ShawneeDispatch.com

Wichita — The sign along the side of I-35 encouraging the Mill Valley High School throwers to take state simply foreshadowed what would become a great weekend for the Jaguar boys at the Kansas Track and Field State Championships.

The throwers accounted for six state medals and the bulk of the Jaguars’ points, but they didn’t receive enough help from the other events to deliver a team trophy.

The Jaguar boys were in first place after day one, but they ultimately finished fifth — just five points out of third place.

Still, it was their best team finish in program history. Seniors Matt Acree and Chris Mayer and juniors Macauley Garton and Adam Farnow had plenty to do with it.

Garton won the Class 5A state championship in the javelin by unleashing a personal best mark of 213 feet, 10 inches — a victory by more than 27 feet.

“I just wanted to have a good day. I was pretty confident coming in,” Garton said. “I wasn’t nervous at all until I got onto the runway and started to warm up, but once I got a few throws in I settled down.”

Garton’s best throw was his first. Five of his six throws surpassed 200 feet, and his final toss sailed 213-1. Garton said the state championship meant more because he also threw a personal record.

“I wouldn’t have been as excited if I’d gone out and just thrown 200,” he said. “I just really wanted to PR. I would’ve been frustrated if I didn’t PR.”

Farnow finished seventh with a mark of 166-8.

Meanwhile, Acree and Mayer piled up more team points in the shot put and discus. Mayer erased years of frustrations at state by closing out his career with a runner-up finish in the shot put (51-8 1/2) and a sixth-place toss in the discus (148-11).

“With this being my fourth year coming out here and always leaving disappointed and right around ninth or even lower, it felt great to come out here and actually do my best and be able to come out with some hardware,” Mayer said. “Especially being a senior, the end of everything, why not go out doing your best?”

Acree wasn’t as satisfied with his second-place finish in the discus (156-9) and third-place finish in the shot put (50-11 1/4). He took second in both events as a junior. Despite his frustrations, the second-year thrower recognized he’d accomplished a lot in the sport in a short period of time.

“In the two years I’ve had to do this, I’m fairly accomplished at Mill Valley so I’m just glad I got the experience, really,” he said.

Mill Valley’s other team points came from sophomore Parker Brush who cleared 13-0 and finished fifth in the pole vault, and the 400-meter relay team of junior Scott Martin, senior Trevor Rainbolt, junior Dylan Floyd and junior Chad Thomas who finished seventh in 44.74 seconds.

Mill Valley’s girls collected their second state trophy in the past three years. After finishing second in 2008, the 2010 squad placed third with 47.5 points. Gardner-Edgerton took first with 105 and Shawnee Heights was second with 63. Hays was fourth with 43.

Unlike the boys who were thrower-heavy in scoring, the Jaguar girls featured a balanced attack and scored points in hurdles, middle distance, relays, throws, jumps and the pole vault.

Setting the tone for Mill Valley in the first event of the meet was senior high jumper Jasa DuMontelle, an Emporia State University signee.

The defending state champion in the event, DuMontelle was frustrated for much of the competition as she battled through numerous misses. At one point she faced the prospect of not medaling, but she cleared 5-2 and 5-4 on her final attempts at each height and battled her way to a third-place finish.

It was the fourth straight year she has medaled, and her third bronze-medal performance.

“It was a lot of pressure,” DuMontelle said of attempting to defend her title. “But the jumper that won state (Danielle Berry of Salina South) actually went to Mill Valley her freshman year.”

DuMontelle helped teach Berry how to high jump, so the MVHS senior took some satisfaction in seeing her friend and former teammate be successful.

“She didn’t think she’d ever be where she was today,” DuMontelle said, “but she did really good.”

The Jaguars surged in the team standings a little while later as a trio of pole vaulters landed on the medal stand. Senior Ashley Bowman placed third with an 11-0 clearance, freshman Emily Brigham was fourth at 10-0 and senior Alaina Fairbanks took fifth at 9-6.

Brigham later added a third-place finish in the long jump at 17-11 1/2 and senior Emma Umbarger took third in the javelin for the second straight year with a 128-9 toss.

Mill Valley’s other points from field events came from freshman Maddie Estell who placed fifth in the triple jump (35-8 3/4) and senior Nicole Garretson who finished sixth in the discus (120-3) and seventh in the shot put (36-6).

Senior Whitney Hartman and Fairbanks turned in the lone points from individual running events. Hartman placed sixth in the 800 (2:26.39) and Fairbanks was seventh in the 100 hurdles (16.23).

Two relay teams also medaled. The 400-meter relay team of Fairbanks, sophomore Stefanie Scott, junior Naomi Smith and Brigham took fourth in 50.13. The 3,200-meter relay squad of Hartman, freshman Stephanie Lichtenauer, senior Katie Maybell and senior Andrea Kieffer finished fourth in 10:02.35.

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