Even the rainy conditions didn’t stop Sam Queathem and Weston Marshall from turning in strong performances in the javelin at the Sectional 2 championship meet on May 21 at Jim Blacklock Field.

The Montgomery County athletes will be competing at the state track meet for the first time after winning sectional championships in the javelin. Queathem, a senior, won the javelin in the girls division in 132 feet, 7.75 inches and Marshall, a sophomore, came out on top in the event in the boys division in 156-6. Both set school records.

“They both worked really hard this week,” MCHS throwing coach Joe Klekamp said. “They were committed to doing some stuff that needed to be done. They had a good week of practice and it showed. They threw awesome.”

Queathem and Marshall will be among 13 MCHS athletes who will be competing at the Class 3 state track meet on May 27-28 at Jefferson City. The others are seniors Ty Leu and Gavin Mendoza, juniors Adam Czerniewski, Lyric Ford, Dominic Luttrell, sophomores Jacer Brower, El Reagan, Malia Rodgers and Olivia Shaw and freshmen Tyler Erwin and Jadrian Thurmon.

The top four finishers in the sectional meet qualify for state. The Wildcats had second-place finishes from the boys 4x100 (Czerniewski, Leu, Mendoza and Luttrell) and 4x200 (Czerniewski, Luttrell, Brower and Thurmon) relay teams, third-place finishes from Brower (boys 400), Erwin (boys high jump), Ford (girls 1,600) and Reagan (girls pole vault) and fourth-place efforts from Shaw (girls 400), Ford (girls 800) and Rodgers (girls 3,200).

Czerniewski, Mendoza, Ford, Reagan, Rodgers and Shaw will make their second straight state appearance. Ford (1,600), Reagan (pole vault), Rodgers (3,200) and Shaw (400) earned all-state honors in their respective events at the 2021 state meet.

Brower, Erwin, Leu, Luttrell, Thurmon will compete at state for the first time.

MCHS had 17 athletes compete at sectionals. Senior Dawson McCown, junior Gunner Sexton, sophomore Claire Cobb and freshman Trenton Birkner were the Wildcats’ other sectional representatives, but didn’t qualify for state.

The sectional meet was delayed for four hours due to rain. Klekamp said the conditions forced the javelin to be moved to a different area.

“The conditions were terrible,” Klekamp said. “It was not a fun day to throw.”

Queathem won the javelin for the third consecutive meet. She also came out on top at the Eastern Missouri Conference and District 4 meets. At sectionals, Queathem broke her own school-record mark of 122-5.25 she set at districts on May 14.

“Sam is starting to throw good at the right time,” Klekamp said.

By winning the boys javelin, Marshall picked up his first victory in the high school level. He is also the school-record holder, breaking the previous mark of 154-6.25 that was set by senior Thomas Klekamp at the Centralia Invitational on April 12. Marshall qualified for sectionals by placing third in districts.

“Weston has been working really hard,” Joe Klekamp said. “He’s only been throwing and training for about two months. His stepsister was a Class 5 state champion two years in a row. She threw javelin as well. So he’s been messing around with it.”

Queathem will be the first MCHS athlete to compete at state as her javelin event is scheduled for 10 a.m. on May 27. Also that day, Brower, Shaw and the boys 4x100 and 4x200 squad will compete in preliminaries, and Ford will run in the 1,600 at 1:15 p.m. and 800 at 4 p.m.

The next day, Reagan will compete in the pole vault at 9 a.m., followed by Marshall in the javelin at 9:30 a.m., Erwin in the high jump at 3 p.m. and Rodgers in the 3,200 at 3:30 p.m.
The Wildcats will have 13 athletes at the state meet for the second year in a row.