The Eastern Missouri Conference meet on May 2 was something Cooper Henderson would like to forget.

The Wellsville-Middletown senior was disqualified in two events, including his strongest event, the 110-meter hurdles, at the league meet at Montgomery County High School,

“It was a bad race,” Henderson said. “It was a bad day.”

But Henderson quickly bounced back from that bad day to win district and sectional titles in the 110-meter hurdles, then wrap up his high school track career with his second straight all-state medal in the event.

Henderson placed sixth in a season-best time of 16.09 seconds in the finals on May 24 at the Class 1 state meet in Jefferson City. He advanced to the finals in the 110-meter hurdles after finishing third in his heat and seventh overall in 16.11 seconds in the preliminaries on May 23.

Henderson said getting disqualified at the EMO meet definitely motivated him in the postseason.

“I just wanted to do the best I could after DQ’ing in conference and help my team get some points on the board,” Henderson said.

Henderson was one of three Montgomery County-area seniors who earned all-state honors at the state meet. Henderson’s teammate, Gage Marshall, placed eighth in the high jump in 6 feet, 0.5 inches. Tyler Erwin of Montgomery County picked up his seventh all-state medal of his high school track career after finishing sixth in the long jump in 21-4.25 in Class 3. Both Marshall and Erwin picked up their medals on the first day of competition on May 23.

Henderson also competed on a 400-meter relay team – which also included Marshall, senior Jonah Slovensky and sophomore Shane Joles – which didn’t get an all-state medal, but ran a school-record time of 47.46 seconds in preliminaries on May 23. Henderson participated in the 300-meter hurdles and ran a personal-best 45.51 seconds, but didn’t advance out of preliminaries.

“I really appreciate coming here in three events,” Henderson said. “We did some good things. There were some things I wanted to do better in, but it is what it is. I still had a good two days.”

Despite getting disqualified at the EMO meet, Henderson still turned in a successful 2025 season in the 110-meter hurdles, getting four victories. Last year, he had three wins in the event, including districts and sectionals.

Henderson competed with the W-M track team all four years. A year ago, he placed sixth in the 110-meter hurdles in 16.60 seconds at state for his first all-state medal. He ran a personal-best 15.94 seconds in the preliminaries.

Henderson, who plans to attend State Technical College next year, can’t believe his high school track career is over.

“It’s hard,” Henderson said. “I’ve been doing it for four years.”

Marshall, who plans to attend State Fair Community College next year, also competed with the W-M track program all four years. With his eighth-place finish in the high jump at state, Marshall earned his third straight medal in that event. He finished seventh last year and eighth the year before.

In addition to the high jump and the 4x100, Marshall also participated in the long jump, where he finished 14th in preliminaries.

Erwin, who will continue his track career at the University of Central Missouri, earned his third straight all-state medal in the long jump. He finished second last year and third the year before.

Erwin qualified for this year’s state meet by placing first in the long jump at the Class 3, Sectional 2 meet at MCHS on May 17. He also won the event at the conference, district and Bowling Green meets.

Throughout his high school career, Erwin also competed in state in the high jump and the triple jump. He placed eighth in his freshman year and third in his sophomore year in the high jump. He came in fifth in his sophomore year and third in his junior year in the triple jump.