Malia Rodgers came to the rescue for the Montgomery County girls track team at the Eastern Missouri Conference championship on April 25 at Jim Blacklock Field.

With the Wildcats trailing Mark Twain by four points with two events to go in the girls division, Rodgers needed to win the 3,200 to help her team clinch its eighth EMO title in program history. The MCHS senior did just that, winning the event by 28 seconds.

The Wildcats scored 15 points in the 3,200 with Rodgers’ first-place finish and Olivia Spurgeon’s fourth-place finish and took the lead for good.

“(Coaches Chasity Rodgers and Stephanie Finke) both came over and told me what I needed to get,” Rodgers said. “I went and told Olivia and we knew what we had to do and we were going to do anything we could to help our team win. That was the ultimate goal. That’s what I was thinking about the whole time I was running. I got to win for my team.”

The Wildcats finished with 122.5 points to win their fifth EMO crown in six years. They won by seven points over Mark Twain. They had a total of 14 athletes – nine of them are freshmen – who scored points.

“We have a group of hard workers,” MCHS senior El Reagan said. “We have a very young team this year. We just won conference. That’s a huge deal with a young team. The younger ones are scoring points now, but they work so hard that they’re going to be so good by the end of their senior year.”

Also, MCHS placed second with 142 points in the boys division. Senior Conner Finke won the shot put and discus for his first EMO championships. Senior Jacer Brower placed first in the 400 for his second league title of his high school track career. He helped the 1,600-meter relay team finish first in his freshman year.

The Wildcats are now preparing for the Class 3, District 3 championship meet, which will also be held at Jim Blacklock Field. Field events will start at 9:30 a.m. and running events will begin at 11 a.m.

“I just like running here in general,” Rodgers said. “I love our track. I’m glad that we’re having districts here.”

Rodgers became a member of her 11th conference championship team. She helped the girls track and basketball squads win four EMO titles and the cross country team three championships.

“It means so much,” said Rodgers, who plans to compete in track at State Fair Community College next year.

Rodgers also won the 1,600, giving her a total of eight first-place finishes in her four years competing at the EMO meet.

Reagan won her fourth EMO crown in the pole vault in 9 feet, 6.25. She has a total of five first-place finishes at the EMO meet. When she was a freshman, she helped the 4x400 team – which also included Rodgers – get a victory at the EMO meet in North Callaway.

“It’s pretty awesome,” said Reagan, who now has eight wins in the pole vault this season. “(MCHS assistant coach Nathan) Thurman said I’m the only vaulter he has had to do that, at least in the girls division. So that was pretty big.”

Reagan also had fourth-place finishes in the high jump and 300-meter hurdles. She ran a personal-best time of 53.50 seconds in the 300-meter hurdles.

“For pole vault, I didn’t jump for height,” said Reagan, who will compete in track at William Woods University next year. “I jumped to win it and get the points. I focused on the next event and having that mentality that it’s more than just us and it’s more than just this year’s track team.”

Also, freshman Samantha Turner won the shot put in 32 feet, 3 inches for her first victory in the high school level. She also came in eighth in the discus.

The conference meet was originally scheduled for April 26, but was pushed back a day due to the rainy weather that was predicted to come to the Montgomery County area.

“I think all of us were so hyped up that it didn’t matter what day it was,” Reagan said. “We were ready to come out here and perform and do our best.”