Davis successfully defends state title, repeats as Southeast Missourian Boys Track & Field Athlete of the Year

It's safe to say recent Kelly graduate Maurice Davis has finally settled on a sports identity.

Back-to-back Class 2 state championships in the 100-meter dash has cemented a waffling teen who also was a star on the football field and played basketball.

Make no mistake, Davis still loves football, a sport which his school seemed to personally cater for him during his four years at Kelly, starting a JV program his freshman year before launching its first varsity team his junior year.

He accumulated more than 1,000 yards from scrimmage as a senior, averaging 11.8 yards every time he touched the football and scoring 10 touchdowns. He added five more TDs as a dangerous kickoff and punt returner, leaving as the school's career leader in several categories.

When confronted with the choice of winning a race or returning a kickoff for a touchdown, there is no hesitation in voicing his preference.

"Definitely running back a kickoff," Davis said. "That's the best ever, when you run past the last line of defense. and all you see is the end zone, that's a really exciting feeling. The crowd is going crazy and everything."

His mind starts to race, which aligns with the natural inclination of his body. And he's come to that realization.

"Last year my football coach said I was just a football guy that was fast, but now I'm probably a track guy that's smart enough to play football," Davis said. "Now I'm switched up."

A successful defense of his state title and standing as the Southeast Missourian Boys Track & Field Athlete of the Year is confirmation of where his talent is best served.

"I think it was in the middle of track season, my dad said, 'You do know you're a track guy,'" Davis said. "I was like, I don't know, and then the colleges started coming around and they were all for track, and I was like, 'Yeah, I'm probably just a track guy.'"

Davis achieved his goal of an unbeaten season in the 100-meter dash in Jefferson City, Missouri, clocking 10.87 seconds in the event, which was one-tenth of a second faster than his winning time as a junior. It was one of three all-state finishes for Davis, who took second in the 200 in a career-best 22.5 seconds and seventh in the triple jump, an event he took on as a senior.

Kelly's lone representative in the boys' competition at state, he gave the Hawks an 11th-place tie in the team standings.

It was seven spots lower than a plaque-earning, fourth-place finish the Hawks had a year earlier, which the team-oriented Davis refers to as "probably my best memory of track."

Team achievement over individual achievement is one of the primary reasons he was slow to embrace track.

That's not to say he's not competitive on a personal level, which is why, after completing his fourth year of basketball, he made and stored a list of goals on his phone for his spring season. He happily checked each off at the completion of his senior season.

• A 10.8 in the 100 ( during the regular season he ran a hand-timed 10.6 that was adjusted up to 10.74)
• Undefeated in the 100
• Run 22.50 in the 200

"All my goals just came true that day," Davis said about the state meet. "It was exciting."

Getting revenge for a loss to a Poplar Bluff sprinter would have made his list of goals, except the Hawks did not participate in the Poplar Bluff Invitational.

"I wanted to race against Poplar Bluff, to be honest. They had a kid named Denzel Britton, and he beat me last year in the 100 and 200," Davis said. "So I just wanted to race him ever since. We never crossed paths. I was kind of mad about it. He has the lead on me, he has the advantage. He beat me twice, and I haven't beaten him yet."

Britton represents Davis' lone loss in the 100 over the past two seasons.

This season, Davis won both the 100 and 200 titles at the Chaffee Invitational, Central Invitational and the Hawks' own John Merrick Invitational, and he entered the sectional meet unbeaten in the 200. He lost that distinction with a runner-up finish to Brentwood's Kaylon Jenkins.

"That lit a fire under him," Kelly coach Ryan Adams said. "He was mad, and he was like, 'What? I'm definitely going to beat that kid at state.' And he held true to his word."

Davis, who finished fifth in the 200 as a junior, exacted his revenge in the 200 finals against Jenkins, who finished sixth. And the only one who kept him from the top step of the podium was another Davis -- Madison Davis of Skyline, who won by nine-hundredths of a second.

"I thought I'd beat him because he just got done running the 400," Maurice Davis said. "I was like, 'This guy should be tired,' but no, he caught me at the very end. I died, and he had an extra kick from the 400, I guess, and passed me up. But he was a real nice guy and I talked to him afterward and congratulated him, and he goes, 'Hey, you're one of the fastest kids I've ever raced.' I'm like, 'Same as you. You're the only guy to beat me in the 200.'"

Earlier, Maurice Davis already had defended his 100 crown in what Adams described as "hands down one of the best races I've ever seen him run in the 100. From the get-go he was winning. It was a great, great, great race."

From the "get-go" was particularly pleasing to Adams, who worked extensively with Davis on his starts throughout the season.

Davis said his tendency was to lunge out of the starting block, which usually left him chasing down his competition.

"So we practiced every day, just getting a quick first step," Davis said. "There was about two weeks straight we just did my first three steps out of the block -- every day, every day. I just got tired of it, but he kept me on it, and repetition makes habit. And at the state meet it all just came together."

Adams said he admired Davis' work ethic all season, referring to the senior as an athlete others on the team fed off.

"Maurice is a great kid," Adams said. "He's one of those kids you obviously want on your team. He's a hard worker. So my emotions at the end of the day, I was the one jumping up and down at the finish line. I was the one filming him winning each race. So as a coach, and this is my first year as a head coach, it was amazing to see one of my athletes be so successful.

"He put a lot of hard work into getting that done. I can't really take much credit for it. Maurice put in his time, and he's the one that made that happen. It was really cool to see him overcome any challenges he might have had this year and take the gold again. I know that's what he wanted and made it happen through hard work."

Davis plans to run track at Missouri Valley College, an NAIA school in Marshall, Missouri.

"It was a lot of fun. I'm going to miss high school," Davis said. "I don't understand how kids can say they're ready to leave high school and go off to college. I loved high school. It was the best experience of my life. I don't have to pay any bills or nothing like that and just live at home and be a couch potato. No, I'm ready for the next journey of my life, but I'm definitely going to miss high school."