Park Hill Souh junior LaNicia Parker collected a medal in the 300-meter hurdles and the long jump at the Class 5 State Meet at Jefferson City High School on May 24 and 25.
JEFFERSON CITY – Having six athletes perform in seven events at the Class 5 State Meet at Jefferson City High School, Park Hill South wrapped up the spring with a trio of medalists on May 24 and 25.
Park Hill South senior Kiros Martin made the most in his first trip to state, being the final medalist in the discus. To make it to the finals, Martin chucked the discus 158’8, with two of his other first three throws being out-of-bounds.
“I’ve always had fun doing this, and I’ve never felt like I take things too personally on the chin,” Kiros Martin said. “I’ve gone through my fair share of adversity, but always try doing my best while having fun. I think that’s the most important thing; athletes not always getting too caught up in results but enjoying the time you have here because it’s not going to last forever.”
In finals, Martin had a pair of throws that went 159’9 and 157’6. His final attempt was a fault and he beat out ninth place by 10’6 in his final act as a Panther before he heads off to play football at Pittsburg State University.
“I just had fun because, fortunately for me, I’m able to go on to college and I’ll still be able to do football and I’m looking to walk on for track too. Not everyone is a three-sport athlete like I’ve been and for me to be able to try out these different things, I feel blessed,” Martin said.
Junior LaNicia Parker made a name for herself at Jefferson City High School, claiming two state medals. On the first day, she advanced past preliminaries in the 300-meter hurdles and took fifth place in the long jump.
Parker started off rough in her field event, having a fault in two of her first three tries, with the sole attempt that counted being 18’10.5 – and good enough for the finals. Out of her last three jumps, she had another fault and ended with an 18’10.75 leap.
The 300-meter hurdles’ preliminaries saw a tight finish between eighth and ninth places as Parker ended .09 ahead of Timberland junior Alexa Adams to be the last qualifier in finals with a time of 44.7 seconds. She ran a slower time in finals, which actually gave her a higher finish as she walked away with a fourth-place finish in 44.92 seconds.
“I think here, you get to see the people who work the most. The people who work hard and work out off the field, not just during practice in the spring but also taking their time during the summer, fall and winter to improve themselves,” Martin said.
For the second straight season, Madilynn Conklin ran the mile at state and finished towards the back of the pack. She improved by two places and 6.52 seconds from her freshman and sophomore campaigns.
Conklin’s two best laps were her first and her last, having splits of 1:12.28 and 1:16.41. She finished with an overall time of 5:12.6 in 12th place, which was 9.15 seconds away from all-state status.
Lauren Smith had a similar outing in the pole vault, finishing in 11th place in back-to-back seasons. The junior cleared 9’11.75 on her third try, 10’5.5 on her first try and went 0-for-3 on 10-’11.5.
Park Hill South senior Zeshaun Ballance-Gray redeemed himself in the triple jump, after taking 10th place as a junior in 2023. He leaped 44’7.5 on his second try, which ended up being good enough for eighth place.
T.J. McGhee was all-state in the pole vault as a junior but fell short as a senior in a more competitive field. He cleared 13’6.25 on his third attempt and failed to vault 14’0.