Vienna’s Eagles win GVC Boys Track Title

CUBA — Go out with a bang.

That is what David Martin’s Vienna Eagles and Lady Eagles were looking to do Saturday during the annual Gasconade Valley Conference (GVC) track meet held at Cuba High School.

This was Vienna’s last GVC track meet as a member of the conference with them joining the Show-Me Central next school year.

Scoring team points in all 19 events, Vienna’s Eagles topped the GVC team standings with 169 points.

“I’m so proud of our entire team today,” Martin said. “We knew this was our last (GVC) conference meet and we wanted to go out with a bang.”

In addition to Vienna’s team title on the boys side, numerous Belle Tigers also earned All-GVC honors alongside the Eagles.

On the track, Gabe Kleffner sprinted to a second-place time of 11.93 in the boys 100-meter dash earning him All-GVC honors.

Other county athletes also in the boys 100m dash were Vienna’s Eli Hayes (6th, 12.49), Vienna’s Mathew Hamill (10th, 13.13), Belle’s Timothy Schmid (11th, 13.78) and Belle’s Weston Doss (13th, 14.33).

Kleffner also posted a second-place time of 24.31 in the boys 200m dash while Hayes also scored a team point with a fifth-place time of 25.93.

Also turning the corner in the boys 200m dash were Hamill (9th, 27.44), Schmid (10th, 28.30) and Belle’s Hudson Kent (11th, 28.43).

Vienna’s Duncan Wilkinson led a trio of Maries County runners in the top five of the boys 400m dash with a third-place time of 54.50.

Rounding out the top five in the event with Belle’s Baylar Smith (4th, 55.16) and Vienna’s Hunter Schwartze (5th, 55.77).

Belle’s Adrien Hoehne also posted a 15th-place time of 1:13.41.

Wilkinson (2nd, 2:19.05) and Hunter Schwartze (3rd, 2:19.06) claimed two of the top-three spots for Vienna in the boys 800m run.

Taking two laps around the track additionally were Belle’s Miles Frey (5th, 2:23.20), Vienna’s Troy Wulff (7th, 2:27.47), Belle’s Barrett Finnegan (10th, 2:35.04) and Hoehne (12th, 2:50.61).

Vienna’s Cooper Auten led five Maries County harriers in the boys 1600m run with a third-place time of 4:55.91.

Also taking four laps around the track were Vienna’s Brayden Ewers (6th, 5:23.50), Finnegan (8th, 5:38.55), Vienna’s Thomas Douglas (9th, 5:46.05) and Hoehne (10th, 6:20.52).

Auten (2nd, 11:22.65) and Smith (3rd, 11:23.03) earned medals in the boys 3200m run.

Douglas (6th, 12:19.77) and Vienna’s Jackson Kilmer (9th, 13:13.70) also took eight laps around the track.

Vienna’s Brayden Ewers placed third in both the 110m and 300m hurdles in times of 19.33 and 45.26 respectively.

Sprinting to a second-place time of 47.89 in the boys 4x100m relay was the Eagle team of Gavin Schwartze, Dalton Breeding, Hamill and Kleffner.

Belle’s boys 4x100m relay team of Hudson, Doss, Schmid and Frey placed third in 52.46.

Claiming a GVC title in the boys 4x200m relay was the Vienna foursome of Gavin Schwartze, Breeding, Kleffner and Hayes in a time of 1:48.44.

Placing second in the boys 4x400m relay in a time of 3:51.66 was the Eagle quartet of Hunter Schwartze, Ewers, Breeding and Wilkinson.

Chasing down Vienna in the final 200m of the boys 4x800m relay, Belle’s distance-running foursome of Frey, Kent, Finnegan and Smith won a GVC title with a time of 9:19.29.

Vienna’s boys 4x800m relay team of Wilkinson, Kilmer, Douglas and Auten placed second in a time of 9:21.00.

Tim Shockley (Vienna) placed third in the boys discus with a throw of 35.80m while also taking fifth in the boys shot put with a mark of 11.62m.

County athletes also throwing in the shot put were Belle’s Myles Butler (7th, 11.11m), Belle’s Brayden Barzee (10th, 10.25m), Vienna’s Eli Crum (11th, 9.87m), Vienna’s Alex Zimmer (12th, 9.75m) and Belle’s Callen Taylor (15th, 8.93m).

