track and field team was able to overcome poor weather conditions and rain delays to have 10 athletes qualify for the Class 4 State Meet tomorrow in Jefferson City. Harrisonville competed in the Class 4 Sectional 4 Track Meet Saturday in Odessa where the top four in each event advanced.
Joseph Michel, Zachary Ridenhour, Alex Barta, Tommy Baker, Noah King, Dawson Schrock, Brayden Talley, Jace Reynolds, Isiah Moore and Makiah Clark will all be participating in at least one event at state.
Michel will be competing in three events as he finished second in the 200-meter dash with a time of 23.30, third in the 100-meter dash with a time of 11.06 and is on the boys’ 4×100 meter relay team. The 4×100 was the only event to win first place Saturday with a time of 43.29.
Schrock, King, Ridenhour, Baker, Reynolds and Moore will all compete in two events at state.
The boys were able to finish second as a team with 89 points, four points ahead of Smithville.
The rain started to pick up right before the girls’ 100m hurdles. The track meet was delayed for nearly two hours. While it rained on and off for the remainder of the meet, athletes were able to compete safely once the meet was resumed.
The most exciting race of the day may have come from Baker in the 1600-meter race. Baker had already qualified for state in the 3200-meter race and anchored the 4×800 relay team by the time the 1600m started.
Baker paced himself as he found himself in last place through the first 600 meters of the race. Two laps later and Baker had not moved up much, jumping from eight to sixth with 300 meters left. Baker was able to continue his pace and pass two more runners on the final stretch and finished fourth. His time was 4:37.41 and qualified him for state.
Harrisonville’s pole vaulters had another good day as both Talley and Clark finished third. Talley vaulted 12-00 while Clark vaulted 8-10.25. Teammate Brooklyn Rhoney also competed at sectionals in the pole vault but came up just short, finishing fifth. Clark is the only girl advancing to state for the Wildcats.
Other results includes: 100m, Ridenhour 11.16 (fourth); 300m hurdles, King 41.59 (second) and Schrock 42.07 (fourth); 800m, Barta 2:04.73 (fourth); 4x400m relay, 3:31.82 (fourth).
