​Eagles track to send 13 athletes to sectional meet

by Michael Smith


Grain Valley head girls track and field coach Nick Small mentioned that his team made some jokes during the annual team banquet.

“We joked at the banquet that we’re are a field and track team this year,” Small said.

The joke makes sense as the Eagles have had a lot of success in field events on both the boys and girls side. The boys qualified seven different events, with five of those being field events; while the girls qualified for six events for the Class 5 Sectional 2 meet, which will take place tomorrow at Mexico High School.

The top four finishers in each event at the Class 5 District 4 meet advanced to sectionals. For Grain Valley, a large chunk of those qualifiers competed in field events.

One of those such athletes was junior Blayden Pruett, who is the No. 1-ranked javelin thrower among boys in Missouri. During last weekend’s district meet, he took first with a throw of 184 feet.

“My goal was to be No. 1 going into districts, sectionals and state,” Pruett said. “The season is going really well.”

Pruett, who was all-state in javelin last season, has made some huge strides in the event by working on improving his flexibility. Last season, he had a groin issue and said that he was tight sometimes. Now that his flexibility has improved, he’s throwing the javelin much farther and has broken the school record in the process.

“My body has been feeling great this season,” Pruett said. “I am always ready to throw. It’s been a lot of stretching a muscle building.”

Senior Stylz Blackmon has been another boys athlete who has excelled in the field events. At districts, he qualified for sectionals in the shot put with a throw of 52 feet, 1 inch as he won the event. The key to his success, according to boys head coach Erik Stone, has been focusing on just one style of throwing the shot put and it’s worked out.

He was working with the spin (shot put throwing technique) and couldn’t get it down,” Stone said. “Coach (David) Allie said, ‘Ok. Let’s just focus on the glide and he’s taken off since that was the main focus. He broke the school record at Fort Osage in three throws.”

Other boys who will compete in field events tomorrow include junior Asa Keim in the pole vault (finished third at district with a height of 13 feet, 5.75 inches) and junior Tyler Melton in the triple jump (42 feet-2.25 inches, fourth place).

Outside of the field events, the boys qualified two relays. The 4x800-meter relay team of senior Rylan Smith, junior Landon Barnes, Melton and Daniel Dent was second at districts with a time of 7:59.12. Smith, Barnes, Chase Anderson and Dent also punched their ticket to sectionals in the 4x400 following a fourth-place finish at 3:29.10. Smith also qualified in the 800-meter run after finishing third at districts at 1:57.90.

The key for the Eagles relay teams has been its strong chemistry and continuity.

“We have been running every day together,” Smith said. “We spend a lot of time together throughout the season and we work on our handoffs.”

On the girls’ side, like Pruett, junior Alyssa Carver has a good shot at winning a state championship as she is ranked second in the pole vault with a height of 11 feet, 11.75 inches, which netted her first place at districts.

“At districts, I hit my goal for the season,” Carver said. “It’s nice to see your hard work pay off. I didn’t think I was going to get it. I was surprised. I didn’t think I made it. But when I hit the mat, I saw the bar was still on. I got excited and started jumping up and down and clapping.”

Senior McKenah Sears who had been one of the favorites to win the javelin event as a sophomore, will have one more crack at it this season. She will have to make it through sectionals first.

She has the No. 3- and No. 6-ranked javelin throwers in the national in her district and sectional, so she has stiff competition on her way to state. She finished third at districts with a distance of 147 feet, 11.50 inches.

She had missed her entire junior season due to a meniscus tear, and while her right knee is still not at 100 percent, her goal is still to win a state title.

“My meniscus is still recovering,” Sears said. “It’s not as strong as I would like it to be. That’s what I am really working on is strengthening call the muscles in my knee. It took a long time to build a little bit of muscle. I am still working on that.”

Other Eagles girls competing at sectionals are Izzie Salsman in the high jump (5 feet, 1 inch, third place at districts), Neveah Clausen in the 100-meter hurdles (16.89 seconds, third), Izabella west in the long jump (17 feet, 3 inches, fourth) and triple jump (36 feet, 5 inches, second) and Jaslynn Myers in the triple jump (33 feet, 5 inches, fourth).

“Neveah is really on that line,” Small said of Claussen possible qualifying for state.  “She really popped off this week and really put herself in this position.

​“We have a lot of interesting kids. Jazlynn Myers is a freshman, and I say this tongue in cheek, but she still doesn’t know what she’s doing. She came into that event a little later. We had some kids try new things. We put her in that event and she has taken it in stride.”

Grain Valley junior Blayden Pruett, left, and senior McKenah Sears both qualified in the javelin event for the Class 5 Sectional 2 meet that will take place Saturday at Mexico High School. Pruett is ranked No. 1 in Missouri for the boys and Sears is ranked No. 3 on the girls' side. Photo credit; Michael Smith