St. Louis’ Kirkwood and Cardinal Ritter track stars sprint toward state glory, determined to add more medals to their storied histories.
Photos courtesy of Kirkwood and Cardinal Ritter social media pages.
Count’ on the Kirkwood High and Cardinal Ritter track and field teams to amass their fair share of points at the Missouri state track and field Class 5 large-school championships the last weekend of May in Jefferson City. Both schools had very impressive showings in large-school district meets which start the state-qualifying rounds. Kirkwood’s boys and girls teams and Cardinal Ritter girls team advanced to the next round at Parkway Central. Meanwhile Cardinal Ritter’s boys team racked up at district meet in Windsor, Mo.
Paced by jumpers Khalani Barry and Lawrence Montgomery, hurdler Larry Robinson , distance runner Graham Stevener and pole vaulter Jacob Poole the Kirkwood Pioneers boys team claimed half-dozen district championships and advanced a lot more, as a top-four finish automatically qualifies an athlete or relay to the sectional rounds. Graham Stevener was a dual winner, with victories in the 800 meters (just under 1 minute , 58 seconds) and 1,600 meters (just under 4:20) and was second in the 3,200 meters behind Alex Bendana of St Louis University High. Other Kirkwood winners were Barry in the long jump, Montgomery in the high jump and Jacob Poole in the pole vault, who cleared 4.39 meters or 14-feet, 4 inches in traditional feet.Â
In what has been a rain-soaked spring season, the Pioneers boys team is still ‘on track’ to perform as well, if not better, than they did last spring when they finished runner-up with 52 points to team champion Lee’s Summit North (63 points), which earned Kirkwood coach Roberta McWoods Missouri Class 5 Boys Coach of the Year. McWoods , who is the head coach of both programs, earned the Girls Class 5 Coach of the Year back in 2020.
“With the unexpected amount of rain this year I think many of our athletes are performing rather well,” McWoods said. “They all know that no matter how adverse the conditions, that we are all under those same circumstances and we need to show up regardless of the situation . I am pleased that seniors Katie Klein (who placed in the 3,200 meters to advance) and Graham Stevener are once again showing their true ‘Pioneers spirit’…Jacob Poole is another returning state finalist, who continues to reach new heights in the pole vault.”
Meanwhile, befitting the defending Class 5 girls state champions they are, the Lady Lions had winners all over the place: Kyndall Spain captured the 100 and 300-meter hurdles, Sasha Redding won the shot put, with teammate Cami Costello taking place and the 4×100 meter relay squad also won. In the boys Class 4 meet in Windsor, Cardinal Ritter’s Emmanuel Ellis won the 100 (10.90 seconds) and 200 meters (22.42 seconds), with Jashan Smith of University (10.98) and Marquis Sutherlin of Gateway (22.62) finishing second in those races. Ritter’s boys also took the 4×100 and 4×200 relay events.
Interestingly enough, while Cardinal Ritter’s girls are the defending four-time state championships, Cardinal Ritter’s boys will be seeking its first team title since 1998. Of course Kirkwood’s track and field program set its gold standard way back in 1983 won the open 100 meters (10.70), 200 meters (21.67), 110-meter high hurdles (14.08) and 300-meter hurdles (37.88) times, which have remarkably stood up well in the course of time.
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