It just keeps getting better.

The 2026 season has already been historic for the Houston High School track and field program, as the Lady Tigers won the South Central Association conference championship for the first time in team history. Now the squad has added lots more to the season’s list of achievements by placing second and winning a program record four gold medals at the Class 3 District 5 Championships meet last Saturday (May 9) at Cuba.

The 11-team gathering included athletes from Ava, Buffalo, Cuba, Fair Grove, Houston, Liberty, Mountain Grove, Salem, St. James, Strafford and Willow Springs. Strafford topped the field with 135 points, while Houston was second with 104 and Salem placed third with 90.

Houston’s winners included junior Adyson Dailing in the 300-meter hurdles, senior Kayla Wagner in the 400-meter dash, freshman Lyla Huffman in the 800-meter run and junior Hally Scheets in the high jump. The top-4 finishers in each event at the meet qualified for this week’s Class 3 Sectionals 3 meet Saturday (May 16) at Buffalo. The HHS girls will have seven different athletes competing at the meet in a whopping 11 events.

HHS freshman Lyla Huffman (1) runs next to Fair Grove junior Katrina Cantwell (2) in the 1,600-meter run Saturday at Cuba. Cantwell won and Huffman took second. The pair will meet again at this Saturday’s sectionals meet at Buffalo.

Dailing had another huge day and also qualified for sectionals by taking second in the 200-meter dash (in school record time) and third in both the 100-meter dash and 100-meter hurdles, while Huffman came in second in the 1,600-meter run (behind her rival Katrina Cantwell of Fair Grove), senior Kynlee Weaver took second in javelin (with a school-record toss of 125’4”), freshman Millie Manier placed third in pole vault and sophomore Jessyn Allen placed fourth in the 3,200-meter run.

HHS freshman Millie Manier clears the bar on the way to a fourth-place finish in pole vault at the district championships meet last Saturday at Cuba. The result helped Manier advance to this week’s sectionals meet. (Submitted photo)

Athletes on the team set 11 personal records at the meet. The runner-up finish by the Lady Tigers is the best showing at a district meet during head coach Mike Tottingham’s eight-year stint at the helm of HHS track and the 11 events at sectionals will be the most.

“We had several great performances at districts,” Tottingham said. “The girls continue to impress this season. I would like to mention the strong finish to the season that Jessyn Allen and Millie Manier have had. They were the unsung heroes of our conference championship and they carried that momentum on to districts advancing in the 3200-meter run and pole vault.” 

The HHS boys placed 11th with 23 points and had four athletes qualify for the sectionals meet in two events. Junior Kane Crawford took third in the 400-meter dash and also ran with the Tigers’ 4X800 relay squad that placed fourth, along with senior Jack Sawyer, sophomore Christopher Meier II and junior Dillon Shelton.

HHS senior Jack Sawyer runs a leg of the 4X800 relay Saturday at Cuba.

“On the boys side, we have not had as much success as we had hoped for this season,” Tottingham said. “A couple of our athletes did not make the performance jumps that we thought they would have, but that sometimes happens as they are focused on other sports, work and life. I still saw a ton of improvement from several of our younger athletes.

“Last season, we didn’t get any running events to sectionals on the boys side, so we are moving in the right direction with Kane and the 4×800 relay team moving on.” 

HHS highlights

Girls

  • 100-meter dash: Adyson Dailing, 3rd, 12.71; Kayla Wagner, 5th, 13.24.
  • 200-meter dash: Adyson Dailing, 3rd, 26.07, school record.
  • 400-meter dash: Kayla Wagner, 1st, 1:00.82.
HHS senior Kayla Wagner sprints on the track Saturday at Cuba on the way to winning the 400-meter dash.
  • 800-meter run: Lyla Huffman, 1st, 2:29.66.
  • 1,600-meter run: Lyla Huffman, 2nd, 5:41.10.
  • 3,200-meter run: Jessyn Allen, 4th, 13:38.95.
  • 100-meter hurdles: Adyson Dailing, 3rd, 16.84.
  • 300-meter hurdles: Adyson Dailing, 1st, 47.35.
  • Javelin: Kynlee Weaver, 2nd, 125’4”, school record.
HHS senior Kynlee Weaver competes in javelin in the Class 3 District 5 meet Saturday at Cuba. She took second, set a school record and advanced to this week’s sectionals meet. (Submitted photo)
  • High jump: Hally Scheets, 1st, 4’9”.
  • Pole vault: Millie Manier, 3rd, 8’2.5”.
  • Long jump: Hally Scheets, 5th, 15’1.25”.

Boys

  • 400-meter dash, Kane Crawford, 3rd, 53.36.
HHS junior Kane Crawford runs on his way to taking third in the 400-meter dash last Saturday at Cuba.
  • 800-meter run: Christopher Meier II, 6th, 2:14.64.
  • 4X800 relay: Houston, 4th, 8:56.72 (Jack Sawyer, Christopher Meier II, Kane Crawford, Dillon Shelton).
  • Javelin: Mason Dodson, 6th, 140’9”.

The sectionals meet will include the top-4 finishers in each event from Districts 5 and 6. The top-4 finishers in each event at sectionals will advance to the Class 3 State Championships, May 22-23 in Jefferson City.

HHS sophomore Jessyn Allen runs on her way to taking fourth in the 3,200-meter run and advancing to this week’s sectionals meet.

Doug Davison is a writer, photographer and newsroom assistant for the Houston Herald. Contact him by phone at 417-967-2000 or by email at ddavison@houstonherald.com.

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