​Eagles qualify six girls, two boys for sectional track meet

by Michael Smith, Grain Valley News
 
Grain Valley sophomore Madison Rust is a standout athlete.
 
She is a starter for the Grain Valley softball and basketball teams and is emerging as one of the best javelin throwers for the girls track and field team.
 
She started participating in the javelin last season as now graduate McKenah Sears and javelin coach Flip Courter were a big influence for her excelling in the event. She proved she was one of the best at it during the Class 5 District 7 meet Saturday at Lee’s Summit North.
 
Rust won the event with a personal-record throw of 42.98 meters as she qualified for the sectional meet. Her teammate, sophomore Molly Jones, also qualified by second place with a throw of 38 meters.
 
The top four finishers in each event qualified for the Class 5 Sectional 4 meet, which will take place Saturday at Blue Springs High School’s Peve Stadium.
 
“In the prelims, my first throw was 39 meters and I kept going up from there,” Rust said. “Once I made it to the finals, I already knew I had first place, so I knew it was the time to get up and get a bigger (personal record) so I could have a better spot at sectionals.”
 
She credits Sears and Courter for her success.
 
“I was around (Sears) and Coach Courter a lot last year,” Rust said. “They said ‘Come on out.’ They asked me to try throwing the javelin while I was playing softball. I already had that strong arm and footwork that you need for javelin.
 
“Mckenah taught me a lot of things to get me off to a good start and Courter took it from there.”
 
Senior Alyssa Carver, like Rust, is seeing tremendous success in her field event. At districts, she got a personal-best height of 3.78 meters in the pole vault and won the event to punch her ticket to sectionals.
 
“I felt really good today, so I am glad I lived up to how I felt,” said Carver, a two-time, all-state pole vaulter. “I guess I have been wanting to get this personal record ever since I got my last one. I am glad to have some momentum to get into sectional and state.”
 
Carver said going against competition like Miller Wood of Lee’s Summit West and Jayden Herl of Truman has helped push her to get her personal record.
 
“I am really close with them and consider them some of my best friends,” Carver said. “It’s so fun to compete with them and we push each other.”
 
Other Eagles girls to qualify for sectionals were senior Izzie Salsman in the high jump (second, 1.55 meters), senior Bailey Mason in the shot put (fourth, 33.86 meters) and sophomore  Melanie Marcum in the long jump (fourth, 5.38 meters).
 
The girls tied Lee’s Summit for fifth place as a team with 76 points. Blue Springs won with 137 points.
 
On the boys side, senior Asa Keim led the way by qualifying for sectionals in two events. He took second in the pole vault with a height of 4.34 meters and was second in the javelin with a throw of 52.93 meters.
 
Senior Drake Ford punched his ticket to sectionals in the triple jump as he took second with a distance of 13.34 meters.
 
The Grain Valley boys finished seventh as a team with 59 points. Lee’s Summit West and Rockhurst tied for first place with 152 points.

Photo credit: Michael Smith, Grain Valley News