Two long-standing school records fell on the first night of the track and field season, as the Tigers and Lady Tigers showed a glimpse of what’s in store for 2015 at the Republic Classic Monday. The Lady Tigers finished first overall in the team competition, while the Tigers finished second behind Strafford. (Download full event results.)
The first record-breaking performance for Republic came in the high jump, when Brooke Stanfield picked up where she left off at state competition last year. After clearing a personal-best 5’4″ at state, Stanfield cleared 5′ 5 1/4″ Monday, breaking a record (5’5″) that had first been set in 1978 by Kathy Gloyd. Kim Messier had tied the record in 1987. (See video below.)
Stanfield’s record is even more notable because she’s recovering from a chest contusion she suffered in the last basketball game of the season, and that has limited her practice time.
“I would say maybe a week and a half ago, I tried jumping and it didn’t feel very good. So I just stuck with box jumps, [until) I jumped again Friday,” Stanfield says. “I was really surprised. If you would have told me I would have done that, I wouldn’t have believed you.”
Stanfield says her performance in the opening meet has her excited for the rest of the season.
“I want to win state in something so bad, and I might have a chance this year in high jump,” she says.
The other Republic record-breakers were Jerney Jones, Jace Duvall, Jake Jones, and Tryston Ellison, who ran the 4 x 100 meter relay in 43.82 seconds. That’s 17-hundredths of a second better than the previous record of 43.99, set in 1991. The old record had been held by the team of Aaron Derossett, Jason O’Dell, Mike Garner, and Dickie Clark.
Boy Team Totals
“The other day in practice…we got a rough time, and that was in the cold, and some other factors played in,” says Duvall. “Then I went and looked at the old record and saw how close we were to it and saw we have a chance to beat it. We had our eyes set on it today.
“Right now, we’ve already set a goal to get into the 42s, then eventually, hopefully we can get to state and see how far it can take us.”
Other individual event winners for Republic: Haven Lander in the 100-meter dash and the pole vault; Madi Appleberry in the 800-meter run; the Republic girls in the 4×800 and 4×200 relays; Jamie Chapman in the discus; Jerney Jones in the 200-meter dash and the long jump; Jack Hayes in the discus; Tryston Ellison in the 100-meter dash; Colton Mease in the 400-meter dash; and the Republic boys in the 4×400 relay.
Strafford 162
Republic 156
Wheaton 100
Catholic 91
Aurora 89.5
Sarcoxie 60
Spokane 50
Sparta 39.5
Miller 17
Southwest 0
Girl Team Totals
Republic 188
Catholic 119
Sarcoxie 81
Aurora 60
Strafford 60
Sparta 54
Spokane 48
Wheaton 20
Miller 13
Southwest 1
