Tigers shine at district track meet

Nevada High School junior Ashley Shumaker clears the bar at 5-4 on Saturday during the girls high jump at the Class 3, District 6 Meet at Carl Junction. Shumaker took first place in the event and advanced to this weekend's sectional meet in Marshfield, where a trip to state is on the line. Jason Peake/Daily Mail photos

By Jason Peake

Daily Mail Sports Editor

CARL JUNCTION -- Do your best and let the chips fall where they may.

Morgan Hold of Nevada takes off during the boys pole vault on Saturday at the district track meet in Carl Junction. Hold tied for second place and advanced to the sectional. Look for more photos from the meet in the photo gallery section.

That was the advice Robert Watts had for his Nevada High School track team before the district meet began. And on Saturday, that's exactly what the Tigers did.

With the season on the line, the Tigers had a solid showing at the Class 3, District 6 Track Meet at Carl Junction High School.

In all, four individuals and one relay team qualified for this weekend's sectional track meet.

Rees Noble hands off to Kelsey McCall, and gives some words of encouragement, during the 4x100 relay.

"We came and competed as best as we could," Watts said at the meet's conclusion. "We're pretty satisfied with the group we have moving on. Overall, we had a lot of personal bests and some others were right at their PRs. And that was the plan."

And while several others just missed qualifying, Watts noted his team had season-best performances in numerous events.

"We hate for some of them to end the season today because some of them were real close," he said.

District champ

Ashley Shumaker hadn't jumped at a competitive meet in weeks.

It was hard to tell.

Shumaker was the lone district champion for Nevada on Saturday, as the junior won the girls high jump by clearing 5-foot-4.

"Ashley jumped great," Coach Watts said. "We expected her to jump well today. But it's been almost a month since she's jumped. It's nice to see her back where she was last year."

Shumaker cleared all the earlier heights on her first attempt, and cleared 5-4 on her third attempt. She attempted 5-6 three times, but came up just short each time, clipping the bar with her foot.

Moving on

Nevada junior Morgan Hold tied for second place in the boys pole vault, clearing 12-6.

Carl Junction's Christian Repsher won the district title by clearing 13 feet. Cody Hobbs of McDonald County also cleared 12-6 and tied Hold for second. NHS pole vault coach Warren Langford noted that Hold is still getting used to a larger pole.

The team's other second place finisher was Alex Bledsoe. A senior, Bledsoe crossed the line second in the 800-meter run with a time of 2:08. Immediately after walking off the track, Bledsoe passed out, falling face first on the football field's turf.

He was attended to by the site's trainer and appeared to be okay after a few minutes. Bledsoe was later held out of the 4x400 relay, though.

Next, Nevada's McKayla Hoselton earned a spot at the sectional by finishing third in the girls discus.

Just a freshman, Hoselton's toss went 102-08. Mac County's Darien Stancell was the district champ with a throw of 118-05 and Republic's Sarah Kreul took second (110-05).

Nevada had high hopes for its relay teams on Saturday. One managed to advance.

The girls 4x100 relay team of Bailey Harbit, Kelsey McCall, Rees Noble and Megan Mason qualified for the sectional by finishing fourth. The Tigers crossed the line at 53.39. Strong finishes by Noble and McCall, the anchor, secured a top-four finish.

"First through fourth were all right together in that one," Watts noted. "They made up some ground at the end."

Harbit and Noble are seniors, while McCall and Mason are sophomores.

Cassville won the event with a time of 52.23, while Reeds Spring (53.01) and Logan-Rogersville (53.17) finished just ahead of the Tigers in second and third.

Just missed

Several NHS athletes just missed qualifying for the sectional. Shumaker finished fifth in the long jump, but set a new personal best with a leap of 15-5.5, nearly a foot farther than her previous best.

NHS junior Dalton Hendren finished fifth in the finals of the 200 (23.17) and was seventh in the 100 meter dash finals with a time of 11.67. In the 200, Hendren had the third-best time in the prelims, but was edged by a few tenths of a second for the fourth spot.

Noble advanced to the finals of the girls 200, but false-started.

Steffen Ogle finished fifth in the boys pole vault. The sophomore cleared 12 feet. Brooklyn Vincent was fifth in the girls shot put and seventh in the discus.

The boys 4x400 relay team of Kyle Bennett, Quinton Jacks, Ryan Ferris, and Hendren finished fifth with a time of 3:43. The boys 4x100 team of Bennett, Ferris, Hendren and Tristin Smith took seventh. McCall was sixth in the 100 finals (13.59).

Team champs

Led by its overall team depth, Bolivar swept both the boys and girls titles. On the girls side, Bolivar edged Clinton by just two points, 111 to 109, for first. Springfield Catholic was second on the boys side.

Bolivar's girls won just two events, while the Liberators only took first in one boys event. But the school had 18 top-four finishes combined.

Next: The Class 3, Sectional 3 Meet will take place on Saturday at Marshfield. The top finishers from District 5 and 6 will compete for spots at the state track meet. The state track meet is May 25-26 at Lincoln University in Jefferson City.

Class 3, District Meet

Girls team standings -- 1. Bolivar 111, 2. Clinton 109, 3. Carl Junction 70, 4. McDonald County 67, 5. Republic 59, 6. Logan-Rogersville 57, 7. Springfield Catholic 53, 8. Reeds Spring 44, 9. tie. Cassville 38, Nevada 38, 11. Seneca 21, 12. Aurora 16, 13. Monett 10, 14. East Newton 4, 15. Hillcrest 3, 16. Mt. Vernon 1.

Boys team standings -- 1. Bolivar 92.5, 2. Springfield Catholic 87.5, 3. Carl Junction 77, 4. Cassville 49, 5. Republic 47.5, 6. Logan-Rogersville 46, tie. Clinton 46, 8. Reeds Spring 43.5, 9. McDonald County 42.5, 10. Nevada 32, 11. Hillcrest 31, 12. Mt. Vernon 29.5, 13. Monett 28, 14. Seneca 22, 15. Aurora 13, 16. East Newton 12.

Other NHS results

GIRLS

Long jump -- Megan Mason, ninth, 14-8.25.

Discus -- Vincent, seventh, 99-02.5.

Shot put -- Vincent, fifth, 33-06; Brittany Vickers, 16th, 29-09.5.

100 hurdles -- Caitlin Johnson, 11th, 18.12; Gabby Gire, 17th, 20.15.

300 H -- Johnson, seventh, 52.44; Brooklyn Ryan, 14th, 59.93.100 prelims -- Harbit, 17th, 14.28.

200 prelims -- McCall, 11th, 28.52.

4x200 -- (McCall, Noble, Mason, Harbit) seventh, 1:54.

4x400 -- (Harbit, Johnson, Noble, Shumaker) ninth, 4:45.

BOYS

Discus --Anthony Mahder, 10th, 121-07; Brent Baughn, 15th, 116-04.

Shot put -- Mahder, 12th, 38-08.5; Baughn, 14th, 38-05.

110 Hurdles -- Nick Geeding, ninth, 18.06.

4x200 -- (Hendren, Smith, Ferris, Bennett), eighth, 1:40.

1600-- Ben Sommer, 12th, 5:00.

4x100 -- (Bennett, Hendren, Ferris, Smith), seventh, 46.63.

400-- Bledsoe, ninth, 55.97.

300 H -- Geeding, ninth, 44.05; Quinton Jacks, 14th, 45.85.

3200--Dalton Shunkwiler, 12th, 11:20.