Bryson Powell and Gabriel Canonico have proven to be many things as Missouri Military Academy cadets.

Class 1 and 2 State Track and Field Gallery

Before their graduation last week, Powell has been a two-time cross country state medalist, Canonico has led MMA football as its dual-threat quarterback and both have been part of the wrestling team. They were two-time state track and field qualifiers as they competed Friday at the Class 1 state meet at Adkins Stadium in Jefferson City.

Powell finished ninth in the 1600 to sustain another near miss of the top eight for all-state honors, as he finished 10th in the same race last year, and Canonico was 13th in the 300 hurdles after missing the podium in the 110 hurdles last year.

Head coach Traevonne Smith said MMA isn’t like a typical school in that it doesn’t have an offseason as cadets maintain a busy schedule with school and other daily responsibilities and athletes have more commitments. Powell and Canonico represent the academy in several sports so he’s glad they could advance as far as they have this year.

“We don’t get to train all year long so it’s a real testament to them that they made it this far,” Smith said. “These two guys are my hardest workers, and it shows. That’s why we’re here.”

Powell started early in the race in the middle of the pack of the podium around third or fourth place before gradually falling in position in the race to ninth, finishing with a time of 4:34.74 and behind the eighth-place time of 4:33.51.

In the cross country state championships last year, Powell overtook another runner down the stretch to crack the top 10. Smith said Powell keeps a good pace while he runs but perhaps had to be quicker based on the race.

“The competition level forced him to run at a faster pace in those first few laps and then kind of died in the last 200 (meters),” Smith said. “He was working on that pace. He was dealing with injury, but I don’t want to sit here and make excuses because he’s a hard worker and he’s mentally tough.”

The difference between the podium and missing is small in the hurdling events as Canonico found out firsthand as he tripped on one of the final hurdles before he finished with a time of 43.77. The four runners ahead of Canonico beat him by less than a second, and the eighth-place time turned out to be 42.49.

Smith said Canonico was looking good in his race, but mistakes loom larger with the quality of athletes at state track. 

“I think he was in a good position to place, but that last hurdle knocked him back a couple of spots,” Smith said. “It was just the luck of the draw. It’s best just to learn from it, and that’s what I told him, ‘Always get better. It doesn’t matter if you got last place or first place. I just want to know you can always get better.’”

Smith said jokingly he was bummed out that he would be at graduation the next day instead of taking Canonico back to the 300 hurdle finals, but in all seriousness, he said he would be glad to see his two athletes taking the next step in life.

“The first thing they provided is great leadership,” Smith said. “They always set the example of what the other cadets should be doing — not just with hard work but also discipline and leadership. It’s going to be a big change coming up next year with these guys being gone. I’ll have to find new leaders. I just want them to be the best in their careers. I’m not worried about this right now as I can figure out track later.”