Jackson track and field team dominates at SEMO North meet

In the northeast corner of Tiger Stadium at Central High School, Jackson senior Dylan Rush and sophomore teammate Dakota Maddox dueled for the boys pole vault title before a handful of onlookers at the SEMO Conference North meet, making do with light intended for a football field.

It was more than 5 and 1/2 hours after the scheduled start of the four-team meet, which was delayed by more than an hour because of a thunderstorm, and a dreary sky had long before given way to blackness.

It was a fitting conclusion that a tandem of Indians were all that remained of the competition. Any drama about the conference winner had packed up and left some time earlier, too.

Jackson comfortably defended its titles on both the boys and girls side -- varsity and JV.

Jackson finished with 122 points in the boys varsity competition to easily outdistance runner-up Poplar Bluff (55.5), Sikeston (46.5) and Central (14).

It was the third straight conference crown for the Jackson boys,

For the record, Rush won the pole vault, clearing 14 feet, 6 inches -- Maddox cleared 14-0 -- to claim one of 12 victories by the Indians in the 18 events on the boys side.

"Sometimes the 4x400 is going on or the guys will go first and the girls will wait a little bit, but it was empty tonight," Rush said about his continued dominance in an event seen by few amid sporadic raindrops and flashes of lightning in the distance.

Rush, who finished third at the Class 4 state meet last year with a vault of 15-0, seemed more concerned about a new pole that he has been working with rather than weather or darkness. He's cleared 15-6 on several occasions this year with a heavier pole.

"We've been trying to get 16-foot on this pole -- the 180 -- and it doesn't want to cooperate, but I'm getting better," Rush said. "It's probably the best I've jumped on it so far. Hopefully next meet I can get it."

It was one of four 1-2 finishes for the Jackson boys, including seniors Clay Darnell (146-5) and Nick Keser (145-0) in the discus.

Jackson's Sierra Maddox clears 12 feet in the pole vault event Friday, May 9, 2014 during the SEMO Conference track meet at Central High School. (Fred Lynch)

"We have really good coaches," Rush said. "Coach [Richard] Rushin is a really good throwing coach, and we've got probably two of the most knowledgeable coaches in pole vaulting. Together they have over 100 years of experience.

"They're pretty old," Rush said with a smile, referring to veteran coaches Bob Sink and Tim Radamaker.

The Jackson girls won seven events and also boasted four 1-2 finishes in compiling 100 points for a 26-point win over Poplar Bluff (74), which was followed by Sikeston (64) and Central (33).

Maddox's older sister, Sierra, helped provide a 1-2 finish in the vault on the girls side in the daylight. The senior, the defending Class 4 state champion and three-time conference champion, cleared 12-6 on her first attempt to separate herself from teammate and fellow senior Shannon Davis, who topped out at 10-6. Maddox won the state title with a vault of 12-6 as a junior and has since pushed her school record to 12-9.

She came up short on three attempts at 13-0 on Friday, trying to become the first girl in Missouri history to attain the height.

"I'm really shooting for 13-0, that's my goal this year," Maddox said. "I'm happy with myself, but I won't be truly happy until I get that 13 ... there's a few things to work on, but I'm getting closer and closer every meet. I've just got to tweak a few things here and there, and I'll be able to get it. Gosh, I'm like right there ... I've never wanted something so bad."

Personal bests, on the whole, were secondary for the Indians, who were in pursuit of overall points to maintain conference bragging rights.

"We had a lot of people step up today that ran in three, four events, knowing they're not going to be able to set personal records and stuff, but they're going to be able to score more points that way," Jackson coach Jim Stoverink said. "And so the whole team was focused on wanting to win a team title."

Jackson had a double individual winner on both the boys and girls side. Senior Blake Reimann won the high jump (5-8) and triple jump (40-7), while freshman Ana Compton led 1-2 finishes for the Indians in the 1,600 (12 minutes, 34.82 seconds) and 3,200 (12:34.82).

In an attempt to gain more points, the Indians had defending 1,600 champion Chelsea Drum turn her attention, and talents, elsewhere. Drum won the 800 (2:30.88), but finished third in the 400 -- an event she normally does not run.

"We knew she'd have to run really good to get third, and that's what she did, so we get third-place points there that we normally don't," Stoverink said. "Yeah, she sacrifices being the conference champion in the 1,600 to get us some more points in another event. It's things like that ... Carli Knott PRed in the 400 by nearly a second. Macey Huff, a freshman, PRed in the long jump by 1 1/2 feet and got us some points that were a bonus."

