Chaffee boys 800 relay team wins state title for third time in four years

Jordan Yahn's impressive high school track career ended with two more state championships Saturday.

The Chaffee senior became the school's most decorated track athlete after helping the Red Devils' 800 and 400 relay teams claim Class 1 state titles at the state meet in Jefferson City, Mo.

"There's no greater feeling right now than what I did," Yahn said. "It feels amazing. Hopefully no one does it for a long time because it feels pretty good."

Yahn added a fourth in the 800, while helping the 1,600 relay grab fifth place.

"He's all-state 14 times, and 10 of them are on relays," Chaffee boys coach Tyson Moyers said. "He was all-state in two as a freshman and four for sophomore, junior and senior year."

Chaffee senior Jordan Yahn anchors the 800 relay team to the Class 1 state title Saturday in Jefferson City, Mo. (CHRIS AUCKLEY ~ Special to the Southeast Missourian)

Chaffee won the 800 relay state title for the third time in four years. The Red Devils took third in 2010.

"The 4x200 is kind of like our main event at Chaffee," said Red Devils senior Tyson Estes, who competed on the relay for the third consecutive year. "They've always had a good 4x200 the last four years, so to be on it the past three years, it's a big deal."

The Red Devils posted the top time in the 800 relay in Friday's preliminary round. Travis Hall and Zac Dannenmueller joined Yahn and Estes on the relay team.

"We ran 1:33.31, which broke our school record, [Friday]," Moyers said. "We ran 1:33.04 in the finals. We won it going away. We were the only team that ran faster today than [Friday].

"We talked all year that it's our race. We talked that if you're going to win the 4x200 at state, you've got to go through us. It's something we've really talked to those guys about. They keep up with times around the state. We've been real fortunate. We've had a great run."

Chaffee's Nadine Gerhard runs a leg on the 4x200 relay Saturday.

The Red Devils claim their attention to detail is what separates their 800 relay from others in the state.

"I think we've got a lot of kids with a lot of good speed, but most of all it's our handoffs," Estes said. "We probably practice our handoffs more than anyone else in the state. A lot of other teams, the handoffs are just a minor thing to them, but we practice ours at least once a week. We already got guys going full speed as soon as they get the baton."

Dannenmueller agreed that the work spent on handoffs was well spent.

"We work on it every week in the morning at least one time," he said.

Logan Chapman joined Yahn, Dannenmueller and Estes on the victorious 400 relay team.

Chafee's Ellie Sigman anchors the 800 relay team to a sixth-place finish in the preliminaries at the Class 1 state meet.

"I just thought there were a couple other teams that were stronger than us," Estes said. "We ran 44.53, which is the third-fastest time in Class 1 history. That came out of nowhere. ... We weren't challenged in that one either."

Chapman, Dannenmueller, Hall and Yahn ran to a fifth-place finish in the 1,600 relay. They finished in 3:34.70, which was less than a second slower than the time the Red Devils posted while winning the state title last year.

"We ran today about the same time we ran last year and won it, and we got fifth," Moyers said. "It's just a different year. Last year it rained and we didn't have prelims. It's just a different race when that happens. We didn't have it in us to win the thing this year. We ran our best time up here."

Dustin Worley added an eighth-place finish in the shot put (44-7 1.2) for Chaffee.

The two state titles helped the Chaffee boys team finish sixth in the team standings with 30 points.

Oran's Baily Carlyle (500), Addie Kielhofner (503), Aubrianna Jones (502), and Kaylen Glastetter (501) stand on the awards stand for their official photo after their 4th place finish in the Class 1 4x100 relay at the Class 1-2 Missouri High School State Track and Field Championships in Jefferson City Saturday.

"Your bring a couple of them state plaques home, it's neat," Moyers said. "They were fired up. You're state champs. You can't take that away from them."

Oran's 400 relay team of Baily Carlyle, Addie Kielhofner, Aubrianna Jones and Kaylen Glastetter finished fourth in Saturday's 400 relay final (52.96). The Eagles' relay team posted the third-fastest time in Friday's preliminary.

Kielhofner earned all-state honors in the 300 hurdles with a seventh-place finish (49.59).

Chaffee's 800 relay team of Cassie Hindman, Nadine Gerhard, Jennifer Sutterfield and Ellie Sigman was fourth in Saturday's final. The team was the sixth fastest in Friday's preliminary.

Sigman added a fifth-place finish in the 200 (26.74).

Oran's Baily Carlyle prepares to hand off the baton to Addie Kielhofner during the 400 relay preliminaries at the Class 1 state meet in Jefferson City, Mo.

BOYS

Finals

3,200 relay -- 16. Chaffee (Trenton Pennington, Chris Williams, Peter Simpson, Travis Hall), 9:14.18

Discus -- 14. Dustin Worley, C, 114-9

800 relay -- 1. Chaffee (Zac Dannenmueller, Tyson Estes, Hall, Jordan Yahn) 1:33.04

Tyson Estes holds up the 800 relay state title trophy as Chaffee teammates Travis Hall, from left, Jordan Yahn and Zac Dannenmueller join him on top of the awards stand at the Class 1 state track and field meet Saturday in Jefferson City, Mo. (CHRIS AUCKLEY ~ Special to the Southeast Missourian)

400 relay -- 1. Chaffee (Logan Chapman, Dannenmueller, Yahn, Estes), 44.53

800 -- 4. Yahn, C, 2:02.39

Shot put -- 8. Worley, C, 44-7 1/2

Preliminaries

800 -- 2. Yahn, C, 2:01.86

800 relay -- 1. Chaffee, 1:33.31

1,600 relay -- 8. Chaffee, 3:37.47

400 -- 3. Chaffee, 44.96

400 relay -- 3. Chaffee, 44.96

------

GIRLS

Finals

Long jump -- 10. Ellie Sigman, C, 15-4 1/4

800 relay -- 4. Chaffee (Cassie Hindman, Nadine Gerhard, Jennifer Sutterfield, Sigman), 1:51.89

400 relay -- 4. Oran (Baily Carlyle, Addie Kielhofner, Aubrianna Jones, Kaylen Glastetter), 52.69

300 hurdles -- 7. Kielhofner, O, 49.59

200 -- 5. Sigman, C, 26.74

Preliminaries

800 relay -- 6. Chaffee, 1:51.80

200 -- 5. Sigman, C, 27.00

400 relay -- 3. Oran, 52.65

300 hurdles -- 4. Kielhofner, O, 49.50