Mountain Grove track wins several individual district titles

It was a solid showing for both the Mountain Grove boys and girls track and field teams at last weekend’s Class 3, District 5 meet held in Cuba.
The Panthers scored 100 points for second place overall in the team standings as they qualified athletes to sectionals in 10 different events.
Thrower Slade Rodgers had a personal best toss of 50’0.25” in the shot put event to win the district title, moving him past Vince Hilt’s 49’3” from 1984 for the second farthest in school history.
His toss was nine inches shy of Danny Delcour’s 1960 record of 51’1”, which is the oldest school record still on the books.
Aden Estep won the district title in the 300-meter hurdles with his personal best time of 41.21 seconds, passing Will Gourley’s 41.26 seconds in 2018 for the fourth fastest in school history.
Estep was also fourth in the 100 meters with his time of 11.19 seconds.
In the high jump, Kale Gardner won the district crown after clearing 6’2.75”. He also qualified in the long jump with a second-place leap of 20’6.5”.
Andrew Whitson was second in the discus (151’10”) and second in the shot put (45’1.25”).
Clayton Maloney took second in the pole vault after clearing 11’7.75”.
Max Guilliams added a fourth place finish in the 800 meters (2:10.55).
As for relays, the 4x800-meter relay team of Aydon Barbe, Tex King, Gage Yarger and Guilliams placed third (8:48.81).
The 4x400-meter relay team of Caleb Carron, King, Gardner and Barbe qualified with a fourth place time (3:36.47).
As for the Lady Panthers, they qualified for sectionals in eight different events after scoring 71 team points for fifth place overall. Olivia Sons had a personal best time of 15.99 seconds in the 100-meter hurdles to win the district championship. She passed Kylie Roth’s 16.29 seconds from this season for third best in school history.
Kylie finished second in the district event with a time of 16.50 seconds. She also took second in the 300-meter hurdles (49.37).
As for the 3,200 meters, Keena Roth was second with her time of 13:34.30. She was also fourth in the 1,600 (5:48.36, seasonal best time).
Cassidy Behrendsen was second in the long jump after leaping 16’2”.
She then teamed with Santana Schwertfeger, Kylie Roth and Sons for a seasonal best time of 51.75 seconds to help the 4x100-meter relay team place third.
Schwertfeger then took fourth in the triple jump (31’11.75”).
Marli Melton had a fourth-place toss of 30’0.25” in the shot put.