T-Birds' Coleman bolts to third-place finish in 300 hurdles

Hornets' Christensen takes seventh place in high jump

After a less than auspicious start, North Callaway senior Steven Coleman closed out the Class 3 track and field championships by setting new standards for both himself and the Thunderbirds.

Coleman medalled with a third-place finish in the boys' 300-meter hurdles Saturday, posting a school-record time of 39.16 seconds at Lincoln University's Dwight T. Reed Stadium.

Meanwhile, Fulton senior Sam Christensen also captured medalist honors by taking seventh place in the Class 4 boys' high jump Saturday.

Saturday's finish was the best ever for Coleman, a state medalist in both hurdle events the last three years. Coleman came in fifth and seventh, respectively, in the 300 and 110 at last year's championships. He also placed seventh and eighth, respectively, in the 300 and 110 in 2013.

"I think I went pretty hard today," Coleman said. "The rain didn't help, but all in all, I felt like I did pretty well."

Coleman - set to run track at NCAA Division I Troy (Alabama) University next year - logged a :39.54 in Friday's 300 preliminaries, the fastest qualifying time.

"It really, really helped my confidence, but I came in knowing not to be cocky, because these guys are fast and anything can happen," Coleman said.

After not getting an ideal start out of the blocks, Coleman explained that he had to compensate by racing harder than normal to make up ground.

"He wasn't challenged this season until sectionals," North Callaway head coach Reid Randolph said. "He was kind of running cautiously and tried to run a clean race (in prior meets), and today he just cut loose."

The trio of Coleman, Owensville senior Devon Dowler and McCluer South-Berkeley senior Tuvone Clark paced the field for much of the race.

Dowler (38.273) barely edged Clark (38.275) to win the state championship.

Coleman's finale capped off a weekend that began with his disqualification in Friday's 110 preliminaries. In attempting to clear one of his hurdles, Coleman accidentally knocked it over into the next lane, occupied by Dowler.

The infraction kept Coleman from advancing to Saturday's 110 final, but helped him focus on the one race he had left.

"I don't think it affected me negatively," Coleman said. "I feel like it affected me positively because it made me really want to focus and get to the finals (in the 300)."

Christensen cleared a personal-best of 6 feet, 3 inches to lock up his medal outcome in the Class 4 high jump. The height exceeded Christensen's previous high mark of 6-2, set at the North Central Missouri Conference championships on May 8 in Fulton.

"With the rain and the elements, he's such a mentally-tough kid that you almost feel like that (adversity) plays to his advantage," Fulton head coach Jim Menderski said. "I'm really happy and it speaks to his competitiveness that he was able to block that out and compete the best he has as an athlete at Fulton."

Christensen came into the state meet dealing with a hamstring injury he suffered at the District 4 championships two weeks ago in Chesterfield. The pain lingered and forced him to concede a first-place jump-off for the sectional championship last Saturday in St. Louis.

Menderski kept Christensen on a limited jump regimen in workouts leading up to the state meet. Christensen completed four practice jumps on Thursday and two on Friday in preparation for the championships.

Christensen cleared the last of his three attempts at 6-1 and his only attempt at 6-2 on Saturday. After missing his first jump at 6-3, Christensen recovered and sailed over the bar on his final try.

"I think, again, it speaks to the competitive nature of Sam," Menderski said. "Even after missing it, he was able to dig deep down and give a little extra at the bar."

Warrenton senior Trevon Payne matched Christensen at 6-3, but did it on his only attempt to grab the sixth-place medal. West Plains junior Chase Riley won the state title with a jump of 6-8.

On Friday, North Callaway freshman Reyna Schmauch recorded a 15th-place time of 13:03.26 in the Class 3 girls' 3,200.

Fatima freshman Brianna Haller clocked a time of 11:20.42 to secure the state championship.