When he was a sophomore at Montgomery County last year, Weston Marshall competed at the sectional track meet for the first time under rainy conditions.

But the bad weather didn’t prevent him from celebrating a sectional championship.

Marshall came out on top in the javelin with a school-record throw of 156 feet, 6 inches at the Class 3 sectional meet at Jim Blacklock Field, making him one of 13 MCHS athletes to qualify for state.

“I was surprised,” Marshall said. “I didn’t know I was winning until the meet was over. When coach (Joe Klekamp) told me I got first, I was pretty excited.”

The sectional victory highlighted an outstanding first season for Marshall with the Wildcats’ track team. He had four top-5 finishes and earned all-Eastern Missouri Conference honors in the javelin.

This spring, Marshall is picking up right where he left off from 2022. He won the javelin in four meets – the Holt Invitational, the Bowling Green Mini-Medal Meet, the Owensville Relays and the MCHS Quad.

At the Holt Invitational on April 1, Marshall tossed a 158-6, which broke his mark from last year’s sectional meet. He broke his own school record at the Owensville Relays on April 14, throwing a 169-5.

Thomas Klekamp, who graduated from MCHS last year, was the school record holder in the javelin with a 154-6.25 before Marshall surpassed it in the 2022 sectional meet. Marshall said Klekamp was helpful to him during his first year with the track team.

“He was definitely my motivation to win and get above him,” Marshall said. “The school record was what I wanted. He helped me with form and stuff in practice.”

Marshall came up one place short of getting an all-state medal in the javelin, placing ninth with a 151-2.25. He was in seventh after the first throw, but fell out of all-state medal contention after scratching in the last two throws.

“The runway definitely messed me up,” Marshall said. “We never threw in an actual runway. I went from grass to runway. The runway was weird. My crossovers and my steps were off.”

Marshall played baseball for the Wildcats in his freshman year before switching to track the following year. He followed in the footsteps of his stepsister, Julia Crenshaw, who was a state champion in the javelin while attending Fort Zumwalt West. Crenshaw is a freshman at the University of Missouri-Columbia, where she is playing softball.

Marshall said competing in the javelin is not easy.

“There are a lot of people who say they can do it,” Marshall said. “When people come out and try it, they find out it’s not as easy as they thought. I felt like it was natural for me since I played baseball forever.”

Marshall threw a 107-10 in his first meet at Centralia before blossoming later in the season. He finished second at the EMO meet with a 136-0.25 and qualified for sectionals after finishing third in districts with a 146-15.

Marshall, who plays football in the fall, credits Joe Klekamp for improving on his throws.

“He definitely helped me out a lot,” the junior said. “I started throwing 28 (meters). Then, he helped me with footwork and it just went from there.”