Essner repeats as state champ

~ The Scott City junior won the Class 2 400in near-record time.

JEFFERSON CITY -- Scott City junior Stephanie Essner did something she has never done before while running the 400 meters at the Class 2 state meet Saturday.

"The last 50 meters I was like, 'Get there, get there, get there,' and I looked up at the clock, and I never do that," Essner said. "I knew the state record -- 56.6 [seconds] -- and I looked up and saw the clock at 56 and I was like, 'Oh, my gosh, I just have to stick my arms out.'"

As Essner crossed the finish line she did lean her body forward and stretch her arms out, but just missed the state-record time. Still, she won the 400 for the second straight year.

Essner finished with a time of 56.73 seconds.

The Class 2 state record of 56.61 was set in 1999 by Blair Oaks' Monica Joannes.

Essner said not breaking the record gives her something extra to work for as a senior.

"There's always next year training, and hopefully I'll come back and I'm thinking getting the state record in the 400 and improving on everything else," Essner said.

Essner bettered her 400 time from last year, when she won in 57.38.

Essner faced a tight schedule after winning the 400. She had to regroup because she was running the finals of the 200 less than 50 minutes later.

"Between the 400 and 200 it was like, 'Get water, get water,'" Essner said.

Essner had the best time in Friday's preliminaries of the 200, but she finished third in the finals (25.61). Essner was disappointed with her 200.

"If you go in having the best time, and then get third, it's a bummer," she said.

Essner also finished seventh in the 100 (12.87).

After Essner won the 400, she walked straight over to shake hands with Saxony Lutheran junior Cassie Simpher, who finished fourth (58:30). Essner and Simpher have had a friendly competition with each other for years.

"A long time ago, I was in Chaffee Cheetahs in summer track and she ran with Jackson and we'd go to the Show-Me State Games and we'd always see each other there and see each other at the summer meets," Essner said. "Then coming here to state and everything, it's cool to see her. We've known each other for a long time."

Simpher said she has fun running against Essner.

"[Essner] pushes me to run a good time," Simpher said. "I was pleased with my 400 time because it was the fastest I've ever ran it."

Simpher's time was more than one second better than when she won the 400 championship for Class 1 her freshman year. Saxony moved up to Class 2 this year.

"I'm glad we went to Class 2 because there's faster girls," Simpher said. "Stephanie is in Class 2 and I run with her at a lot of meets back in Jackson. Going to Class 2 boosts my times. I always want to beat my personal time, which I did this year."

Like Essner, Simpher had a difficult schedule. Simpher also competed in the 800, which was scheduled less than 40 minutes after the 400. Despite entering the 800 with the third-best seed time, Simpher finished 11th.

Simpher started running the 800 this season after dropping a few sprints.

"I felt like I didn't have enough time between [races]," Simpher said. "I just guess it wasn't enough. My 800, I was pleased to make it here to state. I ran faster at sectionals."

Meanwhile, Oran's Haley Glastetter finished third in the 400 (1:01:59) in Class 1.