State champ

Malmstrom claims 110 hurdles crown for Helias

Helias junior Matthew Malmstrom came into the final day of the Class 4 state track and field championships Saturday with one goal: Become a state champion.

Malmstrom achieved his goal in the boys 110-meter hurdles, erasing an early deficit to take the lead in the final steps and grab the title.

“It feels good after last year,” he said. “It’s definitely good after falling on the ninth hurdle last year. I knew I had more in me this year. My dad won state in Minnesota as a junior in high school and I wanted to do it like him.”

Malmstrom remained confident despite his slow start, and he was able to make up the ground in in the final few hurdles before crossing the finish line with a time of 14.52 seconds — .03 ahead of Hazlewood East’s Ladarius Williams’ time of 14.55.

“I knew I could catch people, I did it in sectionals and I did it in districts,” he said. “I knew the back half of my hurdles are better. I just knew I needed to keep going and kept pushing. We’ve been practicing it all year, been crafting it, and it happened today. It just happened.”

It was the first of three times on the podium Saturday for Malmstrom, raising his career all-state medal total to five.

Malmstrom reached the podium again just an hour later, as he paired with Korbin Fisher, Alex Marberry and Jacob Lanigan in the 4x200-meter relay.

The foursome ran a time of 1:29.99 and finished seventh after qualifying fifth in the preliminary round Friday.

“We weren’t looking forward to getting seventh but it happens,” Fisher said.

Malmstrom, Fisher, Marberry and Ethan Wilson teamed up to close out the day in the 4x400 relay.

The Crusaders were in sixth place after two laps and jumped one spot to fifth heading into Malmstrom as the final leg.

Malmstrom ran a blisterring 50.04 and was able to move the team all the way into third place after the foursome finished in 3:25.07.

“I’ve never seen anyone pass Matthew, I always see him pass other people, so I knew it was coming,” Fisher said. “He’s a great athlete, a really hard-worker. I was super excited to see him cross the finish line third.”

Helias was able to pick up five more points in its other relay Saturday.

Wilson, Nick Ammons, Brady Voss and Ian Benne teamed up in the 4x800 to finish fourth in 8:02.51 — a personal-best for the relay team by six seconds.

Once again, it was a strong last leg that pushed the Crusaders higher on the podium. Entering the final leg, Helias sat in seventh place, but Wilson was able to finish his two laps in 1:55.95 and gain three spots to put the team fourth.

“I told them I would do my best and give us the best chance to win,” Wilson said. “I saw Hillsboro was out, Festus was gone, so I knew I was going to give it everything I had to put us in the best place I could.”

Trevor Kolb was able to register points and finish with allstate honors in his lone season with the team.

The senior decided to come out for the team as a thrower for his final year in school. It proved to be a good decision as he finished seventh with a throw of 157 feet, 8 inches.

“I started in the winter, I started working out throughout that time and I had some throws that I thought were pretty good,” he said. “So I decided that I would go out for it. I’ve had a lot of help. … I just kept getting better.”

The Crusaders were unable to reach the podium in two finals-only events Saturday.

Mason French started the morning in the boys pole vault and fell just short of a medal after finishing in a tie for ninth.

French cleared 11-10 on his second try and 12-4 on his first attempt before missing all three tries at clearing 12-10.

Noah Doolittle rounded out Helias’ boys competitors in the 3,200 run and finished 15th with a time of 10:36.65.

The Crusaders finished 10th in the boys standings with 29 points. Festus won the team title with 76, Hillsboro was next at 63, Kearney claimed third with 47 and Hazelwood East grabbed the final team plaque after finishing fourth with 41 points.

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The Helias Lady Crusaders took advantage of their chances in the relays Saturday.

The Lady Crusaders finished second and third in their two relays on the day and picked up 14 of the team’s 29 total points to help push the team to a ninthplace finish.

Helias started its productive day with the 4x200-meter relay team of Schyler Phillips, Izzy Struemph, Mikah Edwards and Kenadi Harrison.

The Lady Crusaders were able to cross the finish line in 1:43.28, which was good enough for second place. Edwards, a Pittsburg State track signee in her senior season, ran the final leg and was able to move up two spots down the backstretch.

“That was probably the fastest I have ever ran in my life, to be honest,” she said. “When I got it, I think I was in fifth or sixth and we were not going to settle for that. We came in seeded second and we were not going to finish any lower than what we were seeded. I had to catch up some ground there, but it was for the girls so I didn’t mind.”

Edwards then teamed with Struemph, Harrison and Lauren Verslues in the 4x400 relay.

The foursome ran a steady race, as they ran a majority of the race in fourth place before gaining a position on the final lap and crossing the finish line with a third-place time of 4:02.86.

“It’s incredible, it’s like no other feeling really,” Struemph said. “It feels amazing being up on the podium with your teammates, I love it.”

The two medals Saturday gave Edwards 10 in her high school career, as she picked up four in both her sophomore and junior seasons.

Mary Lorang also found her way onto the podium Saturday for the Lady Crusaders after her fourth-place finish in the javelin throw.

Lorang was able to pick up a medal in her first state appearance after tossing the javelin 125-1 on her fifth attempt.

“I was feeling really positive and I think that’s the most important part, being positive,” she said. “… Lots of adrenaline building up over the past week, I found myself shaking yesterday. I just kept telling myself, ‘You got this, channel it into the throws.’”

Lorang felt herself getting more comfortable at the state meet as her event went on, helping her get her best throw towards the end.

“My build up was great, I kept it consistent, consistency is key as we all say,” she said. “And yeah, my fifth throw I just really let it go and it was good, obviously.”

Kearney won the girls team title with 52 points, Pleasant Hill finished second with 50, Parkway Central grabbed third with 48.5 and Ladue finished fourth with 46 points.