A top-eight finish and All-State honors.

That is what Maries County track athletes were after during the Missouri State High School Activities Association (MSHSAA) Class 1-2 State Track and Field Championships over the weekend at Jefferson City High School’s Adkins Stadium.

Starting Friday under overcast skies, Belle freshman Aubrey Rehmert was the first Maries County athlete going for a state medal.

Able to overcome a rough first throw, Rehmert’s final mark of 36.27 meters helped her place fourth in the Class 2 Girls Javelin giving her All-State status in her second sport as a freshman.

“It feels pretty awesome to be All-State in two sports as a freshman,” Rehmert said. “I had a rough first throw but was able to pull it together and save my best for last.”

Later in day one, Rehmert also competed in the Class 2 Girls Discus.

Posting a throw of 29.77m in the preliminaries, the Lady Tiger freshman placed 13th overall in the event.

Shortly after Rehmert threw her way to a state medal. Vienna’s girls 4x800m relay team hit the track looking to earn the first state medals for Vienna High School.

Near the back of the pack early in the race, the Lady Eagles stormed back to earn All-State honors with a sixth-place time of 10:44.44.

This shattered their time from the sectional meet at New Haven the previous weekend by 23 seconds.

“What those girls accomplished out there was unbelievable,” VHS head track coach David Martin said. “To drop 23 seconds in the span of a week was awesome to see in person.”

Before the Lady Eagles earned their sixth-place medals, sophomore Ava Kloeppel went for one of her own in the Class 1 girls shot put.

Posting a throw of 9.28m on her final attempt of the prelims, Kloeppel placed 13th overall missing the final by just under a meter.

Just after the lunch hour back on the track, the Lady Eagle 4x200m relay team looked to duplicate the success of their 4x800m counterparts.

Finishing 13th overall in a time of 1:55.31, the VHS foursome of Tori Schulte, Andrea Novak, Reeves and Schell missed the eight-team finals by just under three seconds.

An hour later, the Lady Eagle 4x100m relay team looked to punch their ticket to the finals with either a win in their preliminary heat of one of the next six fastest times aside from the heat winners.

Sprinting to a 12th-place time of 54.26, the Lady Eagle team of Novak, Schulte, Schell and Weeks missed the finals by just over a second.

Competing in her third event of the day, Weeks looked to qualify for the finals in the Class 1 Girls 400m dash.

Running a time of 1:05.91, Weeks placed 13th overall and missed the finals by two seconds.

Brayden Ewers ran into state-caliber competition in the Class 1 boys 300m hurdles posting a 16th-place time of 47.63.

Wilkinson also ran into a stacked field of runners in the boys 800m run placing 16th in 2:09.46.

Closing day one of state on the track, the Lady Eagle 4x400m relay team of Schulte, Weeks, Schell and Reeves placed 10th overall in 4:30.79.

Day two of the state meet on Saturday was field-event heavy for VHS.

Eagle pole vaulter Gavin Schwartze was first up for VHS Saturday morning.

Clean through the first five heights, Schwartze went on to place sixth in the state in the Class 1 boys pole vault clearing 3.47m.

Opening the track event slate Saturday morning, Vienna’s boys 4x800m relay team of Jackson Kilmer, Troy Wulff, Ewers and Wilkinson placed 10th in 8:52.53.

Senior Riley Rosentreter capped her VHS career with a third-place medal from the Class 1 girls pole vault clearing 2.80m.

Kloeppel was also competing at the same time as Rosentreter in the Class 1 girls discus.

With a throw of 28.91m on her first attempt in the prelims, Kloeppel finished 15th overall.

Taking his third shot at a state medal, Ewers ran in the Class 1 boys 3200m run placing 15th overall in a time of 11:15.91.

Steelville’s Conner Diaz led the GVC winning Class 2 state titles in the boys 800m and 1600m runs.