Republic athletes bring home two medals from state track meet

Republic brought home two medals from the Class 5 MSHSAA state track and field championships in Jefferson City over the weekend. Gracie Troester and Keiran Govan both reached the podium, with Troester claiming her sixth career state medal and Govan earning his first.
Republic sent eight athletes to the state meet, with seven of them eligible to return next season.
Troester claims fifth in 3200 meters
Troester, the lone senior qualifier for Republic, earned fifth place in the 3200-meter run Friday afternoon, out-performing her 15th seed entering the meet. Troester posted a 20-second personal best for the season after struggling in the event earlier this year.
“The 3200 hasn’t been going the way I wanted it to this season,” Troester said. “I knew I just had nothing to lose. I knew I just had to go out there and give it all.”
Troester’s bolted out quickly and stayed with the leaders throughout the race, holing her medal-winning position to the finish.
The medal was Troester’s sixth from state track and field competition. She also competed in the 4x800-meter relay on Friday and two other events Saturday, placing 16th in the 1600-meter run with a time of 5:38.54 and finishing 11th in the 800-meter run in 2:20.08. The 800 marked her final race as a Lady Tiger.

Govan medals in high jump competition
Govan, a sophomore, tied for seventh place in the high jump Saturday morning after clearing 1.88 meters. He wasn’t even expected to qualify for state based on his sectional seeding, but he finished second at that meet to earn his spot.
Govan had missed the week of practice leading up to the state meet, but still felt confident as the jumps began.
“I haven’t been at practice all week. I’ve been in Florida actually, just got in like two days ago,” Govan said after receiving his first career medal. “I came in as like the tenth jumper. But as we were going up, I felt really good and I kept going, just couldn’t get past that 6’4”.”
Govan also competed in the triple jump, where he narrowly missed a second medal. He was in fifth place before the final attempts, but strong jumps by other competitors in their last tries dropped him to ninth place.

Other Republic results at state
Republic’s 4x800-meter relay team of Troester, Josie Stalzer, Zoey Johns and Brylie Harris opened competition Friday with a 13th-place finish in 9:48.69. The team improved from their 15th seed.
Reese Finley reached the 400-meter dash preliminaries Friday, finishing 10th in 58.32. She missed qualifying for the finals by .29 seconds.
Kaleb Norman competed in the javelin throw, placing 14th with a distance of 46.89 meters.
Sienna Blankenship set a personal best in the pole vault, clearing 3.23 meters to finish 12th. The sophomore posted back-to-back weeks with personal bests to finish the season.
The weekend capped Troester’s career with six state track and field medals and one cross-country medal. The other seven state qualifiers will all have a chance to return next spring.