Following Shockley in the boys discus were Crum (6th, 33.19m), Butler (7th, 32.65m), Barzee (10th, 27.44m), Taylor (14th, 22.01m and Vienna’s Iven Rollins (15th, 21.62).

Butler led Maries County with a third-place throw of 37.67m in the boys javelin.

Placing behind Butler were Zimmer (5th, 32.18m), Taylor (6th, 31.70m), Crum (7th, 31.56m), Doss (11th, 26.52m) and Rollins (13th, 24.63m).

Zimmer and Wulff placed second and third respectively in the boys high jump clearing 1.58m.

Gavin Schwartze (3.96m) and Auten (3.79m) claimed the top two spots for Vienna in the boys pole vault.

Wulff led four county long jumpers in the top 10 with a fourth-place leap of 5.30m.

Placing behind Wulff were Hayes (5th, 5.05m), Zimmer (6th, 4.65m) and Doss (10th, 3.62m).

Gavin Schwartze (2nd, 11.30m) led four county athletes in the top six of the boys triple jump.

Jumping behind Gavin were Wulff (3rd, 11.06m), Hunter Schwartze (5th, 10.53m) and Frey (6th, 10.16m).

Leading throughout most of the meet, Vienna’s Lady Eagles simply could not overcome Steelville in the running events.

Vienna finished second with 154 team points while Steelville racked up 183.

Lainey Magner led Vienna in the girls 100m dash with a second-place time of 14.15.

Belle’s Bailey Schilling also posted a seventh-place time of 15.93.

Also sprinting for Maries County in the girls 100m dash were Vienna’s Rebecca Miller (12th, 17.35), Belle’s Chloey Bray (13th, 19.29) and Vienna’s Evelyn Rollins (14th, 26.48).

Magner took third in the girls 200m dash with a time of 29.91 followed by Belle’s Saylor Kent (10th, 38.96) and Bray (12th, 44.71).

Kent also posted an eighth-place time of 1:22.32 in the girls 400m dash.

Belle freshman Nolie Finnegan earned a third-place medal in the girls 800m run with a time of 2:48.15.

She then went on to win the girls 1600m run in a time of 5:59.20 followed by Lady Tiger teammate Tajel McDaniel with a third-place time of 6:23.86.

Nolie also led three county runners in the girls 3200m with a winning time of 13:27.87 followed by McDaniel (4th, 14:01.44) and Vienna’s Kaylee Bresnahan (7th, 15:44.83).

Vienna’s Julianna Davis placed third in the girls 100m hurdles in a time of 19.79.

Sprinting to silver in the girls 4x100m relay was the Lady Eagle foursome of Madison Weeks, Aubrey Reeves, Jaedyn Schell and Magner in a time of 56.42.

Belle’s Lady Tiger 4x100m relay team of Bailey Storz, Shilling, Kent and Bray placed fifth in 1:09.42.

Taking third place in the girls 4x200m relay in a time of 1:59.97 was Vienna’s team of Claudia Wieberg, Weeks, Schell and Reeves.

That same quartet also posted a second-place time of 4:39.28 in the girls 4x400m relay.

Also placing third in 11:21.35 during the girls 4x800m relay for Vienna was the team of Bresnahan, Reeves, Schell and Weeks.

Maries County dominated the girls shot put, discus and javelin events.

Taking the top two spots in the girls shot put were Vienna’s Ava Kloeppel (1st, 10.79m) and Vienna’s Aubrey Schwartze (2nd, 10.24m)

Schwartze (1st, 30.30m) claimed the girls discus title followed by Belle’s Aubrey Rehmert (2nd, 28.02) and Kloeppel (3rd, 26.75m).

Rehmert claimed a GVC title in the girls javelin with a throw of 36.74m followed by Kloeppel (2nd) 29.12m) and Schwartze (3rd, 27.61m).

Wieberg and Davis both cleared 1.37m in the girls high jump to place second and third respectively.

Bresnahan also won the girls pole vault with a clearing height of 2.28m.

Davis (2nd, 4.20m) and Magner (4th, 4.06m) scored team points for Vienna in the girls long jump.

Taking three of the top four spots in the girls triple jump for Vienna were Davis (1st, 9.23m), Wieberg (2nd, 9.07m) and Bresnahan (4th, 8.42m).

Belle and Vienna will begin their road to Jefferson City and the 2024 Missouri State High School Activities Association (MSHSAA) Track and Field Championships later this month with the MSHSAA Class 2, District 4 track meet scheduled for Saturday at Glasgow High School.