After a cold and/or rainy Spring Track season, 57 Blue Knight Athletes competed in a hot and sticky end of the season meet. The Homeschool National Championships were held at Southwest Baptist University in Bolivar, Missouri, on May 11th and 12th. The two-day event hosted over 1200 athletes, ages 8-18, from many different states. The Blue Knights did quite well at Nationals, setting 94 personal records and 12 team records. The team had multiple National Champions and medal winners for finishing in the top 3 in various events.

In the middle school level, the relay team of Terry and Torry Donelson, Micah Stiles, and Grant Criswell were National Champions in the 4 x 400 relay (10U). In the same event (12U), the team of Caitlyn Clark, Mya Haynes, Kiera Stiles, and Lynn Criswell medaled in 2nd place silver. Grant Criswell had a stellar meet by adding National Championships in the 1600, 2400, and a 2nd place silver finish in the 800 meter run. Terry Donelson brought home the bronze medal in the 800.

Mya Haynes took home 4 medals from Nationals. In addition to the relay, she finished 3rd in long jump and triple jump. Mya also took home 2nd place silver in the triathlon, a multi-sport event consisting of the long jump, shot put, and 200 meter run. Caitlyn Clark earned a 2nd place silver in the 80 meter hurdles and 3rd place bronze in the 200 meter run. Lynn Criswell won a silver medal by finishing 2nd in the 2400 meter run. Maddy Haynes earned a National Championship in the triple jump and a bronze in the high jump in the 12U division. The Haynes sisters weren’t finished as Molly earned silver in the 800 meter run. Christian Adkisson continued the Blue Knights’ success in the high jump by bringing home the bronze for the 10U age group.

The Blue Knights high school team added to overall successes with more National Championships and medals with events involving cross bars. The Ward siblings, Brandon and Bella, each won Gold medals in the pole vault, and Jacob Anderson earned gold in the high jump. Riley Twohy added a 2nd place finish in pole vault in the 18U division. Katie Majors earned a silver in the high jump as well. Also in the 14U, Faith Brown took bronze in the high jump.

The 18U Men’s Team finished 4th overall out of 20 teams. Leading the way for this group was Jacob Meyers and Quentin Drago, who both finished in 3rd place in the 1600 and the triple jump, respectively. On the women’s side, Anya Stiles continued excelling in the discus and earned the 14U gold in the event. Two other high school women earned medals when Hannah Gresham finished 2nd in the javelin (16U), and Tabby Bryant earned silver in the 800 (14U). The 14U 4x200 relay of Tabby Bryant, Sophia Ngyuen, Anya Stiles and Faith Brown worked in a unified manner to earn the bronze medal. Many other Blue Knights won ribbons for 4th through 6th place. One such example was Katie Majors, who finished 4th in the pentathlon. After the two long and hot days, the Blue Knights were ready to recover in cool air and celebrate their successes at the team awards ceremony held on Friday, May 20th.

April 21st meet: Orchard Farm High, St Charles, MO
The St. Louis Blue Knights Track Team participated in the Orchard Farm Invitational on Thursday, April 21st. A total of 17 schools, with 15 full teams, in this first “warm” meet of the year. In the previous 4 meets, BK athletes faced colder temperatures and windy conditions.

Weather would play a factor in the meet, but not until the first 7 events were completed. Blue Knights distance runners showed well at Luxembourg Field. The Men’s 4 x 800 set a Blue Knights Team record shattering the previous mark by nearly 20 seconds. The relay team consisted of Adam Gresham, Colton Barfield, Alex Frizzell, and Ethan Hillebrand.

Jacob Meyer finished 3rd in the 1600 and set his PR for the event. It was a good day in the 1600 for BK athletes, as Sadie Brandt also set a PR in the 1600 going under 6:30 for the second consecutive meet. While the previous meet at Wright City was hand timed, therefore considered less reliable, races this time were electronically timed ensuring more accuracy.

Seniors, Katie Majors, Abby Herod, and Nathan Palumbo also scored points in individual events at the meet before an electrical storm forced the cancellation of the second half of the meet.  

The Blue Knights are wrapping up their competitions with public and private schools. The Middle School team will be at the Louisiana Middle School Invitational on Wednesday (April 27), the Junior Varsity Mens and Womens teams will return to Wright City on Thursday (April 28), and the Varsity will participate in the first annual Grizzly invitational Friday afternoon (April 29) at North Point High School in Wentzville.

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April 14th meet: Wright City High, Wright City, MO
The Blue Knights (BK) Track team competed in the Wright City Wildcat Varsity Invitational on Thursday, April 14th.

The Women's team finished 4th out of 13 teams with 10 new PRs by athletes, including two PR's by Sara Etcher (Long Jump, 200M) and Sadie Brandt (1600m, 3200m). Freshman Anya Stiles also PR'd again in Discus with another new BK Team Record of over 81 feet.

