Cameron, Chillicothe individuals earn medals
by Andy Meyer
Friday, May 23, 2008

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. — Jenny Zweifel stayed rooted to her spot in the sand, contemplating the final jump of her career.

Her head hanging, she finally lifted one foot. Then the other.

Zweifel’s downtrodden reaction quickly changed when she discovered she’d leapfrogged two girls for a second-place finish in the Class 3 long jump at Friday’s Missouri State Track and Field Championships at Dwight T. Reed Stadium.

“I would have liked a better jump, but I’ll take it,” Zweifel said. “There’s not even words for how I feel.”

The silver-worthy leap concluded a whirlwind month for the Maryville senior. Separate hamstring injuries threatened to derail her season, and Zweifel didn’t perform until the Midland Empire Conference meet.

“I was convinced my season was over,” Zweifel said.

Surprised at her own recovery, she dramatically improved her distances with each passing meet and recorded a season-best 17 feet, 8 inches at sectionals last week. Her final state jump of 17-6 3/4 was just shy of that mark but good enough for the runner-up showing.

“I never though I’d be jumping at all, much less medalling at state,” Zweifel said.

With 12 points, the Spoofhounds sit in a three-way tie for fifth after the first day thanks to Zweifel and Megan Walker’s efforts in the throwing pits.

Seeded 10th in the discus, the junior set a new personal best at 121-4 in preliminaries. She entered finals in fourth place and slipped just one spot to fifth after Excelsior Springs’ Rachel McCarroll jumped her in the standings.

Walker will have a chance to notch a few more points in today’s shot put competition, where she also enters with the 10th-best qualifying distance.

Sophomore Jordan Stiens also will add to those point totals today after she qualified for the finals in both the 100- and 300-meter hurdle events. After winning her short-distance preliminary, she struggled to a third-place finish in her 300 heat.

Stiens will go head-to-head with rival Tiffani McReynolds of Pembroke Hill in both races — looking for her first win of the year against her.

Despite the successful start, Maryville trails Festus by 19 points entering the second day of competition.

Cameron’s Brandon Tunks will run in two finals today, as well, after a speedy Day 1.

The locomotion-like senior picked up speed down the stretch of the 100- and 200-meter dashes and finished no lower than third in either event. McDonald County’s Randy Mustain had a false-start in Tunks’ 200 heat, benefiting the Cameron senior in his first trip to state.

“I was kind of glad we got a restart because my first start wasn’t that great,” Tunks said.

His start in the 100 wasn’t awe-inspiring either, but he picked off three runners in the final 25 meters to finish third in his heat. After a shaky district meet, Tunks has continued to build momentum throughout the postseason and will be running today’s races seeded 4th (200) and 5th (100).

“We thought he had a pretty good shot in both, and that’s exactly what we wanted him to do,” Cameron coach Eric Thomas said. “He’s gotten so much better, and I’m excited to see how he does.”

Joseph Stull of Chillicothe will enter today’s shot put with an added boost of confidence following his third-place showing in the discus. He ripped off a season-best 155-10 toss on his first effort and shattered it on his final toss — going 159-0.

“I knew I could come out and compete well, and I’m loving this right now,” said Stull, who recently committed to throw at Brigham Young University.

Teammate Samantha Figg also finished on the medal stand with a seventh-place showing in the pole vault. A medal didn’t look likely when she missed her first attempt at 8-0.

“It was bad form and everything else. It was not good,” Figg said.

She quickly regained her form and cleared the next two heights on the first try and made it over the 10-foot mark for just the second time this season on her second effort.

“I just kind of set my jaw and told myself I had to do this,” Figg said.

Cameron’s Kemper Kellerstrass finished just short of all-state recognition by ending up ninth in the boys pole vault. Smithville’s Dakota Stinson wound up in the same spot in discus.

Platte County’s Ashton Stubbs was the area’s only other Day 1 medalist after she turned in a sixth-place effort in the 1,600. She also finished 11th in the 800-meter run.