Olyn Davis was excited to join the Wellsville-Middletown track team when the season began in March.

“After I saw Cooper Henderson and Gage Marshall go to state (last year), it got my spirit up and I wanted to be like them,” the sophomore said.

So far after two months, Davis has been the Tigers’ top performer in the sprint events. He showed why at the Eastern Missouri Conference meet on May 1 at Montgomery County High School.

Davis placed fifth in the 100-meter dash in 11.88 seconds and seventh in the 200-meter dash in 24.21 seconds. He earned a medal in the 100 and came up one place short of picking up a medal in the 200. He was the only W-M athlete to get a medal at the EMO meet.

“It feels amazing,” Davis said. “I felt like myself out here.”

Davis has two top five finishes each in the 100 and 200. He placed fifth in a season-best 11.79 seconds at the Cunningham Invitational at Louisiana High on April 23. He came in second in a season-best 24.25 seconds at the North Callaway Thunderbird Invitational on April 15.

“He’s been putting in the work,” first-year W-M coach Julian Muller-Williams said. “He’s been working harder than anybody I have ever seen. He comes into practice, works his butt off and he knows what he wants and he runs for it.”

Now, Davis hopes to turn in a strong showing at the Class 1, District 2 championship meet at New Haven on May 9.

“I think I’m going to do really good in districts and sectionals,” said Davis, who also plays baseball for the Tigers. “Hopefully, I get to state this year. If I don’t, I’ll have two more years to get to it.”

Davis competed in the third and final heat of the 100 at the EMO meet. He finished behind champion Kaden Cross of Wright City, Jackson Perkins of Bowling Green and Troy McDaniel and Javon Ries of Louisiana.

“I had a really good start,” said Davis, who came in the race with the fourth-best time. “Usually, I slip sometimes, but I had a great start. I kept looking down, but I needed to keep my head up and stay in the game.”

The other W-M athletes who competed at the EMO meet were freshmen Alexis Brennan, Emma Null, Silas Jones, Lucas Spiers and Ezekiel Bradley and junior Urich Lobb. Muller-Williams said even though they didn’t place, they still turned in strong efforts.

“Everybody has been working really hard,” the coach said. “They came in here wanting to do well and wanting to win. They came in here and everybody did their best on the track and they left every bit of energy they had out on the track. They worked really hard to come to this conference and do what they did today.”