Grimes atop podium twice for Mexico at Ron Whittaker Bulldog Classic

Tyler Grimes was ahead of the competition twice on Friday.

Mexico, Centralia at Ron Whittaker Photo Gallery

Grimes won the 800-meter run with a personal-best time of 2:05.65 for Mexico at its home Ron Whittaker Bulldog Classic while also being the anchor of the winning 4x100 relay along with Anthony Shivers, Morgan Grubb and Alex Rowan. The Bulldogs finished in the top three eight times to earn a medal each time.

Grubb was the runner-up in the pole vault, Thomas Peuster finished second in the 1600 and the 4x400 relay team of Shivers, Grimes, Grubb and Davontae Frame took second place. The 4x200 relay team of Shivers, Rowan, Charlie Fisher and Taye Potter finished third to contribute to a third-place team finish out of 12 schools with 83 points — Hannibal won with 166 points.

For the girls, Maggie Ramsey was second in the 3200 and the 4x800 team of Ramsey, Sidney Turlington, Viviana Benjamin and Emma Seibert was second.

Among the fourth-place finishers were Dante Kelley in the high jump and a personal-best 5.87 meters in the long jump, Shivers in the 100, Peuster in the 3200, and Rowan in the 400. 

Five of Mexico’s 11 seniors earned medals, but all the other seniors that were participating at Friday’s meet were honored with a ceremony along with their families. Shivers, Grubb, Peuster, Turlington, Benjamin, Leonie Dontenwill, Kelley, Mekhi Owens, Messiah Simpson and Elias Owens were among the group.

Centralia girls win Ron Whittaker Bulldog Classic, boys finish second

On Friday night in Mexico, the Centralia girls collected the medals and even a school record to be the top team.

The Lady Panthers won the Ron Whittaker Bulldog Classic with 151 points, which was ahead of Hannibal’s runner-up 141.5 points, earning 14 medals with top-three finishes and setting one school record with Harper Forshee taking third in the javelin with a throw of 36.45 meters — better than 35.74 meters set in 2018 by Gwendolyn Bostick. The boys finished second out of 12 schools with 101 points, which trailed behind Hannibal’s 166 points, by earning seven medals.

Autumn Hawkins in the long jump, Jozelynn Bostick in the 800, Shelby Lewis in the 200, the 4x800 relay team of Kenedee Moss, Rylee Palmer, Becca Erisman and Bostick, and the 4x400 relay team of Olivia Adams, Annie Robinson, Harper Sontheimer and Lewis all won their events. 

Also earning medals were Ellie Berendzen’s second in the discus, Cora King’s second in the shot put, Kaylie Ensor’s third in the pole vault, Erisman’s second in the 400, Forshee’s third in the javelin Adams’ third in the 400, Sontheimer’s third in the 300 hurdles, Palmer’s third in the 3200, the second place from the 4x200 relay team of Sontheimer, Hawkins, Kaelyn Walters and Lewis, and the second place by the 4x100 relay team of Sontheimer, Hawkins, Walters and Erisman.

Payton Mabrey in the shot put and JR Lesher in the 3200 gave the Centralia boys some wins. Other Panther medalists included Logan Rosenfelder’s third in the triple jump, Cayden Dunn’s second places in the 110 hurdles and 300 hurdles, the second place by the 4x800 relay team of Wesley Robertson, Dryst Bostick, Rohan Holiman and Landon Moss, and the second place by the 4x200 relay team of Jesse Caballero, Jacob Beard, Rosenfelder and Dunn.

Centralia sent a few other athletes to the Tomahawk Relays in Hallsville on Friday. Boen Zimmerman was second in the boys shot put, Josh Russell was fourth in the boys discus and Juliana Dollens was seventh in the girls 100 hurdles were a few of the highlights for the Panthers at the meet.

North Callaway boys win Hermann Open, girls win five events

The North Callaway boys turned several event wins into a meet victory on Friday.

The Thunderbirds won the Hermann Open with 148 points to best six other schools, winning seven events. The girls added five event victories to finish third out of six schools with 109 points, trailing behind Russellville’s winning 156.5 points.

Gavin Rasmussen won the 400 and was part of the first-place 4x400 relay team with Chance Cunningham, Clayton Moore and Levi Drake. Among the boys’ other winners were Drake in the 1600, Brendan Reinhard in the high jump, Tristan Young in the pole vault, Isiah Craighead in the javelin, and the 4x100 relay team of Dalton Brewer, Craighead, Austin Brown and Erik Blair.

Pressley Schmauch won the 800 and 1600 to lead the girls, Lia Bondurant won the high jump, Ainsley Marx was first in the pole vault and Jalyn Leible won the triple jump.

For the boys, Rasmussen was also third in the 200 and fourth in the long jump, Moore was fourth in the 400, Cunningham was second in the 800, Gabe Heuer was third in the 800 and fourth in the 1600, Dillon Higgenbotham was second in the 110 hurdles and third in the 300 hurdles, Dane Kemp was fourth in the high jump, Aidan Martin was third in the pole vault and third in the triple jump, and Mathias Lobb was fourth in the pole vault. 

On the girls side, Cora Tripp was second in the 100 hurdles and in the 300 hurdles, Bondurant was fourth in the 100 hurdles and Leible was second in the long jump.

Van-Far picks up pair of top threes in Louisiana, Community R-6 competes

Van-Far and Community R-6 earned several spots in the top 10 of events on Friday.

The Indians were third a couple of times at the Cunningham Invitational in Louisiana, with Brooke-lynn Forman finishing third in the 1600 and the 4x100 boys relay team of Gage Gibson, Gaven Gaston, Ty Evans and Jason Baugh taking third. 

For the girls, Forman was also fourth in the 800, Abbie Shelton was sixth in the 800, Olivia Roed was sixth in the discus, McKenna Engh-Hoffman was fourth in the 100 hurdles and sixth in the long jump. On the boys side, Gibson was seventh in the long jump, Evan Utterback was seventh in the shot put, Jackson Fischer was seventh in the discus, and the 4x200 relay team of Baugh, Gaston, Gibson and Austin Selsor was fourth.

For Community R-6, Ean Johnson was seventh in the 300 hurdles and ninth in the 100 for the boys, and Ivy Hays was sixth in the javelin, eighth in the discus and eighth in the shot put, and Chloe Johnson was seventh in the javelin for the girls.