By Pat Dailey

sports@joplinglobe.com

BRANSON, Mo. — Devyn McPherson and Kylie Jones posted two of the most convincing victories at the Class 3 Sectional 3 track meet on Saturday, while Monett's D.J. Dunmire was the winner in one of the most talked about events.

McPherson, of Carl Junction, claimed the shot put by nearly three feet and Jones, of Webb City, took the discus by almost 23 feet.

Their wins were rather predictable, given their own marks and that of their rivals last week in districts.

McPherson, whose seeded distance was more than two feet better than the rest of the field, motivated herself beforehand by competing against her own standards. Her personal record is 41 feet, 6 inches.

Her best on Saturday was 40-11 3/4. A distant second was Mount Vernon’s Teaven Taylor (38-2 3/4).

“I was comfortable coming in, but not too confident,” McPherson said. “I was ranked second in the state coming in to today's meet. But I think I’m going to have to hit 42-0 next week to win state. That (42-0) has been my goal the past few weeks.”

For Jones, it was about the same story. Her district heave of 147-11 was nearly 20 feet better than all her competitors. Her sectional toss of 142-7 overwhelmed her foes, with teammate Lauren Jones a faraway second at 119-9.

Jones returns to state after finishing seventh last year.

The pole vault produced a buzz, but not because of a duel at 14-0 between Dunmire and Nevada’s Tyler Werner. Earlier, Osage’s Nathan Deman, a district champ last week by clearing 14-0, was disqualified for wearing his warmup shorts on his first vault. The shorts were not school issued, as mandated by MSHSAA, thus prompting his abrupt exit.

“I noticed he was warming up with those shorts on, but didn’t think anything of it,” Dunmire said. “I didn’t think nothing of it until he came up to me, threw off his glasses, took his shorts off and said they were debating whether to disqualify him or not.

“He should have known that, but I feel bad for him, with this being his senior year.”

Dunmire was victorious over Werner based on his one scratch at 14-0 and Werner’s two.

He’s optimistic he can have a good showing at state. Last year, 14-0 was good enough for third place.