It has been a season of firsts for the Calvary Lutheran track program.
A first conference team championship for the girls team. A first district team championship for both teams. A first sectional team championship for the boys team.
And now the Lions can add a first state individual champion to the list.
Luke Allen made school history by winning the boys triple jump title Friday on the first day of the Class 1 state track and field championships at Adkins Stadium. The senior won the event by more than a foot, posting a winning jump of 43 feet, 5 inches.
"It's really quite a humbling experience," Allen said. "I could not have asked for anything more."
For the second straight week, the event turned into a two-man contest between Allen and Salisbury's Garrett Francis. During last Saturday's sectional meet in Belton, Francis edged Allen by three inches.
"I saw online his (personal record) was getting up there and was ahead of mine by about half an inch," Allen said of Francis. "It just really gave me the motivation to keep going forward."
Allen said his goal was to break his personal record Friday and try to get a jump of 45 feet.
"I didn't quite hit my PR today, but I jumped a good jump," Allen said.
As it turned out, Allen had the event won with his second jump in the preliminaries. Then, in the finals, Allen's last three jumps of 42-7, 42-5.5 and 42-4.5 all topped Francis' second-place distance of 42-4.25.
Allen said he knew he had the top jump going into the finals and watched the board as each competitor tried to take his spot in first place.
Francis, who also finished second in the high jump Friday, now has nine all-state medals. Allen's win was just his second all-state honor.
But the Calvary Lutheran senior has more coming today.
Allen tied for seventh place in the 100-meter dash preliminaries with a time of 11.53 seconds, then anchored the Lions' 4x100-meter relay to a sixth-place finish in the preliminaries in 45.76 seconds to advance to today's finals in both events.
He also has the long jump - where he is the No. 1 seed after jumping 21-8 at sectionals - for his last event of the day.
Calvary Lutheran had just three all-state performances in program history heading into this year's state championships. Allen could surpass that total with his medals alone this weekend.
"It just sends shivers down my spine," Allen said.
Reece Going also advanced to the boys 200-meter dash finals for the Calvary boys. He took seventh place in the preliminaries with a time of 23.26 seconds.
The Lady Lions fell just shy of achieving all-state honors in three events Friday.
Seeded 15th heading into the 4x800-meter relay, Calvary's Madeline Wilson, Sarah Johnson, Allison Procter and Emma Homfeldt finished ninth with a time of 10:33.43. The 4x100-meter relay team - also seeded 15th - of Katherine Allen, Olivia Bexten, Andrea Stanford and Homfeldt also took ninth in 53.24 seconds.
Bexten finished 10th in the high jump, clearing 4-10.
The Calvary girls finished fifth in the second heat of the 4x200-meter relay preliminaries, but they'll get a second chance at an all-state medal in the event today.
The first heat of the 4x200 experienced a timing error, so all 16 relay teams will return today to run in a two-heat timed final. The two heats will run following the Class 2 boys 100-meter dash final.
Homfeldt will also run in the 800-meter run finals today. She is the No. 2 seed in the event.
III
Sixth place seems to suit Jamestown's Lucas Knierim just fine.
A year after finishing sixth in the Class 1 boys shot put, Knierim did the same again Friday. The Jamestown senior had a top throw of 44-7 to repeat as an all-state medalist.
Knierim said he was competing with a sore back, but he felt better as the competition moved along.
"I wasn't comfortable with my first three (throws)," Knierim said. "I got my 44 on my second-to-last throw. That was whenever I started feeling better, started stretching a little more."
Jamestown's Trenton Barbour advanced to the finals in the boys 200-meter dash after finishing fifth in the preliminaries with a time of 23.24 seconds. He will be the Eagles' only athlete competing today.
The Lady Eagles' lone state qualifier, Chiane Harlan, finished 15th in the girls 200-meter dash preliminaries with a time of 28.02 seconds.
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Chamois senior Lucas Kuhn has his sights sets on winning a pair of state titles today.
Kuhn finished first in the preliminaries of boys 110-meter hurdles, posting a top time of 15.80 seconds. In his other event, the 300-meter hurdles, he took third with a time of 42.46 seconds to advance to the finals.
Kuhn is a three-time state medalist, finishing sixth in both hurdle events in 2015 and taking sixth in the 300 hurdles last season.
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St. Elizabeth senior Shanley Kliethermes, the school's only state qualifier, is seeking her third straight state medal today in the Class 1 girls pole vault.
Kliethermes, who finished sixth as a sophomore and second as a junior, will be the No. 2 seed after clearing 9-6 in last weekend's sectional meet. Two-time defending champion Khristen Bryant of Columbia Independent enters as the top seed.