INDEPENDENCE, Mo. — Chris DuPree played a part in both of the sectional championships for Park Hill South.
The sophomore won the 400-meter dash and ran the final leg of the 4x800-meter relay, highlighting the day for the Panthers in the Class 5 Sectional 4 meet at Norman James Field at William Chrisman High School.
All told, the Panthers will be sending 12 events to the state championships, which starts Friday at Jefferson City High School.
The representation will be an equal split between the two teams. In the sectional team standings, the boys were fifth and the girls took seventh.
CODY THORN/Citizen photo
Park Hill South’s Benjamin Owere skies during the triple jump during the Class 5 Sectional 4 meet on Saturday, May 19, at William Chrisman High School in Independence, Mo.
DuPree ran 48.06 in the 400, easily beating runner-up Isaiah Vigliano of Lee’s Summit North, who ran 49.6.
In his other win, DuPree helped close out the win for the Panthers in first race of the day, the 4x800 relay. The team of DuPree, Eli Guzman, Ethan Mick and Christian Ludtke ran 8:10.51 to win by two seconds ahead of Blue Springs.
DuPree’s other two events were fourth-place finishers, getting the final qualifying spot in the state championships. He will run on the 4x200 team with Charles Warren, Braeden Denney and Melvin Walker, while joining Walker, Mick and Connor McCauley on the 4x400 — the final race of the day. It also happened to come when temperatures soared into the upper 80, a vast difference from the overcast and sprinkles that were present that morning.
The only other state qualifiers for the Panthers on the boys side were fourth-place finishes from Addison Snowball (shot put) and Benjamin Owere (triple jump).
Missouri-bound Emma Roth will compete in three event in her final trip to the state championships. She placed third in both the 800 and 1,600 and was part of the 4x800 team that was the runner-up.
The 4x800 team featured Keely Danielsen, Marti Heit and Skyelar Nelson as well, finishing in 9:33.83, behind Blue Springs South, which moved from third to first late in the race.
“We really didn’t know how fast we would run because we haven’t ran our full relay in a while, but it was fun,” said Roth, who set a PR in the 800. “It’s been really fun. I just have been really focusing on running my own race and pr-ing. And just trying to race the hardest I could each time.”
The Guillory sisters will represent Park Hill South at state as Dymeria was fourth in the 100 hurdles and De’Jaria was third in the 300 hurdles.
Heit will move on as well after taking fourth in the 3,200.
CODY THORN/Citizen photo
Park Hill South’s Emma Roth, far left, keeps up with the front of the pack in the 800-meter run during the Class 5 Sectional 4 meet on Saturday, May 19, at William Chrisman High School in Independence, Mo.
“It was a very good day,” Park Hill South girls coach Andy Keefer said. “I’m very pleased. Everybody stepped up, even if they didn’t make it through, everyone had season records and personal records so that’s all you could ever ask. They put it on the line and that’s what they did today. It was neat to see. It’s always fun to watch.”
The Panthers had close calls in the high jump as Alecia Westbrook was fifth and Saadique Perkins was sixth, both two inches away from going to state.
In the 3,200, Ewan Frick was fifth, four seconds behind the fourth-place qualifier. Grace Dielman was fifth in the javelin.