Emily High's new school record in the 1600-meter run was good enough only for fourth place at Saturday's Missouri Class 4 District 6 Track and Field Championships at Branson High School.
But that was just good enough to earn a berth in the Missouri Class 4 Sectional 3 Track and Field Championships set for May 21 in Bolivar.
High joins teammate Cole Cooper as the lone McDonald County High School student to qualify for sectionals. Cooper earned his spot earlier in the day with a fourth place finish in the pole vault.
"Emily ran an awesome race," coach Darbi Stancell said. "She knew where she needed to finish and did exactly what she had to."
High finished in a time of 5:28.85, breaking her own school record of 5:29.94 set earlier this year. Thereas Harto of West Plains won the race in a time of 5:24.0. Second went to Stephanie Penticuf of Glendale (5:25.32) followed by Jelynn Tatum of Carl Junction (5:28.77) in third.
Cooper cleared 12-0 to tie three other vaulters, but the McDonald County senior was the only one of the four to have no misses until all four went out at 12-6. Luke Masters of Branson won the event at 13-6 followed by Henry Eldringhoof of West Plains (13-6) and Corbin Schmidt of Carl Junction (12-6).
High missed in her attempt to qualify in a second event, taking eighth in the 800 meters (2:36.03). McDonald County's Cassadi Dowd just missed a sectional spot, taking fifth in the 800 in a time of 2:30.52. Penticuf won the race in 2:24.53 followed by Hayley Baca of West Plains (2:27.91), Harto (2:28.82) and Breanna Beavers in fourth (2:29.57).
"We are very pleased with our two sectional qualifiers especially since they are seniors who have worked hard for four years," Stancell said. "We also had several all-district performances (top 8) that fell short of reaching sectionals (top 4). Some kids set personal records by quite a bit. The throwers did well and Grant Abercrombie (3200) took 10 seconds off his best time for the second week in a row."
Those earning all-district honors on the girls team include Dowd, fifth, 800, 2:30.52; Jordan Witt, sixth, triple jump, 31-3.5; High, eighth, 800, 2:36.03; and Bailey Rickett, eighth, high jump, 4-10.
Boys all-district honors went to Miguel Carbajal, sixth, discus, 133-6; Elias Gallegos, seventh, discus, 128-0 and seventh, shot put, 43-2.25; Jilberto Alejo, eighth, 400, 54.10; Shane Russo, eighth, long jump, 19-11 and eighth, triple jump, 39-1.50; Zach Woods, eighth, pole vault, 11-0; and the 4x800 relay team (Alejo, Drew Landers, Truman Craig and Alex Guadarrama), fifth, 9:00.69.
Rounding out the results for McDonald County were Britiny Calvert, ninth, 100, 13:92 and 11th, 400, 1:07.63; Dowd, ninth, 1600, 5:53.53; Witt, ninth, long jump, 15-0.25; Emily Landers, 12th, shot put, 26-11.25 and 11th discus, 82-8; Lindsey Limore, 11th, shot put, 26-11.25 and 15th discus, 74-0; Russo 11th, 100, 12.17; Alejo, 16th, 200, 24.98; Elijah Nelson, 16th, 800, 2:38.49; Guadarrama, 15th, 1600, 5:16.26; Craig, 17th, 1600, 5:29.11; Abercrombie, 14th, 3200, 11:31.77; and Elliott Wolfe, 12th, shot put, 39-4.25.
Sports on 05/19/2016