The Boonville boys and girls track team knew they were going to be a long shot in some events Saturday during the Class 3 District 4 Track Meet at Mexico High School.
But if there is two events that Boonville has dominated over the last few years at districts, it would have to be the shot put and discus.

Such was the case again over the weekend as Boonville finished 1-2 in both the boys shot put and discus. Meanwhile, in the girl’s shot put and discus, sophomore Kelly Klusmeyer surprised everybody, maybe even herself, by placing second in both events. Klusmeyer’s sister, Jessica, also qualified for the sectional track meet this coming weekend by finishing fourth in the shot.

All in all, Boonville qualified a total of five athletes in seven events for sectionals.
As far as the final-team standings for the girls, Kirksville captured first with 105 points. Hannibal finished second with 74, followed by Moberly with 69, Warren County with 68, Lutheran St. Peters with 64, St. Francis Borgia with 48, North Callaway with 44, Boonville in eighth place with 39, Fulton ninth with 38, Mexico 10th with 32, California 11th with 28, St. Dominic 12th with 27, Marshall 13th with 25, Ft. Zumwalt East 14th with 17, Winfield 15th with 14 and Bowling Green 16th with 9.

For the boys, Hannibal ran away with the team title with 109 points. Moberly finished second with 85, followed by Fulton with 66, Marshall with 53, Kirksville with 51, Mexico with 50, Bowling Green with 46, Ft. Zumwalt East with 42, Boonville ninth with 39, St. Dominic 10th with 36, St. Francis Borgia with 27, Warren County with 25, Lutheran St. Peters with 24, North Callaway with 20, California with 17 and MMA with 11.

Boonville boys track coach Steve Smith said it wasn’t his teams best day time-wise but the kids competed with everything they had and that he was proud of them for that.
“Corey Jones and Anthony Ralph were our only sectional qualifiers,” Smith said. “They will compete next Saturday at Mexico with the top four going to the state meet in Jefferson City.”

Of course it came as little surprised that junior Corey Jones would qualify in both the shot put and discus for Boonville. After all, Jones in the defending state champion in both events. However, in the shot put on Saturday, Jones shattered the district record by placing first with a toss of 63’-1 1/2”. Smith said the previous record was held by former Eldon and MU standout Christian Cantwell of 58’-7” back in 1999.

Jones didn’t stop in the shot put, though. After winning nearly 10 feet, Jones came back and also captured first in the discus with a toss of 169’-1”.

Smith said what he liked about Jones winning the discus was that he was very consistent with all of his throws.

“I really believe if it wasn’t for a strong head wind that he would have set that record also,” Smith said.

Of course Jones wasn’t the only qualifier in the shot and discus for the Boonville boys. Junior Anthony Ralph wasn’t far behind by finishing second in both the shot and discus with throws of 53’-10” and 153’-8”, respectively.

“Anthony is really getting consistent,” Smith said. “With a little technique work and a summer of practice it wouldn’t surprise me if he doesn’t push 60’ next season. Anthony also had a good throw in the discus. Again consistency is the key and both are right where they need to be going into sectionals.”

As for the Boonville Lady Pirates, they failed to pick up a first place finish but had three second-place finishers with Kelly Klusmeyer knocking on the door  in both the shot put and discus with tosses of 39’-3” and 115’-2”, respectively. Junior Bethany Pfeiffer also came out of nowhere to finish second in the 100-meter hurdles in a time of 17.05 seconds.

The only other place finisher for Boonville came in the shot put as junior Jessica Klusmeyer placed fourth overall with a toss of 35’-9”.

Boonville girls track coach Chris Shikles said the athletes really competed with a lot of heart at this meet.

“We had girls that were very determined and  we gave a great effort in a very tough district,” stated Shikles. “Kelly Klusmeyer has really come on strong at the right time of the season and we will continue to see her get better. Jessica Klusmeyer’s experience in big meets really showed in the shot put. She will work hard this week to prepare for sectional. Bethany Pfeiffer’s hard work has really paid off for her in the hurdles and she continues to run with a lot of desire. I could not be anymore proud of all of our athletes. They represented Boonville with a lot of class and pride.”

The Boonville Lady Pirates also came close in the 100-meter dash and discus, as senior Caroline Evans took fifth in a time of 13.44 seconds while Jessica Klusmeyer finished fifth in the discus with a throw of 103’-0”.

Boonville also had two seventh-place finishers. Will Parker took seventh in the 100-meter dash in a time of 11.71 seconds, while the girls 4 x 200-meter relay team (Evans, Pfeiffer, Shelby Lang and Courtney Davis) placed seventh in 1:56.
The Boonville boys 4 x 800-meter relay team (Dakota Sorrell, Philip Hampton, Corey Watring and Anthony Allers) finished eighth in a time of 9:47.8.

Ninth place finishers were Megan Browning in the pole vault at 7’-0” and the boys 4 x 100-meter relay team in 47.24 seconds.

The Boonville boys also took 10th in the 4 x 200-meter relay in a time of 1:38.73.
Eleventh place finishers were Tony Jones in the high jump at 5’-6” and Shelby Lang in the 300 hurdles in a time of 53.4 seconds.

Colin Schrader was the only 12th place finisher for Boonville in the 300 hurdles in a time of 47.41 seconds.

Freshman Allea Francis finished 13th in the 800-meter run in 2:44.9, as did Amanda Morton in the 3200-meter run in a time of 14:08.5. Francis also took 15th in the 400-meter dash in 1:09.75.

Junior Elizabeth Wilkinson placed 16th in the 1600-meter run in 7:23, while John Fangman finished 19th in the 400-meter dash in 59.25 seconds.

Smith said Parker just missed qualifying by 32 hundreths of a second in the 100-meter dash. He said another performer, Colin Schrader, had a season best in the 300 hurdles.