EXCELSIOR SPRINGS, Mo. — Kyle Williams didn’t want to watch, but he couldn’t look away.

The Lafayette senior sat helplessly in fourth place, forced to watch three long jumpers attempt to take his spot at sectionals. With each measurement, he peeked out from under his black hooded sweatshirt, afraid of what he might hear.

His anxiety disappeared a short time later when Kearney’s Austin Stephens scratched his final attempt at the Class 3 District 8 meet to send Williams to his first sectional appearance.

“I was sure I wasn’t going to make it,” Williams said. “I’d already planned it in my head that I wasn’t going to go. I was pretty relieved.”

Williams led entering finals after leaping 20 feet, 9 1/2 inches but grew concerned when Midland Empire Conference rivals John Farmer of Maryville and Zach Sebo of Smithville got going. Both improved on their preliminary jumps by more than a foot to pass Williams, who couldn’t improve upon his early mark.

Cameron’s Jordan Tharp knocked him into a precarious position with a 20-10 3/4, his best leap of the year.

“Last year, I didn’t jump well until the end, either,” said Tharp, who also qualified with a second-place triple jump finish. “I guess it’s just more adrenaline pumping. I don’t know.”

Josh Rockhold of Chillicothe nearly ended Williams’ season with a jump of more than 21 feet, but his left hand scraped the sand and took a foot and a half off the mark.

Williams was excited to get the chance to move on and hopes to match the progress of his conference opponents.

“They all stepped their game up and were going way better than they normally did,” Williams said. “Now I know I’ve got to do the same if I want to get to state.”

Lindsay Laderoute, meanwhile, continued to close the gap between herself and Maryville’s Jordan Stiens.

The Fighting Irish junior finished second to Stiens — already a two-time state medalist — in both the 100- and 300-meter hurdles. In their numerous clashes, Laderoute has yet to catch her MEC rival but appreciates the challenge Stiens provides.

“It definitely helps to have that competition. Otherwise I wouldn’t be improving,” Laderoute said. “I’ll go to all my other meets, and I’ll be three hurdles ahead of everybody else.

“You think you’re going fast, but you’re not.”

Laderoute and her 4x100-meter relay teammates narrowly missed out on a sectional trip after finishing fifth behind Platte County by one-hundredth of a second.

A few hours after extending her season, Benton sophomore Hannah Moore helped the 4x400-meter relay move along as well.

Normally the team’s anchor, Moore instead led off and put the baton in the hands of fellow underclassmen Gade Wilkinson, Blayr Bolton and Heavin Warner.

Warner, who anchored the event for just the third time, took over in third place and didn’t let Chillicothe’s Samantha Fender gain much ground.

“It’s scary because you’re the last person, and you think that you’re going to have to maintain what your team already has,” said Warner, who helped the Cardinals’ soccer team pick up a 2-0 victory earlier in the day.

Benton girls coach Duane Alsup shook up the young team’s order three weeks ago with the hopes of relieving the performance pressure on the final legs.

The Cardinals leapfrogged both Chillicothe and Maryville, which did not qualify after owning the area’s best time in the event. Now the team is a top-four finish away from a state berth.

“I think it’s easier for those girls to hold onto a lead than it is to chase some of the better runners down,” Alsup said. “It’s worked out well for us so far.”

Distance runner Taylor Woodruff, a state qualifier in the two mile last year, also qualified in two events after placing third in both the 1,600 and 3,200.

Other city competitors to punch their ticket to sectionals included Benton’s Chris Puett (4th in the 400) and Lafayette’s Nick Edwards, who overtook John Beamon of Benton in the final 1/2 lap in the mile.

Among other MEC standouts, Cameron’s Brandon Tunks and Samantha Fender of Chillicothe advanced in four events.

Several pole vaulters also enjoyed record-setting performances on an elevated runway on Tiger Stadium’s infield.

Girls from Benton (Tassy Fischer, 9-0), Platte County (Rachel McCollum, 10-0), Maryville (Sam McGinness, 10-0), Chillicothe (Samantha Figg, 10-6) all set new school records jumping into the pits that displayed the words “Just Vault.”

All of them trailed defending state champion Hannah Cooper of Excelsior Springs, who went 11-0.

“It’s nice to watch someone who’s really good,” Figg said. “You can get tips — see what she’s doing right compared to what I’m doing wrong.”

Cameron’s Kemper Kellerstrass also advanced to sectionals with a career best leap of 13 feet, 3 inches short of the school record. The Dragons finished third behind Lincoln Prep and Kearney, while Maryville’s girls finished second to a resurgent Kearney team — the first time the Spoofhounds have finished outside of the top team spot all season.