Fayette’s Browyn Eubanks and Harrisburg’s Emma Fischer led a group of 11 area medalists at the Class 1 and 2 State Track Meet in Jefferson City on Friday and Saturday.

Eubanks broke her own record to win the 300-meter hurdles, and Fischer defended her title as the top javelin thrower in the state.

While only a sophomore, Eubanks has been burning up the track all season. She qualified for state in four events, medaling in three of them.

The highlight of the state meet was her 300-meter hurdle performance. She already owned the Fayette High School record in the event. In Saturday’s final, she smashed her own record while claiming the Class 2 state title with a time of 45.28 seconds, beating out three seniors and three juniors and besting Friday’s qualifying time of 45.74 seconds, also the fastest of the day.

Eubanks also earned two other state medals. She finished third overall in the 100-meter hurdles on Saturday with a time of 15.34 seconds, slightly more than half a second behind the first-place finisher.

In the field, she claimed fifth place in the Class 2 girls high jump, clearing 1.55 meters (5 feet 1 inch) to land on the podium.

And if three medals weren’t enough, Eubanks nearly qualified for the 200-meter dash. She finished 10th, missing the finals by six-tenths of a second with a preliminary time of 25.75 seconds.

Ironically, her time would have landed her fourth in the Class 3 prelims, proving just how high the competition has become in the Class 2 girls’ sprints.

Harrisburg senior Emma Fischer successfully defended her state title in the Class 2 girls’ javelin.

She qualified for state in two field events, the javelin and the pole vault. Because the two events occurred almost simultaneously, she had to bounce between the two.

After qualifying for the finals in the javelin with a throw of 38.40 meters (126 feet), she then made two throws in the finals, landing her in second place before leaving for the pole vault event.

After landing a podium spot in the pole vault, she returned to javelin almost two meters behind the leader, putting her chances of repeating as champion in jeopardy. But on her last throw, she gave it everything she had, scoring on a mark of 39.38 meters (129 feet, 2 inches), surpassing Lathrop senior Kaitlyn Morgan by 24 centimeters (about 9.5 inches) to reclaim her state title.

“It was my last throw. I just gave it all I had,” she said.

Interrupting her title defense, she managed to also land on the podium in the pole vault, finishing eighth and clearing 2.8 meters (9 feet, 2 inches) on her third attempt.

Those two state medals marked the end of a spectacular high school career. Fischer will now turn her focus to making a mark in the NAIA. Earlier this year, she inked with William Woods University in Fulton.

Fayette also had a strong showing from sophomore Carter Vroman, who walked away with three medals in the throwing events.

A highlight for Vroman was a third-place finish in the discus with a distance of 46.03 meters (151 feet). He was one of just two sophomores to medal in the event.

Vroman also placed sixth in the shot put. He made his best throw on his first attempt in the finals, a toss of 14.75 meters (48 feet, 4.75 inches), a hair behind the fifth-place finisher from Penney High School.

On Saturday, Vroman earned another spot on the podium with an eighth-place finish in the javelin. His best throw went for 47.25 meters (155 feet), just 12 centimeters short of the seventh-place thrower from Bourbon High School.

Also qualifying for the Class 2 state meet from Fayette was the girls’ 4x200-meter relay team. Hayden Sage, Chloe Bier, Lasaydra Jackman, and Payton Kindle posted a time of 1:54.72 in the prelims, good enough for 15th place, but was almost 5.5 seconds out of the top eight final qualifiers.

Trace Combs was the final medalist for the Harrisburg Bulldogs. The junior earned a spot on the podium with an eighth-place finish in the high jump, clearing 1.89 meters (6 feet, 2.25 inches), only an inch out of seventh place. He also qualified in the 400 meters but failed to make the finals.

In Class 1 action, the New Franklin boys brought home two medals, the first for the school since 2019, and watched as a six-decades old record fell from the record books. On Friday, sophomore Landon Shaw took eighth place in the triple jump. His leap of 12.27 meters (40 feet, 3.25 inches) was only an inch short of the seventh-place medalist from Leeton.

“At the beginning of the competition, Landon seemed a little nervous and hesitant. I really challenged him to overcome, and he did just that,” said New Franklin coach Adam Quest. “He started off by first making it to finals, then jumped another competitor in the finals to finish on the podium.”

New Franklin’s biggest highlight came on Saturday when junior Maddox Thornton shattered a school record in the shot put dating back to 1964.

“Not only did he come out of nowhere to finish sixth in the state, but he also completely demolished a 60-year-old school record in the process,” Quest said.

Thornton set a new standard in Bulldogs track & field with a throw of 14.27 meters (46 feet, 10 inches), more than three feet farther than the old record, which was set in 1964 and was the oldest school record still on the board.

“Maddox has a passion for throwing and has worked very hard to get better over the last year,” Quest said. “I can’t think of anyone more deserving of finishing so well and breaking a record than Maddox. Being only a junior, I have a feeling that we will see more from Maddox next year.”

Although Glasgow athletes qualified for state in several events, the Yellowjackets would claim just two medals on the long, hot weekend.

The boys’ 4,100-meter relay finished seventh overall. Jordan Fuemmeler, Ryan Graves, Finn Johnson, and Colton Sellmeyer edged out Tina-Avalon for the penultimate position on the podium with a final time of 46.12 seconds.

Individually, Johnson, a junior, also tied for eighth place in the boys’ pole vault with Midway High School freshman Blake Russ, both clearing 3.4 meters (11 feet, 1.75 inches) on their second tries. Newburg freshman Timmy Conger made the same height but did so on his first attempt to claim seventh place.

In Class 1 girls’ competition, Higbee junior Ronnie Welch earned the bronze in the high jump. She cleared 1.57 meters (5 feet, 1.75 inches) on her second attempt to claim the third-place medal. She finished three-quarters of an inch behind the second-place finisher from Worth County and just 1.5 inches below the first-place winner from Pattonsburg with a height of 1.61 meters (5 inches, 3.25 inches).

The end of state track signals the end of the school year for these exceptional athletes. New Franklin and Higbee held their graduation exercises the weekend before, with Fayette, Glasgow, and Harrisburg seniors receiving their diplomas on Sunday.