Pintos finish strong at state meet

The California boys' track team took home fourth place overall at the Class 3-5 Missouri High School Activities Association last Friday and Saturday.
The California boys' track team took home fourth place overall at the Class 3-5 Missouri High School Activities Association last Friday and Saturday.

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Bella Vista Fire Department Deputy Chief Glenn Puryear leaves the scene of a house fire Thursday at 4 Powick Lane in Bella Vista. A family of five died in the blaze.

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AP

Officials, visitors and journalists take a tour following a ceremony of the completion of the restoration works at the Monastery of St. Antony, Suez city, Egypt, Thursday, Feb. 4, 2010. Egypt's antiquities chief on Thursday unveiled the completion of an 8-year, $14.5 million restoration of the world's oldest Christian monastery, touting it as a sign of Christian-Muslim coexistence.

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AP

Pakistani police officers stand guard as a paramilitary soldier searches a passenger at a checkpoint near Shahi Koto in Pakistani district Lower Dir, Thursday, Feb. 4, 2010. The deaths of three American special operations soldiers in a roadside bombing in northwest Pakistan on Wednesday drew unwanted attention to a U.S. program of training local forces to fight the Taliban and al-Qaida a little-publicized mission because of opposition here to American boots on Pakistani soil.

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Arkansas Democrat-Gazette/WILLIAM MOORE Graduate student Whitney Tidwell from Little Rock carries an umbrella as she walks past the rain-streaked glass of a covered bus stop on Dickson Street Thursday, February 4, 2010 on the University of Arkansas campus in Fayetteville.

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Zack Brown, with the North Little Rock Electric Department, works on a utility pole that along with some others will be used as a training yard for the department off West 9th St. under the Main Street viaduct in North Little Rock.

JEFFERSON CITY - Audrey Pickering and Nathan Squires swept the Class 3 shot put events this weekend, earning the title State Champions. Squires' first-place finish helped the Pintos claim fourth place overall in Class 3.

"It's incredible," said California coach Jonathan Lindquist. "It's a testament to the kids that we have, and I couldn't be more happy or proud of them. It's because of their hard work that we are here."

Heading into the boys' Class 3 shot put, the final event of the Class 3-5 Missouri High School Activities Association State Track Meet at Lincoln University's Dwight T. Reed Stadium, California and Liberty: Mountain View were tied for fourth place. It all came down to Nathan Squires and Liberty's Cale Corman to break the tie in shot put.

Squires went on to throw 57-foot-six-inch put, easily winning the event by six feet over Palmyra's Matt Frankenbach.

"Going into it, I had no idea," Squires said. "After prelims were over, I went up to talk to my teammates before finals and they told me. It's a pretty great feeling."

While Squires used his first throw to win the event, Pickering saved the best for last.

"It's pretty cool," Squires said about California sweeping shot put. "It was really surprising when (Pickering) took it on her very last throw with the personal record."

Down to her last throw, Pickering edged Jordan Mcclendon of John Burroughs by a quarter of an inch. Her put landed at 41-foot-four-inch, but she still had to sit and watch Mcclendon and Osage's Isabel Morris throw.

""Oh my gosh, what did I do,' pretty much," Pickering said on her thoughts after the throw. "I was hoping that I popped off a really long one. I was really hoping that would be enough to get first. I wasn't sure because Isabel Morris still had a throw on me."

During her preliminaries, Pickering jogged and jumped around the shot put area, hoping to get her legs tired.

"I ran a little bit, I jumped around, I know I looked a little bit stupid, but I was trying to shake off the nerves," Pickering said. "During my first flight, my legs were shaking a little bit. I figured if my legs were tired, they wouldn't shake and I'd throw farther."

Dylan and Drew Norton found themselves in the same situation, but in two different races. Dylan Norton broke his school record in the 300-meter hurdles and Drew Norton broke the school record in the 800-meter run.

"It's probably the best I felt all year," Drew Norton said. "Once I finished that first lap, I was able to stride out a little more. I could feel that my legs were still there. I knew from about the 500 mark, I had a good chance to really push myself."

