Missed it by ‘that much’ . . . P.H.S. Represented Well At State Track Meet In Jeff City

JEFF CITY – The Potosi High School Trojan Track Team qualified 15 competitors for the trip to the Class 3 State Track Meet in Jefferson City on Saturday, May 29th, 2021.

The track qualifiers included Kaydence Gibson who got 2nd at Sectionals in pole vault; Celeste Sansegraw who was 2nd at Sectional in the 3200m; Alyson Skiles finished 4th in Sectional in the 3200m and 4th in Sectional in the 1600m; Zeke Sisk finished 4th in Sectional in the 3200m; the girls 4x800 relay was 2nd at Sectional with Celeste Sansegraw, Kaydence Gibson, Alyson Skiles and Hallie Portell; the boys 4x800 relay was 4th at Sectional with Jaden Kanan, Andy Cain, Hunter Griffin and Will Jarvis; Kalie Thompson was 4th in Sectionals in the discus; Annie McCaul was 2nd in the 100m hurdles and 4th in the 200m and 3rd in the 300m hurdles at Sectionals; Wyatt Valentine finished 3rd in javelin at Sectional; Hallie Portell was 4th at Sectionals in the 800m; Will Jarvis finished 4th at the Sectional in the 800m; Chloe Finley placed 4th in javelin at Sectional; the 4x400 relay team of Gage Mosier, Hunter Griffin, Luke Brabham and Will Jarvis won their Sectional race.

The results had Annie McCaul as the only medal winner at State, and she claimed 2. Both podium appearances were in the hurdles, 5th Place in the 100m Hurdles and 6th Place in the 300m Hurdles.

There were a couple of opportunities where the athletes were oh so close.

Kalie Thompson threw discus and was in the first flight. She did well and had to wait on the second flight to see what happened. Kalie’s best toss was 105’ 11” putting her in 9th place, just one spot out of a medal. The 8th place finisher threw 106’ 1”. Ms. Thompson missed it by just a little over 2 inches. Goes to show it is a game of inches and seconds, too.

The Boys 4x400 Relay finished in 9th place at 3:34.57 and the 8th place team ran a 3:34.30 that is .27 of a second. Nice job by all the athletes. They did a good job representing Potosi High School and the Trojans.

Coach Amanda Politte said, “This year was different. The meet is usually two days with the prelims being the first day. The distance races don’t have prelims but are spaced farther apart. Usually we are with Class 3, 4 and 5 so it is always packed with people and you can’t even find a seat in the stands. The changes were made because of Covid, I don’t know if we’ll go back to normal or stay with the set up like this year.”

Coach Politte went on, “Kaydence Gibson set a personal record at 8’ 10 3/4” and tied for 12th with two other girls. Zeke Sisk ran well but got tripped up on the rail around the track and stepped over the rail to keep from falling. Of all the students that went, only Will Jarvis had been to State before. It was a great exprerience for all of them, and the coaches, too. We took 3 freshmen, 5 sophomores and 2 juniors with 5 seniors.”

Coach Politte closed out the season by expressing her thanks to all the parents, staff and public for the support of the kids. She said, “I want to thank the School Board and Administration, Southpaw Grafix, Melton’s, Potosi Lions Club, The Independent-Journal, Sweet Memories, The Country Corner, Don Trokey, the Potosi Police Department and especially our track parents and families along with the fans in the community.”

It was a great year to get ‘back on track’ and the student athletes did well both in school and at the track.