JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. • The weather presented the question of when, not if, Friday, and it didn't take long for the answer to hit.
The Missouri Class 1-2 state track meet was halted less than two hours after it began. The track and stands at Lincoln University's Dwight T. Reed Stadium were emptied when lightning was spotted in the area. Then the rains came, and the first day of the state meet was held up for two hours before the remaining schedule was postponed until today.
Weather permitting, the meet is scheduled to resume at 11 a.m. The events that had yet to run preliminary heats will be reseeded and run as finals against time. There is currently no contingency plan should today's events also be rained out, although there was discussion of completing the meet Monday evening should the second day also be washed out.
Before the rain delay, the first wave of field events had just started to conclude. On the track, the meet had gotten through the 3,200-meter relay and prelims in the 100-meter dash and 110-meter hurdles.
Lutheran St. Charles won the girls Class 2 3,200 relay in 9:41.83, which was six seconds better than the squad's previous best time posted this season. It was 13 seconds better than the sectionals performance.
The relay victory put the Cougars into a first-place tie with Lindsay Vollmer of Penney. Vollmer, who won the long jump with a leap of 18 feet, 1 inch, is projected to win four events and score 40 points before taking her talents to the University of Kansas. Vollmer had eight gold medals to her name entering the state meet.
In the prelims, Spice Brown of Barat Academy began her defense of the sprints. The defending Class 2 100-meter champion qualified through to the finals with the second fastest time at 12.55, and Brown said the cloudy, cool weather was not a hindrance.
"I feel like this is the best weather to run in," Brown said. "I'm trying to stay positive, get first place and stay humble."
Maplewood's Bobby Norful was visibly excited after winning his heat of the 100 prelims in 11.27.
"I wanted to run a good time so I can have a good time sent in for tomorrow and hopefully scare my opponents," Norful said. "To run a good time in prelims, it shows that you really want it. My objective is to show people I'm not the same Bobby from last year that took third place. I want it even more this year."
Norful also will run in the 200 and the 400- and 800-meter relays as Maplewood is in search of its third consecutive Class 2 title.