The Men’s team finished 3rd out of 12 teams with 10 new PRs by athletes. New BK Team Records were also set by Sam Schark (Long Jump), Brandon Ward (Pole Vault), 4x200 Relay (Quentin Drago, Michael Leine, Brody Seth, Sam Majors), and the 4x400 Relay (Same Majors, Ethan Hillebrand, Michael Leine, Adam Gresham).

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April 9th meet: John Burroughs High, Ladue, MO
The Blue Knights (BK) Track team competed in the Skippy Keefer Relays on Saturday, April 9th at John Burroughs High School. This meet is unique in that all events are made into relays except for hurdles and the 100m dash. In fact, even field events are scored based on the summation of three athletes to score the field "relay" for that event.

The Men's team finished 2nd out of 11 teams with 18 new PRs by athletes. New BK Team Records were also set by Sam Schark (100M), Riley Twohy (Pole Vault), and Nathan Palumbo (High Jump, 110 and 300 Hurdles). The team effort made by the running relay teams was incredible - with new BK Team Records in the 4x200 Relay (Quentin Drago, Colton Barfield, Michael Moore, Brandon Ward), Distance Medley Relay (Adam Gresham 1200, Ethan Hillebrand 800, Sam Majors 400, Jacob Meyers 1600), and the Sprint Medley Relay (Sam Majors 200, Sam Schark 200, Ethan Hillebrand 400, Adam Gresham 800).

The Women's team finished 8th out of 12 teams with 8 new PRs by athletes on the team. New BK Team Records were also set by Anya Stiles in Discus and Abbie Herod in Long Jump. The women's team also set new team records in the Sprint Medley Relay (Anya Stiles 200, Katie Majors 200, Tabby Bryant 400, Mayah Bryant 800) and Distance Medley Relay (Tabby Bryant 1200, Mayah Bryant 800, Katie Majors 400, Sadie Brandt 1600).

For all results from each event, visit: http://results.tfmeetpro.com/Big_River_Race_Management/2022_Skippy_Keefer_Track_and_Field_Relays/

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March 26 meet: Lutheran High, St. Charles, MO
The Blue Knights (BK) Track team competed in the Bob Carter Invitational on Saturday, March 26th at Lutheran High School in St. Charles. This meet was a dual meet, running Varsity (V) and Junior Varsity (JV) events for both men and women on the sunny, yet windy day with gusts up to 20 mph.

The JV Women’s team finished 5th out of 12 teams with new PRs by athletes, including Emily Majors who set two new PRs in the 300 hurdles and 3200m run. Top performances for the team include Daniella Hillebrand who placed 3rd in the 3200m run and Anya Stiles who place 2nd in Discus.

The JV Men’s team finished 6th out of 12 teams. Top performances include Joel Barfield who placed 3rd in the 3200m run and Brody Seth who placed 1st in High Jump and 1st in Long Jump!

The Varsity Women’s team finished 6th out of 14 teams. Senior Abby Herod led the team as top scorer for the women. Abby placed 1st in the 100 hurdles, 4th in the 300 hurdles, and 6th in long jump. Abby is undoubtedly preparing herself for the Pentathlon at Track Nationals in May.

The Varsity Men's team finished 8th out of 14 teams. There were several new PRs by athletes including Senior Josh Thomas who set two new PRs in the 110 hurdles and Shot Put. Senior Jordan Notz set a PR and new BK record in Discus. Perhaps the most notable men’s performance was from Nathan Palumbo, who led the team as top scorer placing 2nd in High Jump, 4th in Javelin, and 6th in the 300 hurdles, which was also a new PR and BK record for the men's 300 hurdles. Nathan is also on track for a top performance in the Pentathlon in May.

For all results from the meet, visit https://liveresults.trxctiming.com/meets/Bob_Carter_Invite_2022

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March 18 meet: Lutheran High, St. Charles, MO
The largest Blue Knights (BK) Track team ever competed at the Lutheran High Opener Track Meet on Friday, March 18th. Forty-two BK athletes competed in over one hundred competitions in the unique meet, which does not include relays or the keeping of team scores.

Many Blue Knights did an outstanding job of braving the cold and wet conditions, including Sophia Ngyuen and Emily Majors who ran the 300 hurdles during the worst part of the storm. Emily commented, “It was very difficult to see the hurdles,” because of the driving rain.

Three team members set two PRs at the event including Riley Twohy (LJ, 100), Jordan Notz (110 hurdles, HJ), and Samuel Lilly (Discus, 800). Captain Jacob Meyers (1600, 3200) also set two PRs including becoming only the 3rd Blue Knight to break the 5 minute 1600. Jacob clocked in at 4:58:45 for the race.

Many Freshmen made notable first appearances at LHS including Mason Tallo, who set the Freshmen team record in the 1600 with a time of 5:35:34, Jacob Anderson who set the Freshman team records in High Jump and Shot Put, and Samuel Thomas who set the Freshman team record in Discus. Anya Stiles may have had the performance of the night when she set the Blue Knights Team record for all grades in the Discus with a throw of 67’9”.

For all results from the meet, visit https://liveresults.trxctiming.com/meets/Seasons_Open_2022