When the West Platte junior bit onto his third state medal while standing at the podium in the middle of the track and field at Jefferson City High School, Charlie Kinslow put two thumbs up and smiled to the crowd to show his gratitude on May 21.
Coming into the Class 2 State Meet, the talented long-distance runner was in four events: the 4x400-meter relay, 4x800-meter relay, 800-meter run and 1,600-meter run. The Blue Jay was in the most events that an individual could compete in, walking away with a top-7 finish in three of the four races.
The 4x400-meter relay team fell short of qualifying for finals, finishing in 15th place in prelims, the only event that Kinslow didn’t walk away with a medal in. This was an improvement from his sophomore season when he narrowly made his way to the podium in the 1,600-meter run.
West Platte junior Charlie Kinslow medaled in three of the four events that he competed in at the Class 2 State Meet on May 20 and 21.
“That one medal was nice, but you always have goals, and you always want to work harder and that’s what I wanted to do,” Charlie Kinslow said. “I wanted to be on the incline of the podium, I didn’t want to be on the ground. I ended up with three medals. I wish it was four, but yesterday’s performance on the 4x400 sadly wasn’t good enough.”
Kinslow was cheated out of a freshman year of track due to Covid-19 cancelling the season but qualified in three races in 2021. At that state meet, he ended in eighth place in the 1,600-meter run in 4:33.60 and 14th place in the 800-meter run in 2:05.24.
When his sophomore season came to an end, Kinslow vowed to spend the off-season improving on his running. The Blue Jay also does cross-country and developed in both sports.
“I focused more on cross-country in the off-season and ran countless miles this summer. I’m stronger, I’ve worked towards my goals and that has helped me so much with my improvement,” Kinslow said.
This past fall, the West Platte runner closed out the season with a PR and seventh-place finish at state cross-country and had an identical ending to his track season. Kinslow broke his PR by five seconds in the 1,600-meter run, crossing the finish line in 4:28.24 to take seventh place.
Kinslow ran a sub-2:00 split as the anchor of the West Platte 4x800-meter relay team that ended in sixth place. The Blue Jay capped off his junior campaign with a bronze medal in the 800-meter run with a time of 2:00.56.
Heading into the final meet of the spring, the 5’11 runner had yet to lose a single 800 or 1,600-meter run all season. Kinslow told the Platte County Citizen that having that level of success this far into his career made his mindset different opposed to what it would be if he was an underclassman.
“If I was a freshman or sophomore and had the season I had this year, then came to this great state meet with these great performers, it would be different, but thank goodness I have run for three years and have the experience. This year has been awesome, fun and I hopefully have something good ahead of me for my senior year and college,” Kinslow said.
At state, Kinslow was up against multiple runners who he hadn’t competed against all year, including New Covenant Academy senior Tanner Talley who not only won the 800, 1,600 and 3,200-meter runs, but also set the new Missouri State Meet records in all three races. The Blue Jay junior will use his experience at state, and what he saw from Talley’s performances, to push him in the future.
“It will help me guide my goals and be in the back of my head on how I run the race or how I can improve. I’m sure I’ll go back and rewatch these races and learn from them, but Tanner is a runner that you look up to and is amazing; I’m lucky to have him as a study and a role model,” Kinslow said.
With one season left at West Platte, Kinslow is already eager to get back to work and improve as a runner and an athlete. The incoming senior is a 3-sport letterman in cross-country, basketball and track and field.