JEFFERSON CITY – For the second time in the last three years, the Park Hill boys wrapped up state track and field with a state champion – and nearly added another.
In 2022, Cadence Bass won a state title in the high jump and after a season passed without any gold medals, Park Hill produced one more at the Class 5 State Track and Field Meet at Jefferson City High School on May 24 and 25. Senior Jordan Smith set the tone with the first gold medal before lunchtime on day one.
Park Hill senior Desire Tonye-Nyemeck broke the previous Class 5 State Meet high jump record, yet he still took second place at Jefferson City High School on May 25.
Smith only needed two attempts in the javelin to outthrow the entire state. With six throws in total, the Trojan senior had a 183’6 heave on his second try as no other athletes surpassed 183 feet until the end.
“I threw my furthest on my second throw and was unthreatened until Brayden Pruett’s last throw woke me up a little bit,” Jordan Smith said. “My throw was just far enough though.”
Runner-up Grain Valley junior Brayden Pruett had a 183’2 throw on his final attempt, but Smith was still the champion. Three of his other four throws were at least 175’ and he improved from a seventh place finish a season ago and 10th place finish as a sophomore.
“It’s extremely exciting; I’m glad to have at least one (gold medal),” Smith said.
On day two, Park Hill had four high jumpers in total – counting all-state Lady Trojan Brooke Boehm – with senior Desire Tonye-Nyemeck on the verge of reeling in a gold medal. He’s now a three-time all-state jumper, coming off a fifth place jump of 6’2.75 in 2022 and second place jump of 6’8.25 in 2023.
Last year, Tonye-Nyemeck was two inches shy of the state title behind Poplar Bluff’s Darius Graham, who set the state record at the time. Tonye-Nyemeck and Graham met back up for an iconic jump-off on the large stage and both broke the former record.
“I knew it was going to be a close battle because he’s obviously a great jumper and he’s actually the best I’ve seen and competed against,” Desire Tonye-Nyemeck said.
Tonye-Nyemeck and Graham were the last two jumpers who made it past 6’6 and they had the choice to skip a height and move on to the next one. Neither of them had a miss until Graham did at 6’7.5 but he decided to scratch his second attempt since Tonye-Nyemeck passed on that height.
If it came down to both jumpers missing three times on the same height, the most recent miss ahead of that height would end up being the loser of the two so there was some strategy to it down the stretch. Graham cleared 6’10.75 – which broke the previous Class 5 State record – on his first attempt and Tonye-Nyemeck needed three tries to match him.
“The competition I’ve had today definitely benefits me because it pushed me and helped me realize that I could do way more. I’m glad that I got to jump against him because he did push me a lot and props to Darius (Graham),” Tonye-Nyemeck said.
The senior Trojan had seen this film before, and he didn’t like the ending. The next height they jumped was well taller than both competitors as Graham stands at 6’0 and Tonye-Nyemeck is 6’4 but the high jump bar was set at 7’0.25.
Graham cleared that on his first try and Tonye-Nyemeck came close but missed on all three attempts. Graham went on to jump even higher, earning the state title with a 7’1 jump.
“I knew even on my first scratch and his first scratch that it was going to go to seven (feet). It sucks but I just care about being able to compete with the best of the best,” Tonye-Nyemeck said.
Senior Legend Freelon was back at state in the high jump after an eighth place, 6’3.5 outing a season ago and Landon Julson made his first state appearance in the event. Freelon cleared 6’6 to earn fourth place and Julson missed out on all-state status with a 10th place, 6’2 jump.
Park Hill sophomore Braylon Agee was the only Trojan who qualified in a running event, being ranked fourth in the 110-meter hurdles. He took sixth place to get out of preliminaries with a time of 14.6 seconds.
“Yesterday was my best start (out of the blocks),” Braylon Agee said after finals. “I got a really good start this time, my arms were working perfect, and it was just a really good race.”
Agee picked it up in the finals, having a PR of 14.29 seconds. Being the only underclassmen in the race, he earned fourth place in his first state appearance.
“This means a lot; this is my first year I’ve been good (at hurdles) so I was surprised I got here so I’m glad I could do good. It’s cool to run against new people and the crowd and everything helps,” Agee said.