The Cardinal Ritter College Prep Lions firmly established themselves as the dominant powerhouse in Missouri girls prep track and field over the weekend.
Cardinal Ritter sprinted to the Class 5 state championship at the MSHSAA State Championships in Jefferson City. It was the third consecutive state championship for Ritter, which outdistanced its nearest competitor by 31 points. Blue Springs finished in second place with 63 points.
Kyndall Spain is following in her mother and head coach’s footsteps as an All-State hurdler and state champion.
Under the direction of head coach Tiffany Spain, the Lions compiled big scoring totals on the track, in the field and in the sprint relays, where they swept all three races for championships. The Lions won the 4×100-meter relay in a winning time of 47.39 seconds, the 4×200 in 1 minute 39.66 seconds and the 4×400 in 3:48.86.
The Lions got individual state championships from sophomore Kyndall Spain in the 300-meter low hurdles and senior Alexis Taylor in the long jump. Spain posted a winning time of 42.48 seconds in the 300-meter low hurdles while Taylor won the long jump with a winning effort of 19 feet 6 inches.Â
Kyndall Spain is following in her mother and head coach’s footsteps as an All-State hurdler and state champion. Tiffany Spain (nee’ Jackson) earned All-State honors in both hurdles events as she helped lead Gateway Tech to the Class 4A state championship team in 2004.
Junior sprinter Aniyah Brown picked up two All-State medals by finishing third in the 100- and 200-meter dashes. Junior Charlye Moody finished fourth in the 200 and third in the 400. Spain also took home a second-place medal in the 100-meter high hurdles. In the field, Taylor also finished fifth in the triple jump and senior Nazariah Jones finished fourth in the same event.