Jackson's Clay Darnell competes in the discus event Friday, May 9, 2014 during the SEMO Conference track meet at Central High School. (Fred Lynch)

A deep Jackson team mined points wherever possible.

"We scored in about every event except for maybe the girls high jump, and there were a lot of events we went 1-2," Stoverink said.

Knott bumped off nemesis Alexis Boyd of Sikeston for the first time this season, winning the 400 in 59.16.

Knott also ran the opening leg on the victorious 1,600 relay (4:09.25), while the 3,200 relay team (10:49.91) also prevailed.

One of the personal bests was turned in by Keser, who won the conference shot put title for a third consecutive year with a toss of 51-11.

"I'm excited of course, and I'm just ready for districts because I hope to PR again," said Keser, who is hoping to make his first trip to the state meet. "It'd be awesome to like PR consistently all the way up to state. That'd be really nice.

"It's pretty awesome to win conference three years in a row, but I'm going to try not to get my head too big because districts and sectional are a lot more competition, so it'll be a lot tougher."

Class 4 district meets are Saturday, and Keser is hoping to hit 53 or 54 feet by the end of the season, which he said likely would gain all-state status at the state meet.

Keser finished 17 inches behind Darnell in the discus Friday.

"I'm disappointed I didn't get the win -- 1-2 is great points, though," Keser said.

Darnell, who placed fifth in the discus at the Class 4 meet as a junior, showed how dominating he can be in the event, winning on an off day with a throw of 146-5. He broke the school record with a toss of 173-4 earlier this season.

"I had probably two 180s warming up," said Darnell, who foot faulted on a similar throw in the finals before winning his third conference title in the event. "I was happy I got the last one in."

His winning throw was far short of what he hopes to accomplish, which is a throw over 180 feet. He believes the rest of the team also has a high ceiling.

"Some of our running events we can do real well in, too," Darnell said. "We get it put together right, and we could have a pretty good state team. Our field events are real strong."

Jackson senior Calvin Lysell (2:03) won the 800 and placed in the event for the third straight year, junior Jack Jeffers (4:35.85) won the 1,600 and senior Gabe Underwood (10:24.54) was victorious in the 3,200 after finishing runner-up as a junior.

The Indians swept the hurdles, with senior Brandon Mingo (17.48) winning the 100 event and senior Ty Crowden (42.82) winning the 300. Junior Xominique Davis (19-10 1/2) claimed the long and the 3,200 relay team prevailed in 8:34.61.

"It's funny, we went 30 years, I think, without winning this conference, now we've won it three years in a row on the boys' side," Stoverink said.

Girls

Team -- 1. Jackson 100; 2. Poplar Bluff 74; 3. Sikeston 64; 4. Central 33.

Individual results

100 -- 1. Antravia Green (S), 12.66; 2. Morgan Stone (J), 13.03; 3. Alexis Boyd (S), 13.23; 4. Allyssa Kimmich (J), 13.50; 5. Alexus Walker (C), 13.53; 6. Morgan Duschell (C), 13.60; 7. Netta Taylor (P), 13.68.

200 -- 1. Antravia Green (S), 26.95; 2. Morgan Stone (J), 27.18; 3. Brandy Peet (S), 28.31; 4. Allyssa Kimmich (J), 28.40; 5. Jazreil Hill (C), 28.96; 6. Alexus Walker (C), 29.16; 7. Netta Taylor (P), 30.36.

400 -- 1. Carli Knott (J), 59.16; 2. Alexis Boyd (S), 1:01.11; 3. Chelsea Drum (J), 1:02.32; 4. Aileena Stovall (S), 1:03.05; 5. Megan Knuckles (P), 1:06.17.

800 -- 1. Chelsea Drum (J), 2:30.88; 2. Tayler Winick (J), 2:36.09; 3. Kaitlyn Harris (P), 2:43.45; 4. Julia Albrecht (C), 2:45.21; 5. Zakia Hickman (P), 2:46.51.

1600 -- 1. Ana Compton (J), 5:37.40; 2. Tayler Winick (J), 5:38.31; 3. Bridget Trepasso (C), 5:48.87; 4. Zakia Hickman (P), 6:02.79; 5. Nikkia Hickman (P), 6:26.12; 6. Aleksandra Aleksandrova (C), 6:58.51.

