Mountain Grove Panthers win back-to-back SCA titles

For the second straight year, the Mountain Grove Panthers’ track and field team won the South Central Association (SCA) Conference championship after winning the title on May 4 in Mountain Grove.
The Panthers scored 147 team points, holding off second place Ava by 22 team points, in spite of winning just four individual SCA crowns.
Senior Aden Estep led his squad with 27 of those team points.
In just his second race ever in the 300-meter hurdles, his time of 41.30 seconds earned him a conference title.
It was also the fifth best time in school history, passing JP Dickeys 41.50 seconds last season.
Estep also took third in the 100 meters with a time of 10.98 seconds, the fastest electronic time in school history.
It was just short of Tommy Hutchinson’s 10.66 seconds from 1990, which was clocked by hand. Estep was also third in the 200 meters (23.08).
Slade Rodgers won the SCA crown in the shot put with his toss of 47’0.5”. He was also third in the discus (134’4.4”).
Andrew Whitson won the SCA title with a discus toss of 150’9.5”. He was also second in the shot put (45’9.25”).
Clayton Maloney won the SCA crown in the pole vault after clearing 12’.
Max Guilliams placed second in the 800 meters with a time of 14.70 seconds and was fourth in both the 1,600 (4:56.44) and 3,200 (11:12.93).
Kale Gardner tied for second in the high jump after clearing 6’0.75” while Caleb Carron was third in the 300-meter hurdles (44.20).
The 4x800-meter relay team of Tex King, Gage Yarger, Tanner Hicks and Guilliams was second with a time of 9:16.16.
The Lady Panthers’ run of four straight SCA Conference titles came to an end as they were in second place behind Houston by just eight points.
Senior Kylie Roth led the Lady Panthers by scoring 29 team points.
She won the 100-meter hurdles with a personal best time of 16.29 seconds, remaining the third best in school history.
She was also second in the 300-meter hurdles (47.82), third in the 200 (27.09) and fourth in the 100 (13.05).
Keena Roth accounted for 24 team points as she was second in the 1,600 (5:54.82), second in the 3,200 (14:25.47) and third in the 800 (2:46.89).
Keena then teamed with Miley Schober, Emily Jarrett and Keyonna Shannon to take second in the 4x800-meter relay race (12:35.03).
Freshman Cassidy Behrendsen scored 24 points as she won the long jump event with a personal best leap of 16’6”, which passes Tabby Long’s leap of 16’3” in 1996, for third best in school history.
She also teamed with Jaida Top, Miley Schober and Patricia French to take second in the 4x100 (55.36).
Santana Schwertfeger won the SCA crown in the triple jump with a leap of 36’1”, which ties Shelby Clifton’s 35’1” from 2014 for the second best in school history.
She also teamed with Jaida Top, Olivia Sons and Shannon to win the 4x200-meter relay SCA title with a time of 1:57.76. Schwertfeger was a part of 20 team points.
Sons, who earned 21 points, had a personal best time of 16.49 seconds in the 100-meter hurdles for second place. This passed Mia Marquis’ 16.67 seconds in 1994 for fourth best in school history.
The 4x400-meter relay team of Patricia French, Schwertfeger, Shannon and Top were second in the 4x400 with a time of 4:57.46.
Marli Melton was second in the shot put with her toss of 30’4.5”.