Ste. Gen Girls Nab 3rd
By ERIC X. VICCARO
EVICCARO@STEGENHERALD.COM
The Ste. Genevieve High School girls’ track and field team had quite the battle with Potosi for second place.
However, the Trojans were just a little better than the Dragons on this warm Friday afternoon at the Mineral Area Activities Association conference meet here in Ste. Genevieve.
Potosi scored 113.5 points, which was eight more than the Dragons. Farmington won the girls’ title, dominating the group with a whopping 210.5 points.
“I’m pretty happy with third place, honestly,” said Ste. Genevieve head girls’ coach Tyne Huck. “There were many stellar teams here. We put up some good numbers and some had personal-bests.”
On the boys’ side, distance runners lifted Ste. Genevieve to a sixth-place finish in a field of nine schools.
“I think with the numbers we have this year, and the size of the schools we competed against, a sixth-place finish is respectable,” said first-year head boys’ head coach Corey Samples.
Marysa Flieg, Megan Aubuchon and Maci Reynolds are known quantities; however, fellow senior Jaden Wehner has stepped up to make the Dragons even better in recent meets.
Wehner recorded a personal-best split time in the 400-meter run in helping the Dragons to a silver-medal performance, clocking in at 4:19.66 — less than six seconds off Farmington’s winning time.
Junior thrower Maggie Myracle also provided big points for Ste. Genevieve in the discus, coming in second place with a toss of 29.58 meters, which was a career-best mark.
Flieg continued gearing up for her future at Southeast Missouri State University with a gold-medal performance in her specialty, the javelin, with a mark of 40.51m — which was nearly five meters further than Farmington’s Jocelyn Cunningham.
Future Central Methodist competitor Aubuchon was tops in the 100 hurdles (15.12) with teammate Reynolds third. This marked the first time since ninth grade Reynolds (16.98) competed in this event.
Aubuchon and Reynolds went gold-silver in the 300 hurdles with respective times of 46.35 and 48.62. In the field, Aubuchon popped a winning high jump mark of 1.57m.
Jamison Kemper also stepped up in 400 and 800 relays, while Lana Kemper was fifth in the discus (marking at 24.38). Jamison also was seventh in the triple jump (8.76m).
The Dragons also doubled up in the shot put, with Etta Heller third (9.73m) followed by Jamison Kemper fourth (9.27m). Karissa Holst added a bronze-medal effort in the pole vault (2.44m).
The Ste. Genevieve distance relay (3,200m) claimed fourth place as the quartet of Gwen McKlin, Alison Braun, Cylie Carlson and Flieg recording a time of 10:55.68. Carlson also contributed points with a sixth-place finish in the 3,200 run (12:53.38).
The 400 relay group consisting of Jamison Kemper, Shayline Hampton, Wehner and Alissa Grass was sixth (57.68).
“I think we are doing pretty well,” Huck said when asked to assess the development of the girls’ program this year. “We’re excited, and we’ve done well against schools that are bigger than us.”
On the boys’ side, the 3,200-meter relay group comprised of Devin St. Clair, Nathan St. Clair, Levi Wiegand and Taylen Bader continues getting better, this time racing in with a gold-medal, personal-best effort of 8:22.87.
Bader, the dynamic sophomore, also thrilled the partisan fans with a gold medal in the open 1,600 run. Taylen clocked in at 4:42.03, two-tenths of a second faster than Adam Perry from Farmington. Nathan St. Clair was sixth in the same event (5:00.66).
In the 3,200, the Dragons scored nine points as Devin St. Clair was second (10:16.98) and Mason Gegg eighth (10:37.71). Both times were season-bests, Samples noted.
Austin McBride constantly shows his versatility, with a fourth in the discus throw (36.18m), fourth in pole vault (3.35m), seventh in the 100-meter dash (12.26), eighth in shot put (10.53).
Levi Wiegand recorded a season-best run in the 800 run, taking bronze in 2:06.64.
