Garrett Hopke might not have felt the best leading up to state but close to his best.
The Van-Far junior ran in the Class 2 boys 3200 for the second straight year at the state meet on Friday at …
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Garrett Hopke might not have felt the best leading up to state but close to his best.
The Van-Far junior ran in the Class 2 boys 3200 for the second straight year at the state meet on Friday at Adkins Stadium in Jefferson City. Hopke finished 12th with a time of 10:17.64 to miss the top eight and a medal.
Head coach Kris Cross said Hopke had a stomach bug a couple days before sectionals, so she wasn’t sure he would make it to state.
“He had to come from behind to get the fourth place finish at sectionals,” Cross said. “Even this week, I was not sure how much his body had recovered, so I was pleased to see him look a lot more like Garrett than the week before.”
Hopke was about one second shy of his personal-best time when he earned all-conference honors this season. He was about 41 seconds better than the 16th-place 3200 he ran at state last year.
“Overall, this year was a great year for Garrett in track,” Cross said. “He improved his 3200 time by a good 30 seconds, and in both the 1600 and 800, he took quite a bit of time off. I know he was quite nervous for state, but he looked much more comfortable this year in running than he did last year.”
Van-Far’s track and field season went well, Cross said, with other kids medaling in meets this season. Evan Utterback competed in the javelin a state last year and wasn’t able to make it back this year, but he still medaled in the javelin and shot put this season.
Cross said it will be sad not having Utterback and Jackson Fischer, who made it to district finals in discus, next year but will have many coming back. Makenna Hall advanced to district finals in the long jump, and Slade Keller was in the top six at districts in the 800, pole vault and 4x800 relay. He, Hopke, Jaydon Hug-Hernandez and Brady Puls will all be back next year.
The girls 4x800 relay team of Trinity Skwirtz, Faith Griffith, Emily Smith, and Mylee Keller had a good season, according to Cross, and everyone but the senior Skwirtz will return. Jordan Trainor placed in the pole vault in multiple meets as a freshman.
“We are looking forward to quite a few kids coming back next year, and hopefully, improving even more as a team,” Cross said.
