JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. — De’Andre Vandevender wrapped up his state titles early in the high jump and the long jump on the first day of the Class 2 Track and Field Championships.

From there, the Trenton senior took aim at the record books.

After winning the high jump at 6-foot-6, Vandevender set the bar at a potential state record 6-11 but missed all three attempts. With a 22-3 during preliminaries of the long jump, he left and helped the 4x100-meter relay qualify for today’s finals.

Vandevender returned to the long jump pit to find out his prelim jump held up for all the other competitors, but he used his three finals jumps to try and hit 23-0 for the first time. He did on his final attempts but scratched by inches.

Even without the records, Vandevender will take his second and third state titles.

“It feels amazing,” said Vandevender, who won the triple jump as a sophomore and will try to regain that crown today. “Just coming down here lets you know the practices are paying off, the work’s paying off.

“You just have to go out there and do your best, and today, I had a good day. I’m riding it out, and hopefully, I can have a good day tomorrow as well.”

Vandevender might have missed the marks on his record-setting dreams, but his two championship efforts equalled 20 of Trenton’s 28 points Friday. That total has the Bulldogs tied for first with College Heights Christian, which used a 1-3-6-8 finish in the 3,200-meter to accrue 20 points.

But those four runners only matched Vandevender’s two-event

performance.

As the only competitor to clear 6-6, Vandevender quickly opted to move the bar above the Class 2 record height of 6-10 1/4. He cleared 6-9 earlier in the year and figured that mark meant more than trying for a personal best of 6-10.

In the long jump, Vandevender wanted to equal the 23-0 exploits of his jumping coach, Tad Trombley, who hit that mark as a high school athlete in Connecticut.

“It takes a little bit of the pressure off of me,” Vandevender said, “but I always realize I’ve got coach Trombley up there telling me about his personal bests and trying to live up to those. I fell short of him in the long jump again this year.

“He was a 23-foot jumper, unlike myself.”

Fellow senior Kyle Hoyt added the other eight points for Trenton, placing second in the shot put behind Hayti’s Craig Robinson. It marked an improvement for Hoyt after finishing third in the event a year ago.

He’ll look to add a first-place finish in today’s discus where he enters with a qualifying distance of 148-1, good for third in the field of 16.

“I was hoping for a higher finish in the shot,” Hoyt said, “but a second-place will definitely help the team out. And that’s what we’re all really here for — get that eventual state title.

Trenton did take some bad breaks on Day 1.

The 4x800 relay team sat in last after the first leg, but rallied to finish ninth — just one spot short of earning a valuable point. Later, the 4x200 relay botched its final handoff en route to an apparent spot in today’s final.

The last blow came when Matthew Mayfield made the finals of the shot put but finished in ninth to also miss out on a point.

Mayfield was the only qualifier from last week’s sectional at Cass-Midway High School not to medal.

Lathrop’s Travis Williams finished fourth, one place behind defending state champion Brad Madison of South Harrison. After having surgery on his left foot in January, the state meet marked Madison’s fourth competition of the year.

He used the full spin technique in the shot put ring for the first time but finished 1-1 behind Hoyt in third. Madison also qualified for state in today’s discus competition, and he will use the spin technique in that event for the first time as well.

“It’s good to be back spinning,” Madison said. “But it’s kind of disappointing to go from last year to where I am now. I hoped to go farther, but that’s somewhere around what I expected with what I’ve done this year.

“I’m happy to be here. It could be a lot worse than it is.”