The Jackson track and field program held its annual end of the year banquet following yet another successful season and ending 2019 with five all-state finishes.
The Indians said good-bye to a total of 11 seniors: Kennedy Bauer, Reece Bright, Jasmine Clay, Nicole Evans, Timothy Evans, Dylan Heu, Gavin Jones, Miranda Metje, Scout Pettit, Jackson Rinehart and finally Kaylee Wilson.
Three of those seniors, Bauer, Rinehart and Wilson, were able to finish their career on the state podium. The two other all-state finishers for Jackson were juniors Aaron Brown and Erin Huff.
Rinehart and Wilson were each honored as team captains, while Rinehart also took home the Most Outstanding Field Athlete Award, while Huff picked up the honor for the girls team. Wilson was also named Most Inspirational, along with Pettit.
Bauer and Brown were named Jackson’s Most Outstanding Field Athletes as juniors Jessica Kucera and Luke Wendel earned Most Improved.
Bauer, Brown and Wilson were also honored as their respective team’s top-five scorers. Rounding out the girls top five were junior Ashlyn Prince and freshman Layla Fliege and Ryleigh Kilhafner. Fliege and Prince also earned all-state honors to finish the season as members of the 4×800-relay team with Bauer and Wilson.
The other four top scorers for the boys team were juniors Caleb Craft, Donya Marx, Ethan Walz and sophomore Daniel Dickerson.
Craft, Dickerson and Marx each qualified for this year’s state meet. Marx took ninth in the long jump, Craft finished 12th in the 110-meter hurdles, while Dickerson and the 4×400 team finished 15th.
Both the boys and girls team won this year’s Overall and SEMO North Conference Championships, while the boys team came away with a district championship.
The final recognition of the night was for Jackson head coach Jim Stoverink, who officially retired after being on the staff for 12 seasons.
