RUSSELLVILLE — They say sometimes change is not good.

Do not tell that to the Vienna Middle School (VMS) and Vienna High School (VHS) track teams.

Last Tuesday in the inaugural Show-Me Central Conference (SMCC) track meet hosted by Calvary Lutheran High School at Russellville High School, Vienna’s Lady Eagle and Eagle track teams won 24 events helping them capture team titles in the middle school boys, middle school girls, high school boys and high school girls divisions.

Aside from the middle school girls, Vienna’s other three track teams topped their respective team standings by at least 50 points.

Vienna’s middle school girls need late points from the girl high jump, discus and shot put to pass St. Elizabeth’s Lady Hornets for the top spot in the team standings.

“It was a great day to be an Eagle or a Lady Eagle,” Vienna head track and field coach David Martin said. “I could not be any more prouder of how we came out and competed before and after the weather delay.”

Able to get through the 4x800-meter relay, Mother Nature halted the festivities with frequent lightning strikes and rounds of heavy rain for nearly three hours.

Finally able to resume to meet at around 1 p.m., it was able to conclude just in time for Russellville to hold practice on their track after school.

Racking up 192 team points in the middle school boys division, Vienna’s Eagles had more than double the points of their nearest competitor in Prairie Home with 86 points.

Paxten Jeremy ended his middle school track career with a pair of SMCC titles winning the boys 800-meter run in 2:20.44 and the boys 1600m run in 5:22.53.

Eli Messersmith also earned All-SMCC honors with a third-place time of 2:35.77 in the MS boys 800m run while Tanner Hallahan also placed third in the MS boys 1600m run in a time of 5:45.85.

Jake Rowden (1st, 16.19) and Adam Kraemer (2nd, 19.52) hurdled their way to 18 team points for VMS in the MS boys 100m hurdles.

Also claiming SMCC gold was the VMS boys 4x200m relay team of Alex Wieberg, Weston Schwartze, Parker James and Rowden in a first-place time of 1:55.45.

VMS’ boys 4x400m relay team of Eli Messersmith, Dreygen Messersmith, Tanner Hallahan and Kraemer also left Russellville with SMCC gold after their first-place time of 4:36.58.

Prior to the 3-hour weather delay, the VMS boys 4x800m relay team of Paxten Jeremy, Eli Messersmith, Hallahan and Wieberg also posted a SMCC title winning time of 10:51.39.

Sprinting to a third-place time of 59.06 in the MS boys 4x100m relay was the Vienna quartet of Drew Crum, Dreygen Messersmith, Weston Schwartze and Kraemer.

Jack Stratman leaped his way to SMCC gold for Vienna winning the MS boys long jump with a leap of 4.72m.

Adding to his SMCC title in the MS boys 100m hurdles, Jake Rowden won the MS boys triple jump with a mark of 9.96m.

Cooper Kleffner (1st, 2.11m) and Clay Curler (2nd, 1.5m) claimed the top two spots for Vienna in the MS boys pole vault.

Wieberg (1st, 1:03.09) and Dreygen Messersmith (2nd, 1:04.43) picked up another 18 points for VMS’ Eagles taking the top two spots in the MS boys 400m dash.

Stratman (3rd, 13.80) and Schwartze (5th, 14.84) picked up team points for VMS’ Eagles in the boys 100m dash.

James (2nd, 1.35m) and Wieberg (3rd, 1.27m) claimed two of the top three spots in the MS boys high jump.

Kraemer (3rd, 24.03m) and David Martin (4th, 23.6m) earned more team points for VMS’ Eagles in the MS boys discus.

Martin (4th, 7.04m) and Walker Jeremy (6th, 6.4m) also posted top-six marks for VMS in the boys shot put.

Nearly topping the field by 90 points, VHS’ Eagles won SMCC titles in seven events.

Senior Cooper Auten claimed two of them winning the boys 1600m run in 5:08.75 and the boys pole vault clearing 3.51m.

Claiming SMCC silver in those two events were Bryce Ewers with a time of 5:35.41 in the boys 1600m run and Greyson Summerford clearing 2.29m in the boys pole vault.

Duplicating the feat of their VMS counterparts, VHS’ boys 4x800m relay team of Troy Wulff, Hunter Schwartze, Auten and Ewers won a SMCC title in a time of 9:07.52.

Also claiming a SMCC title in the HS boys 4x400m relay was the Eagle foursome of Kevin Russell, Schwartze, Auten and Wulff in a time of 3:46.11.

Placing second in the HS boys 4x200m relay in 1:46.14 was the Vienna squad of Talan Reeves, Zeb Wiles, Ethan LeStarge and Schwartze.

Sprinting to a second-place time of 51.88 in the HS boys 4x100m relay was the Vienna team of Mathew Hamill, Waylon Lenning, LeStarge and Reeves.

LeStarge also earned All-SMCC individual honors with a second-place time of 12.39 in the HS boys 100m dash.

Adding to his winning leg in the HS boys 4x400m relay, Russell claimed individual SMCC gold with a first-place time of 53.75 in the boys 400m dash. Ben Murray also placed ninth in 1:05.95 for Vienna in the event.

Hunter Schwartze claimed an individual SMCC title winning the HS boys 800m dash in 2:06.20 while Pake Matson also posted an eighth-place time of 2:39.63 for Vienna.

Tyler Hallahan (3rd, 12:43.64) and Thomas Douglas (4th, 12:59.23) earned team points for VHS in the boys 3200m run.

Wiles (3rd, 21.39) and Jordan Hatfield (4th, 23.07) collected Eagle team points in the HS boys 110m hurdles.

