After a strong start to the season in the March 20 Hermann Open and in the March 26 Waynesville Open, the Cardinals returned to action on March 30 in the Cuba Relays and didn’t slow down.

Steelville’s athletes shined throughout the day and individual and team performances from the meet are detailed below. The Cardinals were scheduled to compete in the New Bloomfield Invitational on April 2, but the meet was canceled due to inclement weather and it’s to be determined if it will be rescheduled. Steelville is scheduled to compete next on April 7 in the Pacific Invitational, which will be detailed in next week’s edition. The Cardinals will then compete on April 13 in Hillsboro in the Grandview Invitational. 

Six individual titles at Cuba Relays

The long, hot afternoon of competition during the March 30 Cuba Relays didn’t slow down Steelville High School’s track and field team. The Cardinals earned six first-place individual performances and Steelville’s boys’ team finished in third place while the Lady Cardinals took sixth place out of 10 schools competing throughout the day.

Freshman Adalei Perkins led the Lady Cardinals with first-place finishes in the girls 3200 meter race and in the girls triple jump. Perkins completed the 3200 meter race in a personal best time of 13:34.02 and leapt 9.52 meters in the triple jump. Perkins’ older sister, junior Emeri Perkins, finished in fifth place in the 100 meter race and in the 300 meter hurdles. Perkins completed the 100 meter race in 14.16 seconds and finished the 300 meter hurdles in 59.45 seconds. Perkins also finished in eighth place in the girls 200 meter race with a 30.82 second finish. Freshman Willow Jaycox competed in the 200 meter race and took 24th with a 36.44 finishing time.

Senior Peyton Brooks rounded out Steelville’s top-five girl’s finishers with a strong 19.15 finish in the 100 meter hurdles to take third place.

Junior Lydia Smelser earned 10th-place finishes in the 800 meter and 1600 meter races and took 11th place in the pole vault. Smelser ran the 800 meter race in 3:02.54 and completed the 1600 meter competition in 7:07.12 before leaping over the 1.95 meter mark in the pole vault. Junior Jayla Schmidt also competed in the pole vault and took 12th place with a 1.80 meter leap.

The Lady Cardinals also earned top-six finishes in every relay event they competed in. Steelville took fifth place in the 100 meter race with a team of senior Elivia Pryor, and freshmen Brooklyn Thomas, Ila Pfeiffer and Vivian West. Thomas, Pfeiffer, West and Brooks finished in sixth place in the 4x200 meter relays with a 2:04.56 time. Emeri Perkins joined Pryor, Thomas and West for the 4x400 meter relay team that took fifth place with a 5:02.34 time and Adalei Perkins and Smelser competed in the 4x800 meter relay team that finished in fourth place with a 12:06.33 finishing time along with West and Pryor.

Pryor began her busy day by competing in the girls javelin throw and took ninth place with a 25.65 meter toss. Brooks finished in 14th with a 22.25 meter heave, Thomas took 15th with a 21.91 meter toss and freshman Cami Mason finished in 24th with a 17.09 meter throw.

Mason also competed in the girls discus and shot put events. Mason hurled the dicus 18.58 meters for an 18th place finish and tossed the shot put 7.78 meters. Junior Regan Bratcher also competed in both events and threw the discus 12.90 meters and tossed the shot put 5.20 meters, which were both good for 28th place finishes.

Record-setting day 

While it was a strong day for the Lady Cardinals, Steelville’s boys team put on an exemplary performance into the evening. 

Senior Hunter Starbeck, who is competing in track for the first time in his high school career, ran a blistering 51.49 time in the boys 400 meter race, which earned him first place and set the record for the fastest time in meet history. Starbeck took second place in the boys 200 meter race with a 24.29 time and was a part of Steelville’s first-place finishes in the 4x400 and 4x800 meter relay teams along with Landon Rutledge, Owen Rutledge and Alexander Martin. The Cardinals set a new meet record in the 4x800 relay race with a 8:33.68 finishing time.

Landon Rutledge also finished in first place in the individual 300 meter hurdles with a 42.54 time. His younger brother, Owen Rutledge won first place in the 800 meter race with a 2:12.23 finishing time to complete the stellar day for the Rutledge brothers. 

Freshman Aiden Greenwalt had a productive day in his second career meet, taking fifth place in the 100 meter race with a 12.27 time and finishing in 11th place in the 400 meter race with a 1:01.01 time. Martin came in just behind Greenwalt in the 100 meter race to finish in sixth place with a 12:30 finishing time.

Freshman Lucas Garms took sixth place in the 1600 meter and 3200 meter races with 5:43.27 and 13:07.73 finishing times, respectively.

Junior Max Harmon thrived in the field events, earning a first-place finish in the discus throw with a 40.83 meter heave. Seniors Aiden Retkowski and Ethan Delisle also competed in the event and finished in third place and 23rd place, respectively with 36.68 meter and 20.25 meter tosses. Harmon also finished in fourth place in the javelin throw with a 37.25 meter launch and he took fifth in the shot put with an 11.98 meter toss.

Junior Will Bailey set a personal record in the javelin throw with a 32.72 meter toss, earning him seventh place. Retkowski earned his second top-3 finish on the afternoon with a second-place performance in the shot put. He tossed it 12.70 meters, which was less than 0.2 meters away from the first-place finisher, Newburg’s David Gresty.

Freshman Andy Riley leaped a personal best 1.75 meters in the high jump, which earned him sixth place and Martin jumped a personal best 1.70 meters to finish in 10th place. Riley also took 18th in the triple jump with a 8.98 meter leap and was a part of Steelville’s fifth-place finish in the 4x200 meter relays along with Greenwalt, freshman Kaden Rulo and sophomore Darian Signaigo.