Sickles’ peak performance leads Southwest at state
Travis Sickles
May 26, 2021
Lee Stubblefield
#Fabulous
It is nearly impossible for an elite distance runner to peak on three consecutive weekends. But Travis Sickles of Southwest did just that, lowering his own 3200 meter school record three times at Class 2 district, sectional, and state meets.
On Friday at the Class 2 state track meet at Jefferson City, Sickles ran stride for stride with the eventual champ - Spokane’s Sam Shuman - until the final 250 meters. Sickles finished second in that 3200 meter race in 9:34.61, chipping another two seconds off his previous best mark.
Who could have known back in March that the eventual 1-2 finishers at state in this event would come from the same conference?
Two hours later, Sickles was back on the track to anchor the Fab Four 4x800 meter relay.
NINTH
You never want to finish ninth at the state track meet. The top eight athletes in every event receive medals and All State recognition. For the bottom eight, nada. There are no participation medals. Place ninth or lower and all you take home are memories. Unless you win and earn the championship medal, the other eight medals age evenly in significance. All State is All State.
The Fab Four 4x800 meter relay finished in that frustrating ninth position to complete the long and winding road of the 2021 track season. Otis Rainer trailed the field at the first handoff, but that wasn’t necessarily a bad thing.
You have to run your slowest relay runner somewhere. Most coaches try to hide their slowest runner on the third leg. Steve Voyak chose to let Rainer lead off, accomplishing two big goals: 1. It allowed the other three runners to see the gap required to close to medal, and 2. It kept the Trojans out of the annual train wreck of the first relay exchange.
With sixteen teams on the track, thrills and spills are common. In the predictable chaos, teams have even finished the race with a different baton than the one they started with.
Rainer did his job, running a solid leg, then Caden Uthe caught two runners with a strong performance. Christian Long rocked past four more runners, handing off to Travis Sickles in tenth place.
But in a spread out field, Sickles could only catch one anchorman even with his 2:01 closing 800 meters. Southwest finished in 8:36.95, breaking 8:40 for the first time this season. It just wasn’t enough as the Trojans trailed eighth-place Brookfield by six seconds.
Mile Madness
Sickles returned to the track in mid afternoon for his final race in a Southwest uniform - the Class 2 1600 meter run. It was a daunting task. Sickles was running his third race of the day due to MSHSAA changing to a single day meet because of Covid-19 protocol. With the two top seeds running on fresh legs, he was at a distinct disadvantage.
Sickles ran with the leaders until the final lap, finally surrendering ground against the withering final kicks of New Covenant’s Tanner Talley and Bishop Dubourg’s George Blanco. Talley blazed a sub 60 final lap to win in 4:20.56, with Blanco checking in at 4:23.52.
Travis Sickles took third in 4:27.88, bettering his personal best by almost a full three seconds while besting Shuman again at the 1600 meter distance. He missed Cody Sapp’s 4:26.8 school record by a second, while running the fastest state meet time for any Southwest runner. He is only the second Southwest boy to earn two medals at the state meet, and the only Southwest boy to finish higher than third at state in any event. It was a great ending to a great high school career. Sickles will move on to compete at Truman State University in the fall.
“It’s fun to watch a young person set goals, work hard, and then accomplish them. We teach that as coaches and educators, but not everybody gets it,” said Southwest’s Steve Voyak. “Travis certainly understood the journey would be hard, but worth it in the end.”
400 meter eye opener
Caden Uthe finished 15th in the 400 meter dash. The Southwest junior finished far off his season’s best time set at sectionals, struggling against the best sprinters in the state after spending so much energy in the long relay event. Uthe was already looking ahead to 2022 after getting his eyes opened. There is no substitute for experience at the state meet.
Lee Stubblefield
#Fabulous
It is nearly impossible for an elite distance runner to peak on three consecutive weekends. But Travis Sickles of Southwest did just that, lowering his own 3200 meter school record three times at Class 2 district, sectional, and state meets.
On Friday at the Class 2 state track meet at Jefferson City, Sickles ran stride for stride with the eventual champ - Spokane’s Sam Shuman - until the final 250 meters. Sickles finished second in that 3200 meter race in 9:34.61, chipping another two seconds off his previous best mark.
Who could have known back in March that the eventual 1-2 finishers at state in this event would come from the same conference?
Two hours later, Sickles was back on the track to anchor the Fab Four 4x800 meter relay.
NINTH
You never want to finish ninth at the state track meet. The top eight athletes in every event receive medals and All State recognition. For the bottom eight, nada. There are no participation medals. Place ninth or lower and all you take home are memories. Unless you win and earn the championship medal, the other eight medals age evenly in significance. All State is All State.
The Fab Four 4x800 meter relay finished in that frustrating ninth position to complete the long and winding road of the 2021 track season. Otis Rainer trailed the field at the first handoff, but that wasn’t necessarily a bad thing.
You have to run your slowest relay runner somewhere. Most coaches try to hide their slowest runner on the third leg. Steve Voyak chose to let Rainer lead off, accomplishing two big goals: 1. It allowed the other three runners to see the gap required to close to medal, and 2. It kept the Trojans out of the annual train wreck of the first relay exchange.
With sixteen teams on the track, thrills and spills are common. In the predictable chaos, teams have even finished the race with a different baton than the one they started with.
Rainer did his job, running a solid leg, then Caden Uthe caught two runners with a strong performance. Christian Long rocked past four more runners, handing off to Travis Sickles in tenth place.
But in a spread out field, Sickles could only catch one anchorman even with his 2:01 closing 800 meters. Southwest finished in 8:36.95, breaking 8:40 for the first time this season. It just wasn’t enough as the Trojans trailed eighth-place Brookfield by six seconds.
Mile Madness
Sickles returned to the track in mid afternoon for his final race in a Southwest uniform - the Class 2 1600 meter run. It was a daunting task. Sickles was running his third race of the day due to MSHSAA changing to a single day meet because of Covid-19 protocol. With the two top seeds running on fresh legs, he was at a distinct disadvantage.
Sickles ran with the leaders until the final lap, finally surrendering ground against the withering final kicks of New Covenant’s Tanner Talley and Bishop Dubourg’s George Blanco. Talley blazed a sub 60 final lap to win in 4:20.56, with Blanco checking in at 4:23.52.
Travis Sickles took third in 4:27.88, bettering his personal best by almost a full three seconds while besting Shuman again at the 1600 meter distance. He missed Cody Sapp’s 4:26.8 school record by a second, while running the fastest state meet time for any Southwest runner. He is only the second Southwest boy to earn two medals at the state meet, and the only Southwest boy to finish higher than third at state in any event. It was a great ending to a great high school career. Sickles will move on to compete at Truman State University in the fall.
“It’s fun to watch a young person set goals, work hard, and then accomplish them. We teach that as coaches and educators, but not everybody gets it,” said Southwest’s Steve Voyak. “Travis certainly understood the journey would be hard, but worth it in the end.”
400 meter eye opener
Caden Uthe finished 15th in the 400 meter dash. The Southwest junior finished far off his season’s best time set at sectionals, struggling against the best sprinters in the state after spending so much energy in the long relay event. Uthe was already looking ahead to 2022 after getting his eyes opened. There is no substitute for experience at the state meet.
