It took more than 12 hours, but Smith-Cotton landed three appearances on the podium Saturday, May 27 on day two of the Missouri state track meet.
Smith-Cotton junior Monique Grant competed in three events in the Class 5 Missouri Track and Field Meet at Dennis and Roberta Licklider Track Complex in Adkins Stadium in Jefferson City, placing fifth in both the 100 and 200-meter dash.
Grant finished the 100 meter in 12.08 seconds and the 200 meter in 25.22. She placed 13th in long jump with a mark of 16 feet, 3 inches.
Senior Keoni Hale was 12th with a mark of 42-10 in the boy’s triple jump. Lady Tiger junior Saige Peterson finished 11th in the 800 meter in 2:22.93.
Thunderstorms delayed the final day of the Missouri high school track and field season for five and a half hours. At 1:39 p.m., with rain leading fans to relocate, lightning halted the Class 5 girl’s 1,600 meter run.
Subsequent tornado warnings prompted officials to evacuate Adkins Stadium and “Tent City” — a collection of school-sponsored canopies west of the track. The stadium was scheduled to reopen at 5 p.m., and the interrupted race to restart thirty minutes later.
Lightning further delayed events until 6:20, and on a rolling schedule, action finished in Jefferson City around 11 p.m.
Peterson and Hale waited until after the delay for their lone event. Grant ran the 200 meter after the break.
Smith-Cotton head coach Brad Hagedorn said waiting for the three separate thunderstorm cells to pass was taxing. The group visited a local mall to pass time once the stadium evacuated.
“The rain delay was brutal,” Hagedorn said. “We sat in a vehicle for a portion of that, waiting for a decision to be made. They ran it off pretty quick once it got started again.”
While Hagedorn said he is pleased with any and all Smith-Cotton All-State performances — and the fact the Tigers and Lady Tigers each won the West Central Conference meet — a tinge of end-of-season disappointment exists.
Hale, who had the highest place for any Tiger with a 6-6 mark in high jump Friday, cleared three inches higher earlier this season. He placed third.
Hagedorn said on Friday, senior Mikayla Gear tossed better throws in warm-ups and on Saturday, Peterson was in seventh place for a majority of the 800 before a stumble.
“I thought we left some stuff on the table, but any all-stater is a good all-stater,” Hagedorn said. “We had a great season. Several meet wins. Both the girls and boys won the conference, which is always the goal for us. We had a nice group of kids, not just the ones that went to state, that really competed and had a good season on the track. We were sure proud of them.”
On day one, Grant placed 10th with a mark of 35-9 1/2 in the triple jump and Gear threw 109-4 in discus. Junior Tyshawn Ward ran the boy’s 100 meter in 11.14, placing 13th in preliminaries.
Hale collected six points for the Smith-Cotton boys and Grant had eight for the girls. Lee’s Summit West won the girl’s meet with 109 points, while Blue Springs won the boy’s meet with 70 points.
