Republic’s two high-jumpers put an exclamation point on the track and field season Saturday at the state meet in Jefferson City. Garrett Metscher dominated the field, setting a school record with a jump of 6’7 1/2″ to win the Class 4 state title. Stanfield tied for 6th to earn all-state honors in high jump as a freshman.
For Metscher, winning the state tournament turned out to be even easier than winning sectionals, where he outdueled Chase Riley of West Plains by clearing 6’7″. On Saturday, though, the field of 15 thinned quickly, leaving only four jumpers as the bar was raised to 6’5″.
Metscher, who hadn’t missed yet, cleared 6’5″ first, then watched the remaining three jumpers fall short, leaving him with the title. Having won the championship, he raised the bar to 6’7 1/2″ to shoot for a Republic record, and achieved it on his third attempt.
Metscher came into the event as the top seed, with the best result in sectionals of any state competitor.
“It made me more nervous because I had more pressure, but it gave me confidence that I could do it,” he says. And his confidence grew as jumpers started to fall out.
“That kind of surprised me,” he says. “It thinned out faster than I thought, and I just jumped my normal jump. I didn’t change anything, just thought of it as a regular track meet. It’s the perfect track meet to PR at.”
Stanfield’s results in the high jump helped make up for a difficult Friday, when she competed in three track events but failed to qualify for the finals.
“I was kind of disappointed with yesterday. I think I could have done better,” Stanfield says. “So I knew today in high jump, I wanted to at least get all-state. This is my first year, and I was so nervous yesterday, I think that made it worse, but I’m happy with it.”
Here are results from Friday’s competition:
Stanfield failed to qualify for the finals in the 100-meter dash. (She finished 12th.)
Ryan Way finished 13th in the 1600-meter run.
Stanfield finished 10th in the 400 meter dash with a time of 58.53.
Stanfield finishes 13th in the 200-meter dash with a time of 26.08.
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