3200 -- 1. Ana Compton (J), 12:34.82; 2. Courtney Hahs (J), 12:35.77; 3. Haley White (C), 13:17.26; 4. Maddy McDonald (C), 13:37.34; 5. Emma Cooper (P), 13:41.59; 6. Allison Huskey (P), 13:53.45.

100 hurdles -- 1. Lexi Hafford (P), 16.12; 2. Soley Webb (P), 16.57; 3. Macy Huff (J), 17.02; 4. Herrion (S), 17.83; 5. Kasidy Adams (J), 18.23; 6. Sims (S), 21.15.

300 hurdles -- 1. Soley Webb (P), 48.86; 2. Kasidy Adams (J), 49.39; 3. Macy Huff (J), 49.51; 4. Alex Isaac (P), 53.21; 5. SIms (S), 1:04.73.

40 relay -- 1. Sikeston, 50.65; 2. Poplar Bluff, 52.74; 3. Jackson, 54.02.

800 relay -- 1. Sikeston, 1:46.95; 2. Poplar Bluff, 1:50.57; 3. Cape Central, 1:51.52; 4. Jackson, 1:55.01.

1600 relay -- 1. Jackson, 4:09.25; 2. Sikeston, 4:14.17; 3. Poplar Bluff, 4:16.22.

3200 relay -- 1. Jackson, 10:49.91; 2. Cape Central, 11:03.58; 3. Poplar Bluff, 11:26.95.

High jump -- 1. Lexi Hafford (P), 5-0; 2. Cassidy Harris (P), 5-0; 3. Jones (S), 4-08; 4. Jazreil Hill (C), 4-06.

Long jump -- 1. Cassidy Harris (P), 17-04.25; 2. Macy Huff (J), 17-0; 3. Morgan Duschell (C), 15-10.5; 4. Makala McCauley (P), 15-9.5; 5. Nia Johnson (C), 15-08.25; 6. Allyssa Kimmich (J), 14-09.75; 7. Martin (S), 14-07.75; 8. Fields (S), 14-03.25.

Triple jump -- 1. Makala McCauley (P), 33-02; 2. Macy Huff (J), 32.11.75; 3. Martin (S), 32-10.75; 4. Cassidy Harris (P), 32-08.25; 5. Fields (S), 32-04; 6. Mackenzie Mitchell (C), 30-2.5; 7. Miranda Craft (J), 29-08.5.

Shot put -- 1. Ware-Burrow (S), 35-09.5; 2. Mikala Nichols (S), 35-07.5; 3. Nicole Humpheys (J), 35-06.5; 4. Hannah Sterling (C), 34-8; 5. Quetaja Martin (C), 32-0.5; 6. J.J. Ellis (P), 31-08; 7. Jovrnie Ryan (J), 31-05; 8. Kaitlyn Slaughter (P), 30-2.

Discus -- 1. J.J. Ellis (P), 123-10; 2. Quetaja Martin (C), 99-09; 3. Nicole Humpheys (J), 94-07; 4. Keaundriea Hughes (P), 92-02; 5. Mikala Nichols (S), 86-0; 6. Hannah Sterling (C), 80-04; 7. Freeman (S), 61-03.

Pole vault -- 1. Sierra Maddox (J), 12-06; 2. Shannon Davis (J), 10-06; 3. Smith (S), 9-0; 4. Kylee Stevenson (C), 9-0; 5. Haley Garrett (P), 8-0; 6. Olivia Bess-Rhodes (C), 7-06; 7. Sims (S), 6-06.

Boys

Team -- 1. Jackson 122; 2. Poplar Bluff 55.5; 3. Sikeston 46.5; 4. Cape Central 14.

Individual results

100 -- 1. D. Britton (P), 11.37; 2. A. Jefferson (P), 11.70; 3. Blake Reimann (J), 11.85; 4. Brandon Mingo (J), 11.86; 5. S. Vance (S), 12.29; 6. Jalen Reddin (C), 12.52; 7. Jordan Franklin (C), 12.59.

200 -- 1. Zach Harrison (S), 23.69; 2. Metcalf (P), 23.90; 3. Dontarius Williams (C), 24.88; 4. Gatewood (P), 25.14; 5. Demarco Finocchi (J), 25.46; 6. Austin Dost (J), 25.61; 7. Vance (S), 25.74.

