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Hart out-hops all high-jumpers at state
The only problem with competing in three different field events at state track is, you may not have much time to prepare for the other two if you win the first one.
For Nevada High School junior Lilly Hart, it was a good problem to have.
“Unfortunately, winning the high jump kind of sunk the rest of her day. But we’ll trade a state championship over anything else, anyway,” said NHS head coach Ryan Watts, whose star leaper wasted no time in her inaugural trip to the MSHSAA Class 4 track and field championship Friday at Adkins Stadium in Jefferson City, winning the first of three jumping events that she qualified for before finishing ninth in the next two. “That was a heck of a day. If you’d told me Lilly was going to win the high jump, I wouldn’t say it was impossible, but definitely a surprise.”
Hart, who was not even born the last time Nevada’s track and field team had a state champion (Traci Werner in the shot put in 2003), was the only high-jumper on Friday to clear 1.62 meters (or 5 feet, 3.75 inches), a feat she accomplished on her second try and one that was more than two inches higher than her best high jump at sectionals last weekend in Camdenton.
Hannibal’s Cami Bross, meanwhile, needed her third attempts to clear 1.58 and 1.60 meters, but failed to jump over the bar at 1.62 in any of her three tries, giving the gold medal to Hart — who almost did not make it that far after needing three attempts of her own to clear 1.49 meters earlier in the event.
“On that third one, I was like, ‘Oh, no, she’s going to go out right here.’ And then she sailed over it, and from then on out, it was smooth sailing,” said Watts, who after screaming with excitement along with Hart and the rest of his coaching staff would have let her continue jumping in the event had Hart not qualified for two more on the day. “She was on cloud nine. I told her, ‘Hey, you’re playing with house money from here on out. You’re a state champion. The rest of the day, no matter what happens, today was the best day of your career.’”
After accepting her gold medal, Hart hustled over to the triple jump, where her final attempt of 10.52 meters (34 feet, 6.25 feet) earned her ninth place. She finished in that same position later in the long jump with two identical leaps of 4.89 meters (16 feet, .5 inches).
Speaking of jumps, Nevada junior Claire Pritchett, in her second trip to state in the shot put, immediately leapt to the top of the leaderboard with a first throw of 11.26 meters (36 feet, 11.5 inches) — only to back it up on her third try with a toss of 11.40 meters (37 feet, 5 inches).
She was bested by a familiar foe, though, in Webb City senior Emily Beres, who saved her best for last with a mark of 12.17 meters (39 feet, 11.25 inches) on her fourth toss to win the event and send Pritchett home with silver.
“Claire was disappointed that she didn’t win it, but like I told her, she gets to come back next year,” said Watts, whose thrower improved six spots from where she finished in the event as a freshman, and will be ranked no. 1 at the start of next season. “She threw really well, and Claire’s so tough, I fully expect her to come back next year with a vengeance. She’s set herself up for a killer senior season, for sure.”
Sophomore Drew Beachler, the lone state qualifier for the Nevada boys, earned a trip to the podium with an eighth-place finish in the long jump, landing 6.42 meters (21 feet) on his first attempt before scratching his next three tries. Webb City’s Mekhi Garrard won the event with a jump of 7.09 meters (23 feet, 9 inches, also on his first attempt).
On the track, the 4x100-meter relay team of Bailey Ast, Jade Feller, Kirstin Buck, and Maddy Majors finished seventh in the first heat and 13th overall with a time of 52.67 seconds. St. Teresa’s Academy won the event with a time of 49.68 seconds (beating Carl Junction by .12 seconds).
Junior Brooklyn Kutina-Smith rounded things out in the 400-meter dash, crossing the finish line in 1 minute, 4.67 seconds. She was eighth in her heat and 16th overall.
Watts said the wind and colder temperatures may have played a factor in those latter three performances, but with every athlete who competed returning next year, he had no doubt his squad will use the experience to better their positions in 2022 (plus, next year’s championship is expected to return to its three-day format, which bodes well for athletes like Hart who qualify in multiple events).
“A state champion and a state runner-up. All in all, it was a great day,” Watts said. “Going after a conference title and another district title is definitely in the cards. And then you never know as far as what happens at state. I think the future’s pretty bright.”