HILLSBORO — The St. Vincent track and field program had both its girls and boys team take second place at the Class 1 Sectional 1 Meet on May 17 at Grandview High School.
Collectively, the Indians qualified for this week’s Class 1 State Meet 13 times between both squads as the girls will compete at state in seven events and the boys in six.
Leading St. Vincent’s girls’ team was reigning two-time state champion junior Reagan Meyer, who qualified for state four times this weekend, winning three events and helping break school records in two.
Individually, Meyer repeated as a sectional champion in the 800 and 1,600-meter runs, winning both races by crossing the finish line at two, 21.66 and 5:27.7, respectively.
Where Meyer made school history was as a member of the first-place 1,600 and runner-up 3,200-meter relay teams.
Reagan, junior Jenna Unterreiner, sophomore Paige Leible and freshman Brynn Renner took home gold and broke the program record in the 1,600 relay with a time of 4:19.7.
Also at state, Leible, Renner and Unterreiner will compete as members of the 800-meter relay team with junior Payton Unterreiner.
They placed third at sectionals by crossing the finish line at 1:54.12. Lastly for Meyer, she made school history and brought home the silver medal in the 4x800 at 10:38.55 alongside senior Abigail Kirn, junior Audrey Amschler and freshman Anna Welker.
Outside of these runners, the Indians also had two state qualifiers on the field in senior Reese Zoellner and junior Sophia Taylor. Zoellner took home bronze in pole vault with a vault of 8 feet, ½ inch, while Taylor placed fourth in triple jump at 32-4.25.
Overall, St. Vincent’s girls team scored 71 points as New Haven won the sectional championship with a team score of 87.
Heading into the Class 1 State Meet, Meyer hopes to repeat as the 800 and 1600 state champion as she won both titles in Class 2 last spring.
Meyer’s two state championships led the Indians to a Class 2 top-10 finish (ninth place), so St. Vincent certainly hopes to finish even higher in Class 1 while competing in a total of seven events at state this weekend.
Moving to the boys’ team, the Indians scored 67 points as Dora took home the team title ahead of them with a score of 78. St. Vincent sophomore Carter Hennemann qualified for state in three events, two individually. He won the 1,600 by crossing the finish line at 4:47.38 and took second in the 800 at 2:04.44.
Hennemann won another sectional title as a member of the 1,600 team with seniors Clayton Gremaud, James Unterreiner and junior Kale Meyer. They combined for a time of 3:34.53 to win gold.
Gremaud, Meyer and Unterreiner were also sectional champions as members of the 4x200 team along with junior Jackson Seabaugh. These Indians won the race by crossing the finish line at 1:33.1.
St. Vincent’s boys’ team had two more state qualifiers individually as Gremaud took fourth place in the 400-meter dash (52.09). Fellow senior Ethan Hotop finished fourth in the 3200-meter run at 11:21.58.
The Class 1 State Meet for both the girls and boys will be held tomorrow and Saturday in Jefferson City.