400 -- 1. Deterio Newman (S), 52.92; 2. J. Emmons (P), 53.03; 3. Austin Dost (J), 53.17; 4. Metcalf (P), 53.42; 5. Gabe Dudley (J), 53.46; 6. Baragar (S), 55.17.

800 -- 1. Calvin Lysell (J), 2:03.23; 2. Williams (P), 2:05.42; 3. Jack Jeffers (J), 2:06.19; 4. Javeon Bonner (S), 2:08.43; 5. Davidson (P), 2:13.43; 6. Jay Richardson (C), 2:13.46; 7. Dial (S), 2:16.12; 8. Jacob Bishop (C), 2:22.17.

1600 -- 1. Jack Jeffers (J), 4:35.85; 2. I. Williams (P), 4:41.40; 3. Gabe Underwood (J), 4:44.86; 4. B. Davidson (P), 4:46.63; 5. Joseph Reed (C), 5:08.57; 6. Nick Hoang (S), 5:13.27; 7. Jared Boyd (S), 5:20.88.

3200 -- 1. Gabe Underwood (J), 10:24.54; 2. Davidson (P), 10:30.65; 3. Williams (P), 10:35.64; 4. Jackson Givens (J), 10:36.41; 5. Smith (S), 11:15.22; 6. Clayton Monia (C), 11:16.69; 7. Matthew Stearns (C), 12:02.84.

110 hurdles -- 1. Brandon Mingo (J), 17.48; 2. Demarco Finocchi (J), 18.41; 3. Williams (P), 18.56.

300 hurdles -- 1. Ty Crowden (J), 42.82; 2. B. Alford (P), 43.75; 3. Chase Davis (S), 44.35; 4. LaShonn Dean (J), 44.37; 5. D. Williams (P), 48.32.

400 relay -- 1. Poplar Bluff, 44.28; 2. Sikeston, 45.17; 3. Jackson, 46.33; 4. Cape Central, 47.54.

800 relay -- 1. Sikeston, 1:33.70; 2. Poplar Bluff, 1:35.43; 3. Jackson, 1:37.11; 4. Cape Central, 1:38.84.

1600 relay -- 1. Sikeston, 3:27.96; 2. Jackson, 3:28.57; 3. Cape Central, 3:47.10; 4. Poplar Bluff, 3:55.55.

3200 relay -- 1. Jackson, 8:34.61; 2. Sikeston, 8:37.21; 3. Cape Central, 9:09.70.

High jump -- 1. Blake Reimann (J), 5-08; 2. Brett Varner (J), 5-06; 3. Hickman (P), 5-02; 4. Baragar (S), 5-02.

Long jump -- 1. Xominique Davis (J), 19-10.5; 2. Metcalf (P), 19-07.75; 3. Hickman (P); 19-06; 4. Blake Reimann (J), 19-05.75; 5. Fobbs (S), 17-08.5.

Triple jump -- 1. Blake Reimann (J), 40-07; 2. J. Hickman (P), 39-07; 3. Deterio Newman (S), 39-06; 4. Xominique Davis (J), 39-02.75; 5. Jalen Reddin (C), 38-09.5; 6. Fobbs (S), 38-02.25.

Shot put -- 1. Nick Keser (J), 51-11; 2. Q. Michel (P), 48-0.5; 3. Lorenzen Brookins (C), 45-03; 4. Dane Evans (J), 43-07.5; 5. N. Michel (P), 39-0; 6. John Paul Rowland (S), 38-02; 7. Garner (S), 37-06; 8. Patrick Buck (C), 33-8.5.

Discus -- 1. Clay Darnell (J), 146-05; 2. Nick Keser (J), 145-00; 3. Q. Michel (P), 131-06; 4. N. Michel (P), 130-06; 5. Devin Cochran (S), 122-10; 6. Patrick Buck (C), 104-05; 7. Lorenzen Brookins (C), 103-00; 8. John Paul Rowland (S), 91-05.

Pole vault -- 1. Dylan Rush (J) 14-6; 2. Dakota Maddox (J) 14-0; 3. A. Vincent (PB) 13:00; 4. Brennan Redinger (CC) 12-0; 5. J. Pulliam (PB) 11-6; 5. S. Hawkins (S) 11-6; 7. S. Patterson (S) 11-0; 8. Cyrus Woolard (CC) 10-6.