Russell added a silver medal in the HS boys long jump with a leap of 5.49m to his earlier gold in the HS boys 400m dash.

Eli Crum (4th, 30.05m) and Hatfield (7th, 22.83m) threw their way to more team points for Vienna in the HS boys discus.

Crum (2nd, 11.58m) and Hatfield (4th, 9.93m) improved on their discus finishes with top-four throws in the boys shot put.

Alex Zimmer and Russell both cleared 1.7m in the HS boys high jump for Vienna with Zimmer getting first place over Russell based on misses at previous heights.

Earning All-SMCC honors in 13 events, VHS’ Lady Eagles racked up 186 points which was 50 points ahead of Jamestown’s 136 team points.

Jaedyn Schell won Vienna’s lone SMCC title on the track with a first-place time of 2:40.58 in the HS girls 800m run. Lily Walker also posted an eighth-place time of 3:43.02.

Lainey Magner picked up Vienna’s first individual SMCC title with a winning leap of 3.94m in the HS girls long jump.

Between the HS girls javelin and shot put events, Vienna’s duo of Aubrey Schwartze and Ava Kloeppel quickly racked up 36 team points.

Schwartze (1st, 30.48m) topped Kloeppel (2nd, 27.76m) in the javelin before the two switched places with Kloeppel winning the girls shot put with a toss of 10.54m while Schwartze posted a second-place mark of 10.29m.

In the HS girls discus, Kloeppel (2nd, 31.09m) and Schwartze (3rd, 28.3m) picked up 14 more team points giving the pair a total of 50 team points from three throwing events.

Madison Weeks earned a SMCC silver medal in the HS girls 100m dash for Vienna with a second-place time of 14.13. Jezabel Bordonaba also placed eighth for Vienna in 15.26.

Magner (2nd, 29.12) and Madison Weeks (3rd, 29.31) claimed two of the top three spots for Vienna in the HS girls 200m dash.

Weeks also collected another silver medal with a second-place time of 1:06.90 in the HS girls 400m dash.

Kaylee Bresnahan (5th, 7:07.90) and Naomi Clark (6th, 7:20.63) claimed team points for the Lady Eagles in the HS girls 1600m run.

Bresnahan (4th, 16:19.78) and Kloeppel (5th, 17:41.10) also picked up nine team points in the HS girls 3200m run for Vienna.

Magner earned All-SMCC honors with a second-place time of 57.68 in the HS girls 300m hurdles.

Sprinting to a second-place time of 59.51 in the HS girls 4x100m relay was the Lady Eagle foursome of Brooke Campbell, Ava Smith, Schell and Schwartze.

Also placing second in the HS girls 4x200m relay for Vienna in a time of 2:02.94 was the foursome of Bordonaba, Schell, Smith and Weeks.

Starting the meet on the track with a second-place time of 14:30.09 in the HS girls 4x800m relay was the Vienna squad of Bordonaba, Campbell, Walker and Clark.

Schell, Smith, Clark and Bordonaba also ended the meet for the Lady Eagles with a third-place time of 5:05.33 in the HS girls 4x400m relay.

Sierra Kilmer earned All-SMCC honors for Vienna in the HS girls pole vault clearing 1.68m good for second place.

Trailing St. Elizabeth with only a few events left in the meet, VMS’ Lady Eagles picked up 31 points in the MS girls high jump and shot put events helping them sting the Lady Hornets by 13 points.

Starting the meet on the track in a back-and-forth MS girls 4x800m relay, Vienna’s foursome of Clara Jones, Kaitlyn Carpenter, Lilly Williams and Elise Kilmer won an SMCC title in a time of 13:11.75 just ahead of Jamestown’s second-place time of 13:16.41.

Posting a second-place time of 5:11.02 in the MS girls 4x400m relay was the Vienna quartet of Emerson Jeremy, Sophia Neubert, Jones and Carpenter.

Sprinting to a second-place time of 56.89 in the MS girls 4x100m relay for Vienna was the team of Scarlett Weeks, Raleigh Walker, Alexis Curtis and Grace Barnhart.

Rounding out Vienna’s contingency of relay teams was the MS girls 4x200m relay team with a third-place time of 2:22.44.

Curtis (1st, 1.35m) and Raleigh Walker (2nd, 1.3m) claimed the top two spots in the MS girls high jump for Vienna.

Scarlett Weeks (4th, 15.07) and Riley McKinnon (9th, 20.09) sprinted down the track for VMS’ Lady Eagles in the MS girls 100m dash.

Carpenter (5th, 1:18.97) and Rowan Walker (7th, 1:20.70) took a lap around the track for VMS’ Lady Eagles in the MS girls 400m dash.

Neubert (2nd, 2:55.21) and Emerson Jeremy (3rd, 2:56.38) picked up 14 team points for Vienna in the MS girls 800m run.

That same duo also placed second and third in the MS girls 1600m run with times of 6:39.84 and 6:51.91 respectively.

Raleigh Walker also posted a third-place time of 20.50 for VMS’ Lady Eagles in the MS girls 100m hurdles. Alison Campbell also placed eighth in 30.33.

Scarlett Weeks (1st, 8.66m) and Curtis (3rd, 7.75m) took two of the top three spots for Vienna in the MS girls triple jump.

Liberty Rowden (3rd, 20.5m) and Grace Veasman (4th, 20.45m) picked up 11 valuable team points for the Lady Eagles in the MS girls discus.

Improving by one place in the MS girls shot put, Rowden posted a second-place throw of 10.59m while Veasman also placed sixth with a mark of 7.54m.

Needless to say, VHS and VMS track should be happy about changing conferences for the first time in 50 years.