After failing to qualify in the 110-meter hurdles on Friday, Dylan Norton rebounded in the 300-meter hurdles. He finished fifth on Saturday, breaking the record in the meantime.

"When I came out of the blocks, I felt pretty good," Dylan Norton said. "I hit that first hurdle really well, so I knew it was going to be a good race. I kept my stride and used the same leg the whole way until about the second-to-last hurdle. I floated a little bit and that kind of dropped me down to fifth."

The Norton brothers are used to playing together, as they were teammates in football and basketball. But this was Drew Norton's first full year on the track team, after suffering a shoulder injury in baseball last year.

"There's bit of a sibling rivalry there, but it's really nice to be able to compete with him," Drew Norton said. "It's nice to be able to share that with him, it's something he can't throw in my face anymore. He used to brag about it all the time, so now, I can kind of get him back."

Josh Woodruff was easily the busiest athlete in a Pintos uniform, participating in three events on Saturday. He placed second in the 200-meter dash and third in the 100-meter.

"I'm not really pleased with any of my times, not my (personal record) by any means," Woodruff said. "I got to make it to state that's something a lot people can't really say. I'm pretty happy about making it here."

He held the lead in the 200-meter race until an old foe got the better of him again on the last 100-meter stretch of the race.

"This is my fourth time running against Lance (Molz, of El Dorado Springs), and it always happens," Woodruff said. "During the last 100-meters, he just comes around me. I'll give it to him, he's a hard worker and deserved it."

Earlier in the day, Woodruff finished near the top in the 110-meter hurdles, but he knew as soon as he crossed the finish line something bad had happened. Woodruff's second-to-last hurdle flipped over and tripped the sprinter next to him, causing him to fall and disqualifying Woodruff.

"That was definitely disappointing," he said. "But I can't really do anything about it now. I feel sorry for the kid from Owensville that I knocked over."

After a ninth-place finish in the triple jump on Friday, Walker Borghardt followed that up with fifth place in the long jump on Saturday.

"It feels a lot better," Borghardt said. "Not as good as my third-place my freshman year, but this is a bigger class. There's a lot of really good athletes here."

Before the season, Lindquist said his team would have a good showing at state, but the hard work they put in this season would be the ultimate factor on how many athletes would advance.

"We knew from the beginning these kids were going to do what we asked," said Lindquist. "The sprints coach would stay till 6:30 (p.m.) some times because the kids wanted to put the work in. That's the work that it takes to be a top-four team in the state. Same with the throwers, they've always wanted to do more."

With Pickering and numerous others coming back next season, Lindquist has high hopes for the girls' team next year and in the future.

"They're mostly young and I think we can keep building on that momentum that we gained here," Lindquist said. "We can have a pretty strong girls team in the future. They just have to buy in, same with the boys. Hopefully we can bring some more next year."

Below are the complete results from last weekend's state meet.

BOYS

Team scores: 4. California, 39.

4x800-meter relay: 8. California (Ethan Hodges, Allan Burger, Adam Burkett, Drew Norton) 8:21.13.

110-meter hurdles: 10. Dylan Norton, 15.81; DQ. Josh Woodruff, Interference.

100-meter dash: 3. Josh Woodruff, 11.21.

4x200-meter relay: 9. California (Dylan Norton, Gunner Baquet, Drew Norton, Walker Borghardt) 1:32.99.

300-meter hurdles: 5. Dylan Norton, 39.80.

800-meter run: 4. Drew Norton, 1:57.97.

200-meter dash: 2. Josh Woodruff, 22.16.

3,200-meter run: 14. Adam Burkett, 10.35.55.

4x400-meter relay: 15. California (Josh Woodruff, Dylan Norton, Ethan Hodges, Drew Norton) DNF.

Long jump: 5. Walker Borghardt, 21-01.

Triple jump: 9. Walker Borghardt, 42-0.

Shot put: 1. Nathan Squires, 57-6.75.

Discus: 8. Ramiro Garcia, 136-5.

GIRLS

Team scores: 26. California, 10.

300-meter hurdles: 13. Jasmine Wells, 48.72.

Shot put: 1. Audrey Pickering, 41-4.