Evan Utterback and Garrett Hopke qualified for sectional track and field last year but couldn’t make it to state.

The Van-Far boys each made their state debut this past weekend in the Class 2 state meet at Adkins Stadium in Jefferson City. Utterback finished 15th in the javelin with a throw of 43.12 meters on Friday, and Hopke was 16th in the 3200 with a time of 10:88.44 on Saturday.

Head coach Kris Cross said it was nice to see both boys qualify for state after coming so close last year. She said they both encountered obstacles late. 

Utterback broke the javelin school record four times, according to Cross, but injured his elbow on the Monday after districts. He managed to set a new record at sectionals with a throw of 46.75 meters, but Cross said she thought the injury, which is something she said should heal with rest, affected him at state.

“He was starting to side arm instead of going over,” Cross said. “We’re glad he held out for one more week and get to state with that bugging him. I thought he did a great job.”

Cross said he hopes Utterback can return as a senior next year as he tries to achieve his goal of throwing at least 50 meters. 

Hopke received a taste of the state distance competition. The 3200 winner Mason McDaniel, from Clark County, was in Van-Far’s sectional and fourth-place Landen Chapman — who won state titles in the 800 and 1600 — was also Hopke’s competition this year. 

“There’s a lot of good distance runners just in our area, which is great because Garrett gets to run against them all year,” Cross said. 

Cross said Hopke couldn’t commit as much time to track because of baseball also happening in the spring. She said Hopke needs more practice and more races and hopes the sophomore will mature into a better distance runner, which is typically the case with age.

On top of being proud of them, Cross said Van-Far had a couple of boys unexpectedly make district finals this season, such as Colt Williams in the shot put and Cayden Douglas in the long jump. Cross said Williams made the district shot put final with Utterback after throwing a full meter than he had before. For the girls, Khloe Wallace had a down district race but ran around 5:47 at conference so she looks promising next year.

“We had a great season overall,” Cross said. “We’re really excited about next year.”