Panthers’ track advances to state in eight different events

The Mountain Grove’s boys and girls track and field program combined to advance to the Class 3 state championships in nine different events after participating in the Class 3, Sectional 3 meet held in Buffalo on Saturday.
As a team, the Panthers were fourth at sectionals in the team standings with 57 points as eight athletes advanced to state.
Kale Gardner led Mountain Grove by winning the sectional title in the high jump after clearing 6’4”, which is a personal best. It is also the second best in school history, just behind Terry Kirkpatrick’s 6’4” when he won the state championship in 1961.
Kale also advanced in the long jump after leaping 19’8.25” to finish in third place and qualify for state.
In the discus event, Andrew Whitson qualified for state after his toss of 161’1.5” for second place overall.
Aden Estep continued his success in a newer event for him as he placed second in the 300-meter hurdles with a time of 41.25 seconds.
He was also sixth in the 100 meters (11.54).
The 4x800-meter relay team of Aydon Barbe, Truman King, Masen Byerly and Max Guilliams finished third with a time of 8:30.41.
This is the ninth best in school history, passing the 1980 time of 8:32.02 from S. Douglass, K. Pridemore, B. McGownd and K. Schudy.
In the pole vault event, Clayton Maloney qualified for state clearing a personal best 12’1.5” for fourth place.
Also earning team points at sectionals was Guilliams, who took sixth in the 800 meters (2:10.79).
The 4x400-meter relay team of Caleb Carron, Barbe, Gardner and Estep were sixth (3:32.22).
This moves them into sixth all-time in school history, passing McGowan, Diehl, Kelley and Crisp, who had a 3:34.2 in 1968.
In the shot put event, Slade Rodgers took sixth (14.18 meters) and Whitson was seventh (14.17 meters).
Mountain Grove’s girls qualified for state in a couple of different events.
Leading the way was Kylie Roth, who qualified for state in two events.
She was a third in the 300-meter hurdles with a time of 47.99 seconds and third in the 100-meter hurdles with a time of 16.61 seconds.
Olivia Sons advanced in the 100-meter hurdles as she was second place with a time of 16.19 seconds.
Freshman Cassidy Behrendsen was fourth in the long jump with a leap of 15’10” as she advanced to state.
Keena Roth didn’t advance, but was fifth in the 1,600 meters (5:44.49) and eighth in the 3,200 meters (14:14.52).
The 4x100-meter relay team of Santana Schwertfeger, Kylie Roth, Behrendsen and Sons was fifth place overall with a personal best time of (50.92 seconds.
This is the fifth best in school history, beating 50.99 seconds from the 2025 squad featuring Savannah Hellbusch, Lilly Hines, Raylee Stenzel and Schwertfeger.
Schwertfeger took sixth in the triple jump after leaping 32’9.75”, missing state by less than 6”.
In the shot put event, Marli Melton was seventh with her toss of 9.52 meters.
The Lady Panthers finished sectionals with 39 team points for eighth place overall in the team standings.
Those who qualified for the Class 3 State Championships will compete at state on May 22-23 in Jefferson City.