Mexico misses podium on state track Day 1; Centralia brings home four medals

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The first day of the Class 3 and Class 4 MSHSAA state track and field championships was held Friday at Adkins Stadium in Jefferson City. Centralia competed in Class 3 while Mexico had several boys going in Class 4.

Mexico failed to qualify for finals on Saturday in the 4x100- and 4x400-meter relays, Anthony Shivers missed out in the 100-meter dash, and Tyler Grimes just missed the top eight for a state medal in the 800-meter run.

Centralia in Class 3 had a good start to its weekend as the girls won two medals and the boys delievered two medals.

The girls 4x800-meter relay team of Kenedee Moss, Becca Erisman, Annie Robinson and Jozelynn Bostick finished second with a time of 9:57.64, which was just behind El Dorado Springs' 9:57.03, and senior Ellie Berendzen made her third trip to state in the girls discus worth it with a fourth-place throw of 34.33 meters, which she almost reached on her second throw of 34.30 meters for her first career state medal. 

"Kenedee as our starter works our really well because she can go out and stay with the top people or just get out way in front and widen the gap," Bostick said. "Becca's really good coming in at second and passing whoever needs to be passed and she has a really good kick. Annie does well maintaining that spot and just making sure no one passes her while also catching people. I just try my hardest to catch everyone that I can."

"I was excited because it took a lot of the pressure off that I've put on myself," Berendzen said about her second throw. 

The Centralia boys had medals come from long-distance rances as JR Lesher finished seventh in the 1600-meter run and Rohan Holiman was fifth in the 800-meter run with a school-record time of 1:58.82 as they each earned their first career state medal.

"I did so much running over the winter and summer," Lesher said. "I'm really glad that my hours paid off."

"My time two weeks ago would not have gotten here," Holiman said. "Then you come into districts, it really brings out how much you can really do."

Morgan Grubb is Mexico's final qualifier competing at 9 a.m. Saturday in the boys pole vault. The Centralia girls are tied for 4th at 13 points with St. Michael the Archangel to be in position for a team trophy. The Lady Panther 4x200 and 4x400 relay teams made finals for Saturday, and Shelby Lewis qualified for the 200- and 400-meter dash finals on Saturday, with Lewis setting a school-record time of 26.03 in the 200.

Look for Day 2 results on the Mexico Ledger website tomorrow and look for the full state track stories for Mexico and Centralia in the Wednesday, May 31, 2023, edition of the Mexico Ledger.


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