Wright City to send five to state track meet

By John Rohlf, Sports Editor
Posted 5/24/23

Wright City will send five athletes to this week’s state track meet.

The Wildcats placed fourth or better in five events at last weekend’s Class 3, Sectional 2 competition to qualify …

This item is available in full to subscribers.

Please log in to continue

Log in

Wright City to send five to state track meet

Posted

Wright City will send five athletes to this week’s state track meet.

The Wildcats placed fourth or better in five events at last weekend’s Class 3, Sectional 2 competition to qualify for the Class 3 state meet in those events. The Wildcats were once again led by senior Jeremiah Davis, who qualified for state in four events. Davis won the 100- meter dash and 200-meter dash. He placed second in the 400-meter dash.

Coach Fred Ross noted the challenges Davis had in competing in four events on the day. 

“Luckily, it wasn’t really hot so we got him in the tent and cooled down,” Ross said. “We had to make sure he got hydrated and cooled down. We also had to make sure he got up and warmed up properly.” 

Davis teamed up with Blake Hogan, Devin Myers and Davis Riggs to win the 4x200-meter relay. The Wildcats won the relay by 0.07 seconds. Ross thinks the Wildcat relay team ran a good time Saturday but can run faster at the state meet. He said they planned to work on handoffs in preparation for the state competition. 

“We had a couple handoffs I think we can do better on,” Ross said. “Hopefully they’ll do that at state and get that lower time. We haven’t had a state placer in a relay in a long time so hopefully they’ll peak at the right time as well and get their good handoffs and get through.”

Junior Elizabeth Riggs placed fourth in the 300-meter hurdle competition to return to the state meet. Riggs placed third in Class 3 in the event as a sophomore.  

“She ran a pretty good time but not her fastest time,” Ross said. “Hurdles is one of those events where it’s a little bit different than the other events because you make a mistake and you’re pretty much out of the race. Especially at this level. So it’s a lot more stressful than some of the other events.” 

The Wildcats competed at last week’s sectional meet in six events. They finished one spot short of qualifying for state in four of the events. Isaiah Yoder placed fifth in the 1600-meter run and 3200-meter run. David Riggs placed fifth in the 800-meter run. Kaedyn Johnson placed fifth in the pole vault competition. The girls’ 4x400-meter relay team comprised of Lindsay Pettus, Teagen Riley, Elizabeth Riggs and Lydia Clubb placed seventh. Emma Staats placed eighth in the javelin competition. 

Despite not advancing to state, Yoder and the relay team both recorded personal records. Yoder ran a personal record in the 1600-meter run by 12 seconds. 

“Everyone was peaking at the right time,” Ross said. “Sometimes, the better kids are better than you are. Our kids performed well and the ones that got through did really well.” 

Ross said the focus earlier this week in practice was on fine tuning in preparation for the state meet. He said they will work with Davis on acceleration, noting there can always be improvement in the blocks. 

“We thought he kind of started kind of slow in that 400 race,” Ross said. “So we’ll work with that with some workouts to try to increase that speed coming out of the beginning. We know he’s got that kick but he didn’t quite have enough to beat that kid from Clark County.”


X