Russellville's Huff medals in 800-meter dash

Ethan Huff of Russellville (583) competes in the Class 1 boys 800-meter run Friday at Adkins Stadium.
Ethan Huff of Russellville (583) competes in the Class 1 boys 800-meter run Friday at Adkins Stadium.

Russellville senior Ethan Huff wishes he had a larger sample size in the 800-meter run.

Competing in the event for just the fifth time in his high school career, Huff finished fourth in the boys 800 on Friday in the Class 1 state track and field championships at Adkins Stadium.

"I wish I would have been out here a lot more, training more," Huff said. "But it was a lot of fun, sticking with it and coming through my senior year."

Huff ran a fast enough leg on Russellville's 4x800-meter relay earlier in the season, Indians coach Sean Lovelace decided to enter him in the open 800 in time for districts.

"I ran all over the place (on the 4x800)," Huff said. "I started in the first leg, which is really similar to the open 800 because you're starting without movement and you're going off the gun."

Huff ran the 800 once as a junior, posting a time of 2:31.59 at a home meet. At the Linn Quad earlier this season, he ran it in 2:19.58.

The improvement carried into the postseason, running 2:09.61 at districts and 2:06.93 at sectionals. In Friday's state race, Huff crossed the finish line in a personal-best time of 2:04.20.

"It was pretty astounding," Huff said. "My teammates were talking me up throughout the race."

Huff held down the third-place position for most of the race, trailing just Chadwick's Evan Smith and Meadville's Dillon Seckington. Braymer's Keaton O'Dell caught Huff in the final 150 meters and edged him by two-tenths of a second for third place.

"You just have to get out quick in front of the pack, and stay up there," Huff said.

Smith won the race in a time of 2:02.40.

Huff also plays baseball for Russellville as his primary sport in the spring. The baseball team has played 28 games, leaving Huff to work on the 800 and relays with what little free time he has left.

"I was paying attention to what the track team was doing in practice, and what our distance runners were doing," he said. "After baseball practice was over, I would go up to the track and take the extra time to run and get my endurance up."

Huff also helped Russellville's 4x200-meter relay to the finals. Huff was joined by Gabe Little, Austin Roe and Collin Lueckenotte to finish eighth in Friday's preliminaries with a time of 1:36.29.

In addition to the 4x200, Huff will also run today in the 4x800. Russellville is the No. 2 seed in that event.

Little also qualified for the finals in the boys 300-meter hurdles, taking eighth in the prelims with a time of 43.42 seconds. He edged Knox County's Coltin Morrow by 0.03 seconds for the last spot in the finals.

Like Huff, Vienna junior Gavin Weathers also exceeded expectations Friday in the Class 1 boys shot put.

In his second throw of the preliminaries, Weathers threw the shot 46 feet, 5.75 inches, securing a spot in the final. That throw would go on to secure him a third-place finish as well.

"Shot put has been up and down for me all year," Weathers said. " When I went to state, I was expecting to get on the podium, but I wasn't expecting to get third."

Weathers entered Friday's event as the No. 10 seed, but his top throw in the prelims traveled nearly four feet farther than his best throw at sectionals.

"Sectionals was a really bad day, it was rainy," said Weathers, whose personal best is 47-6.

Northeast Nodaway's Colton Wilmes won the Class 1 shot put with a throw of 50-1.75.

Weathers will compete at 9:30 a.m. today in the discus, where he is the No. 1 seed. Last season, he won the Class 2 title with a throw of 162-9.

His personal-best in the discus this year is 166-7, but Weathers wants to throw at least 170 feet today, which would break the Class 1 state record.

"I'm going to try as hard as I can," he said.

Russellville senior Makenzie Schwartz came close to going 4-for-4 on podium finishes this weekend.

Schwartz won her heat in both the 100- and 300-meter hurdle prelims, and she posted the second-fastest overall time in the 100-meter dash prelims. So far, she was 3-for-3.

But a 10th-place finish in the 200-meter dash prelims ended Schwartz's hopes of claiming four state medals this season. She finished 0.12 seconds outside the top eight to claim a spot in the finals.

"I did the best I could," said Schwartz, who ran 26.85 seconds in the 200.

Schwartz set personal-bests Friday in the 100 hurdles (16.14 seconds) and the 300 hurdles (47.33 seconds). Her time of 12.79 seconds in the 100 is just 0.07 seconds shy of a personal best set two weeks ago at districts.

"I was just going to try the best I can," Schwartz said. "I wasn't going to be upset with anything I did today."

Schwartz has five state medals from her previous three Class 2 state meets, including three medals in the 300 hurdles. Her other two are from the 100 hurdles.

But that first-place medal still eludes Schwartz. In today's finals, she will be in Lane 5 in the two hurdle events and in Lane 3 in the 100.

"It would mean a lot to me, because I've worked four years to do it," Schwartz said of winning an individual title.

Falling just short of reaching the podium Friday were Russellville's Gabriela Kauffman and St. Elizabeth's Andrea Schaffer.

Kaffuman took ninth in the girls high jump, clearing 4-9, while Schaffer placed ninth in the shot put with a throw of 35-1.25.

Through five of the 19 events, Chadwick leads the boys team standings with 20 points. Meadville is second with 14 points, School of the Ozarks is third with 12 points and Glasgow, Northeast Nodaway and Pattonsburg are tied for fourth with 10 points.

Worth County tops the girls team standings with 26 points, while St. Joseph Christian is second with 21 points. Blue Eye is third with 18 points and Stanberry is fourth with 12 points.

Track events begin at 11 a.m. today, but they will be on a rolling schedule due to forecasted thunderstorms. The second round of field events have been moved up to start at noon.