The young athletes from the Ferguson-Florissant School District showed up and showed out at last weekend’s Missouri State Track and Field Championships in Jefferson City.
For the kids who attend McCluer North, McCluer and McCluer South-Berkeley, the beginning of the 2014-15 school year was thrown into upheaval with all of the turmoil happening in Ferguson. Kids had to wait an entire week to begin classes, while athletes had to be uprooted from their home venues for practices and games.
As tumultuous as things were for these young people at the beginning of the year, you could not have asked for a better ending for these talented youngsters. They put on a show in Jefferson City. When the dust was cleared, the kids from Ferguson-Florissant departed the state capitol with a multitude of All-State medals and plenty of state-championship hardware for the school’s trophy cases.
In total, Ferguson-Florissant accounted for four team trophies (including two state championships), eight individual state-championships, five relay championships and 42 All-State medals.
Back to back champsÂ
McCluer North’s girls won the Class 5 state championships. The Stars won the Class 4 state title last season, thus making them back-to-back state champions. McCluer South-Berkeley brought home two team trophies. The boys won the Class 3 state championship while the girls finished second in the team standings. McCluer High’s boys finished third in the Class 4 team standings.
Historic hurdlerÂ
McCluer North’s Jasmine Barge ended her stellar career by repeating as a state champion in the 100-meter high hurdles and 300-meter low hurdles. She will go down as one of the top hurdlers in the history of the Show-Me State.
Dominant sprinterÂ
McCluer South-Berkeley’s Kamira Franklin dominated the Class 3 girls’ sprints as she won the 100, 200 and 400-meter dashes. She added a fourth state title as a member of the 4×400-meter relay team along with Ne-Shay Curtis, Taylor Fox and Miesha Robinson.
Dashing young menÂ
McCluer South-Berkeley’s Tuvone Clark won the Class 3 boys 110-meter high hurdles. Teammate Michael Miller won the 400-meter dash. Together, they also led the Bulldogs to a championship in the 4×400 along with Lawrence Woods and Eugene Irby.
Longest jumperÂ
McCluer North’s Harry Ballard won the Class 5 state championship in the long jump with a leap of 22 feet 1 ½ inches.
Sprint relay sweepsÂ
McCluer’s boys swept all three sprint relays at the Class 4 meet. The 4×100 team consisted of Maleek Rhone, Kevin Spraggins, Henry Jones and Requan Stallings. The 4×200 team was Jones, Spraggins, Stallings and Asa McFadden while the 4×400 crew consisted of McFadden, Chris Murray, Kyren Martin and Josh Haskin.
Overall, it was a brilliant display of speed and championship-level excellence that these kids put on over the weekend. As a product of the Ferguson-Florissant district (McCluer North, Class of ’82) it was very special and even more important to see these young people shine in the spotlight on this grand stage.