A handful of student-athletes from the Stover and Cole Camp track and field placed in the State Track meet this weekend.
Cole Camp
Freshman led the way for Cole Camp’s girls team, with Tayler Gudde claiming a state championship in the 1600 meter run at the Missouri Class 2 track and field meet at Jefferson City High School in Jefferson City with a time of 5 minutes 19.11 seconds. She is the first Cole Camp track and field state champion.
Gudde was also part of a fifth-place, all-freshman 4×800 meter relay team with Lainy Williams and sisters Braiden and Delaney Dougherty. They finished in 10 minutes 13.27 seconds.
The 4×100 meters relay team of MacKenze Gudde, Shelby Sprinkle, Maddi Cook, and Tori Harding placed 12th and set a new school record of 53.69 seconds. The 4×400 relay team of Tayler, Delaney, Harding and Williams placed sixth, breaking their own school record of 4 minutes 15.22 seconds.
Williams finished fifth in the high jump clearing 5 feet-1 inch.
Cole Camp track and field head coach Tom Ward said he was pleased with his freshmen’s composure at the state meet.
“I didn’t know what to expect from freshman, I had no clue how they would react,” Ward said. “All of them worked really well Friday and Saturday.”
Ward credits Cole Camp junior high track and field coaches Jared Espy and Angel Williams for the success of some first-year Lady Bluebirds.
“We’ve got probably five or six more freshman on that group and good sophomores and juniors… I can’t wait til spring next year,” Ward said. “Hopefully we’ll continue to improve.”
The Lady Bluebirds 4×400 relay team, of Tayler, Harding, finished sixth in 4 minutes 15 seconds. Cole Camp finished 12th overall with 21 points. Lathrop earned the Class 2 State Title.
Stover
Mallory Uptegrove and Alex Haag placed at the Class 1 track and field state championships at Jefferson City this weekend.
Mallory finished third in the high jump with a mark of 5-feet-1. She also placed ninth in the high jump.
Haag placed seventh in the high jump, clearing 6 feet.
Stover track and field head coach Micah Uptegrove said having a high jump pit at the school to practice helped imrpove the duo’s performance.
“(There was) more experience and more consistency this year,” Uptegrove said. “We didn’t have to go to Versailles to use their facilities. (Haag and Mallory) were consistent and both were pretty steady in their events. They worked really hard to get their consistency down. I was proud of them.”
