CENTRALIA — Venturing north of Columbia over the weekend, Matt Candrl’s Owensville High School (OHS) track and field athletes eyed another top-four finish in their respective events during the Missouri State High School Activities Association (MSHSAA) Class 3, Sectional 2 Track Meet at Centralia High School.

It did not take long for the orange and black to secure their travel plans later this week to the Dennis and Roberta Licklider Track Complex inside Jefferson City High School’s Atkins Stadium and the 2026 MSHSAA Track and Field Championships.

Fresh off a district title the previous weekend, Dutchgirl junior Lillian Sample cleared 1.49 meters in the girls high jump to place fourth in the event and advance to Jefferson City.

“It is excellent to see her buy another week out to compete,” Candrl said. “She has the best attitude of seeing the glass half full and that is what a coach likes to see in an athlete.”

Fresh off getting her diploma the night before, senior Emma-Lee Wehmeyer earned another week of individual practice following her third-place time of 16.27 in the girls 100m hurdles.

Charlie Katsov also posted a seventh-place time of 16.86 in the boys 110m hurdles.

A short time later, senior Ariana Katsov extended her time as an OHS student athlete after she placed third in the girls 100m dash in a third-place time of 12.72.

“She did the job she needed to do and now she’ll get to see if she can sprint her way to the podium at state,” Candrl said.

Freshman Brianna Bodine also posted an eighth-place time of 13.67 in the girls 100m dash.

In his first of two chances to run at state in distance races, junior Zach Holtmeyer punched his ticket to state with a fourth-place time of 4:30.24 in the boys 1600m run.

Later in the meet, Holtmeyer clinched his second state event with a third-place time of 10:10.52 in the boys 3200m run.

Senior Hannah Gehlert also had the chance to qualify for state in both the girls 1600m and 3200m runs.

Placing seventh with a time of 5:52.21 in the girls 1600m run, Gehlert bounced back later in the meet in a big way with a third-place time of 12:34.44 in the girls 3200m allowing her to end her OHS track and field career at the state meet.

Two OHS relay teams were also able to earn another week of practicing hand offs ahead of the state meet.

Grabbing the fourth-and-final state qualifying spot in the boys 4x200m relay with a time of 1:32.94 was the Dutchmen foursome of senior Connor Wellman, senior Logan Valley, sophomore Mason McDaniel and sophomore Charlie Katsov.

“The guys were able to run in the 1:32 range putting them in good position for the state meet,” Candrl said.

They will be joined on the relay front by the Owensville Dutchgirl 4x100m relay team of Violet Lavalle, Bodine, Wehmeyer and Katsov with a second-place time of 50.96.

Right around the running of the boys 4x200m relay, Valley also punched an individual ticket to state clearing 3.75m in the boys pole vault good for fourth place.

On the girls side of the pole vault ledger, sophomore Abbey Quilacio will join Valley in Jefferson City after she cleared 3.00m good for third place.

Senior Arianna Baguio ended her OHS track and field career clearing 2.65m in the girls pole vault placing seventh.

Junior Chris Kroon ended his season with a seventh-place time of 45.15 in the boys 300m hurdles.

OHS track and field athletes also competed Saturday in Centralia during four other field events.

Sophomore Wyatt Bone saw his season end in the javelin with a seventh-place throw of 39.26m while the duo of Andrew Budnik and Tucker Crosby saw their respective seasons end in the boys shot put with marks of 13.13m and 12.07m placing them sixth and eighth respectively.

In spite of posting a personal best in the girls discus, Rylee Dare just missed a trip to state ending her junior season as a Dutchgirl with a fifth-place throw of 31.37m.