St. Louis girls took center stage at last weekend’s Missouri State High School Activities Association Track and Field State Championships in Jefferson City.
St. Louis area teams dashed to three state championships as Cardinal Ritter won the Class 5 state title, Parkway Central won Class 4, and Westminster Christian came home with the Class 3 state crown. All three teams won their respective state titles by sizable margins.
For Cardinal Ritter, it was the second consecutive state championship under the direction of coach Tiffany Spain. The Lions scored 85.5 points, nearly 40 points more than their nearest competitor. Sophomore sensation Aniyah Brown dominated the sprints with state titles in the 100- and 200-meter dashes. She recorded state record times of 11.41 seconds in the 100 and 23.27 seconds in the 200.
The Lions also took home first place in the 4×100 and 4×400-meter relays. The 4×100 team of Alexis Taylor, Charlye Moody, Nazariah Jones, and Brown won in a meet record time of 46.14. The 4×400 team of Hannah Wallace, Kyndall Spain, Neveah Bryant, and Brown finished first in 3:50.84, another meet record.
The Lions also scored points in several other events as Taylor finished fourth in the 400, Moody was fourth in the 200 and second in the 400 while Spain was third in the 100-meter-high hurdles and fourth in the 300-meter low hurdles. Ritter also finished second in the 4×200-meter relay.
Parkway Central won the Class 4 state championship with 78 points, 26 points clear of the field. The Colts powered their way to a state title with their talented group of sprinters and hurdlers. Kayelyn Tatle won the 200 in 24.48 seconds and finished second in the 100. Skyye Lee was a double winner for the Colts as she won the 100-meter-high hurdles in 13.84 seconds and 300-meter low hurdles in 43.76 seconds, which were both meet records.
The Colts also won the 4×200- and 4×400-meter relay state titles. The team of Nnenna Okpara, Lee, Mychael Green and Tate won the 4×200 in 1:39.49 while the same quartet won the 4×400 in 3:58.42. Okpara also finished second in the 200 and 400 while Green was fifth in the 400.
Westminster Christian scored 70 points to bring home its first state championship in girls track and field. Brooke Moore was the individual star of the Class 3 meet with state championship performances in the long jump, triple jump, and 100-meter-high hurdles. She won the long jump with a leap of 18 feet 9 inches, the triple jump with an effort of 39 feet 4 1/2 inches and the hurdles in a time of 12.29. Moore also finished fifth in the 100. Sydney Burdine finished first in the 400 in a time of 57.24 while the team of Hannah Gray, Samaria Buford, Addie Draper and Burdine won the 4×400 in 4:02.62.
Adding to the area girls’ state title haul over the weekend were Chavi Flowers of Incarnate Word, Leah Thames of STEAM Academy at McCluer South Berkeley and Lily Jackson of St. Charles West in Class 3. Flowers won the 100 in 11.88 seconds, Thames won the 200 in 24.52 and Jackson won the 1,600-meter run in 5 minutes 10.79 seconds.
