The Jackson track and field program hosted its very own invitational this past weekend, with the Indians winning a total of 14 events between both the boys and girls team.
The boys team won 10 of the 14 events as six came in the field and four on the track. Each of the girls four wins came on the track as well.
Jackson’s boys team was able to take first place with a total score of 168.5 points to runner-up Poplar Bluff’s 133, while the girls placed second with 113 behind Jefferson (Festus) at 128.
Junior Donya Marx was able to win three events for the Indians, coming away first in high jump at 6-feet, 6-inches, long jump at 20-8 and finally triple jump with a mark of 43-4. Rightfully so, Marx was named the Outstanding Field Event Athlete for the meet.
Marx was also a leg on the 4×400-relay team that took first, which also included senior Reece Bright, fellow junior Aaron Brown and sophomore Daniel Dickerson. This team posted a time of three minutes, 31.75 seconds to win the event.
Also winning a field event was none other than senior Jackson Rinehart, who took first in pole vault with a 15-3 mark, which is currently the third leading vault in the state for week three.
Sophomores Rhet Liley and Connor Tollison won the final two field events as Liley continues to break his personal record in the javelin, which also happens to be the school record.
Liley finished with a throw of 150-11 to take first in the event, which was seven feet longer than the runner-up. Tollison won the discus event with a heave of 152-5 and placed third overall in shot put (43-4).
Jackson runners Brown and Dickerson continued to have success on the track as Brown yet again won the 400-meter dash with a time of 50.31, which was .79 seconds faster than Poplar Bluff senior Xavier Bartlett’s second-place time. Brown also took third in the 200-meter dash at 23.89.
Dickerson also took third in his respective event in the 100-meter dash with a finish of 11.63 behind Hayti senior Ivory Winters (11.42) and Poplar Bluff senior Shemy-ron Townsend (11.6).
Junior Luke Wendel was victorious in the 3200-meter run by posting a time of 10:14.14, which was 36.94 seconds ahead of second.
The final win for the Jackson boys came in the 4×800, where Wendel, senior Gavin Jones and juniors Michael Schneider and Patrick Boyd finished with a time of 8:32.66.
Claiming first place in two of the Jackson girls team’s four wins of the meet was University of Missouri – Kansas City signee senior Kennedy Bauer in the 1600 and 3200-meter run. She finished with a time of 5:32.92 in the 1600 and lastly 12:12.06 in the 3200. She shared the title of Outstanding Running Award along with fellow senior Kaylee Wilson, who came close to breaking the meet record 800-meter run.
The 800 record for the Jackson Invitational is 2:19.13 set by Landon Wachter in 2010, and Wilson took first place in this year’s event with a time of 2:19.86. This time currently ranks her second in the state behind Parkway North’s Reina McMillan (2:19.1).
“It was a truly gutsy performance as she didn’t have anyone that could compete with her and push her,” Jackson head coach Jim Stoverink said. “She had to pretty much run the race all by herself.”
Bauer and Wilson also helped lead the girls 4×800 relay team to victory along with junior Kayden Fisher and freshman Layla Fliege with a time of 10:14.68. Lindbergh was the runner-up with a time of 10:28.92.
The girls team also came away with three second-place and two third-place finishes. The 4×400 team compiled of sophomore Alexis Boyles, junior Ashlyn Prince, Fisher and Wilson took second behind Jefferson at 4:24.76 to the Blue Jays 4:22.41.
Junior pole vaulter Erin Huff took second in her respective event with a mark of 10-0, who is currently working on a new technique so she can record higher vaults by the end of the season.
The final second-place finisher for the girls was freshman Ryleigh Kilhafner, who finished with a time of 13.32 in the 100 behind Sikeston’s first-place senior Emma Jones (13.27).
Boyles took third in the 400-meter dash (1:05.63) as fellow sophomore Avery Bauer placed third in long jump with a leap of 14-9.5.
Jackson will compete in three meets this week starting with the Tiger Town Invitational on Tuesday.
