At this year’s state meets, the Notre Dame track and field teams managed to not come away with just one all-state medal but eight, which happened to be the same total from last season.
The Bulldogs boys team took home the most with five all-state finishes while competing in a classification below the girls in Class 3. Notre Dame’s girls team took home three all-state medals in the Class 4 meet.
Notre Dame had a total of four athletes earn all-state in multiple events as junior Lauren Eftink became a three-time all-state medalist by finishing in the top eight of two events in Class 4 this year. Eftink did so by placing sixth overall in both the 1600 and 3200-meter runs by posting times of five minutes, 12.92 seconds and 11:20.65, respectively.
Harrisonville sophomore Kayleigh Norris won the 1600 Class 4 State Championship by finishing the race in under five minutes (4:58.04), while Cor Jesu senior Adrienne Luna won the 3200 race at 10:54.11.
Lauren is now a two-time all-state medalist in the 1600 with her finish this spring as she took eighth overall by crossing the finish line at 5:17.04 as a sophomore last year. Eftink is also a two-time all-stater in cross country (11th this year and 22nd last year; both in Class 4).
The next Bulldog to earn multiple all-state medals this season was Lindenwood signee Cole Bruenderman, who brought home a total of four in Class 3. Bruenderman earned two of those medals individually on the field by taking fourth in both long jump and triple jump with leaps of 21 feet, nine and a half inches and 43-9.25, respectively.
Cole was also a member of both the Class 3 third-place 4×100-meter relay team with fellow seniors Gregory Dennis, Davis Dow and junior Jacob Brown. They combined for a final time of 43.19, which was only .51 seconds behind the event state champion Lutheran North’s time of 42.68.
Brown and Dow are the final athletes for Notre Dame to bring home multiple all-state medals as they were also members of the 4×200-meter relay team that took seventh with Bruenderman and senior Kyle Eftink. These four Bulldogs combined for a time of 1:32.16, which was 3.46 seconds behind event state champion Lutheran North’s first-place mark of 1:28.7.
Lastly, Brown earned three all-state medals as he also placed in the top eight individually in the 100-meter dash by recording a finish of 11.01. Buffalo senior Brett Schwanke won the individual state championship in the 100 at 10.49 (.52 seconds ahead of Brown).
The eighth and final all-state finish for Notre Dame on all-state weekend was by senior Katy Turner, who finished eighth overall in pole vault with a mark of 9-6.25. Winning the event was Festus senior Ella Shy at 10-11.
Turner will continue her track and field career at Maryville starting next school year, while fellow all-state medalist Dennis will do so as well at Southeast Missouri State.
Other state qualifiers for Notre Dame were seniors Jenna Givens (triple jump; 4×800-meter relay team), Mason Morris (1600; 3200), junior Emma Duenne (discus), sophomores Lily Carr (300-meter dash; 4×800), Abbie Spooler (pole vault) and Courtney Tatum (4×800).
Both Duenne and Givens earned all-state at last year’s Class 4 meet with Eftink as Emma took seventh in discus, while Jenna was a two-time all-stater in triple jump.
Givens, who will continue her jumping career at Saint Louis, took ninth in triple jump at state this year with a leap of 34-1.25. The all-state mark of eighth place was 34-4.75, which Hillsboro junior Krysta Miller made.
