Lee's Summit West, Lee's Summit North take home state track and field titles

What town boasts Missouri’s best big-class high school track teams? Why, that would be Lee’s Summit.

Lee’s Summit West, as expected, rolled to a third consecutive Class 5 girls team championship Saturday at the Missouri Class 3-5 state track meet at Jefferson City High School. Lee’s Summit North, not so expectedly and not easily, not early on, anyway, took the Class 5 boys team title.

Lee’s Summit North, in fact, sweated it out on a sultry day until the final event of the meet, the 1,600-meter relay. If Columbia Rock Bridge won and Lee’s Summit North finished fifth or lower, the title would be Rock Bridge’s.

Rock Bridge won the 1,600, and Lee’s Summit North finished fourth. That gave the Broncos a 60-58.5 edge.

“The kids came through,” Lee’s Summit North coach Eric Davis said. “Even though it was tired and hot, they still came through. I couldn’t be more proud of them.”

North won only one individual event — Devon Richardson set a new Class 5 meet record taking the high jump with a 6-foot-9 leap — but the Broncos had enough depth to overcome it. In the Class 5 boys 100-meter dash, Keyon Mozee took second and Nyles Thomas was eighth. Marvin Hopkins was second and Christian Carter fourth in long jump.

“If you get multiple guys in an event it’s almost like winning an event,” Davis said. “In the 100 we got nine points. In the long jump we got 12 points. That’s better than winning an event with just one guy.”

Lee’s Summit West’s girls, meanwhile, already had three individual champions after the first day. Lee’s Summit West tallied 86 points — far off its record 109 total last season, but still a good 40 points ahead of runner-up Pattonville.

“We had a couple of hiccups here and there but the girls competed,” Lee’s Summit West girls coach Jesse Griffin said. “But they didn’t let that affect them. They came back and competed and kept plugging away.”

Lee’s Summit West crowned two more champions on its way to its third consecutive title. The Titans’ 3,200 relay team won when Jana Shawver fended off Blue Springs South distance star Tori Findley on the anchor leg.

And Makayla Kelby closed out her high school career with a fourth consecutive Class 5 discus title. Kelby unleashed a toss of 166 feet, 8 inches that topped her previous Class 5 best and broke an all-class record that had stood since 2001.

The day before, Kelby won the Class 5 girls shot put with a 46-7 ¼ toss.

Both came on her first attempt.

“I wanted to go out with a bang,” Kelby said. “And that’s exactly what I did.”

A double winner

Lenetta Lee trained hard all season against a talented Summit Christian Academy teammate.

Herself.

Lee was the only sprinter on her team, but that didn’t keep her from winning the Class 3 girls 100 and 200 meter dashes Saturday. Lee, a junior, won the 100 in 12.11 seconds and finished her day by winning the 200 in 24.60 seconds. Lee had the top qualifying times in both after setting personal-bests in Friday’s prelims.

And that was after taking seventh the day before in the Class 3 girls long jump.

“It was a lot of work,” Lee said. “I just pushed myself to do my best and I got here.”

Another double winner

Mikayla Deshazer of Lincoln Prep had always come up short of her main goal during her previous trips to state: bring home two gold medals.

Deshazer can scratch that one off her list.

Deshazer, a junior, won the Class 3 girls discus Saturday, adding to the first place medal she won the day before in the Class 3 girls shot put. Deshazer’s winning mark of 159-10 in the discus set a new Class 3 record too.

“I’ve trying to do this since I was a freshman,” said Deshazer, who won the Class 3 discus last season too. “Now I’ve finally got it done.”

One busy Titan

Lee’s Summit West junior Vonzell Kelley got familiar with climbing the podium Saturday. Kelley had just stepped down from the risers after accepting his first place medal for the Class 5 110 hurdles when he was back to get his fourth-place medal from the Class 5 high jump.

Kelley ended his day with a third-place finish in the 300 hurdles. After missing most of the season while battling injuries, he was more than happy to get the extra exercise.

“This was only my third meet of the season,” Kelley said. “So I was happy with what I did.”

Redemption

Jeremiah Wilson of Center felt he owed his team something after getting disqualified in the Class 4 100 the day before.

He paid them back and then some.

Wilson ran the anchor leg on the Center’s 400-meter relay team and the delivered the Yellowjackets a victory. Wilson was second when he took the baton and caught Carl Junction’s Sam Repsher at the tape.

Center was clocked at 42.063 seconds, Carl Junction 42.067.

“I had to do this, I had to win this for the team,” Wilson said. “I let it all out; I let it all hang out there.”

Other champions

Park Hill defended its Class 5 girls 1,600 relay title. Teresa Thomas, Manny Ngo tonye nyemeck, Caleia Johnson and Taiya Shelby set a new Class 5 record with a time of 3:50.11.

Tori Findley of Blue Springs South concluded her career with a runaway victory in the Class 5 girls 3,200. Findley finished in 10:47.03 and led a one-two Jaguar finish with teammate Danielle Hotalling second in 11:06.26.

Tre Wheaton of Blue Springs won the Class 5 boys long jump. Wheaton, a senior, won with a jump of 23-2 ¼.

Daniel Carson of William Chrisman won the Class 5 boys shot put. Carson had a winning throw of 58-6 ½.

Vontrae Booker of Raytown South won the Class 4 boys 400 with a time of 47.71 seconds.

This story was originally published May 26, 2018 at 8:01 PM with the headline "Lee's Summit West, Lee's Summit North take home state track and field titles."