Zaya Akins adds to Raytown South legacy with three more state titles

Akins will head to University of Kentucky with eight individual titles

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. – Zaya Akins arrived at the 2023 Missouri Track and Field Championships with her legacy at Raytown South High School already well established.

Then the Cardinals’ senior added to it in impressive fashion.

Akins entered her final high school meet with five individual state championships on her resume and then added three more with victories in the Class 5 100-meter dash, 200 and 400.

“Right now I’m just happy that it’s over,” Akins said after stepping off the podium at Adkins Stadium for the final time. It’s been really stressful and it’s really been, like, yeah I’ve just really stressed, nervous. I’m glad it’s over. Three-time state champ. That’s what we came here to do, so I’m happy with it.”

Akins, who will continue her career at the University of Kentucky, not only won the 400-meter dash for the third time in three tries, she also broke the Class 5 championships record twice in her two races on Friday and Saturday.

She ran a 54.74 in the prelims – topping the previous Class 5 record of 54.87 set by Courtney Williams of Nerinx Hall in 2019 – and then ran a blazing 53.08 in the final.

Akins established the Class 4 400 record and championship meet record a year ago when she ran a 53.41. So now he owns the Class 4 and Class 5 meet records as well as the overall mark.

The Raytown South standout sprinter certainly made the most of her final meet and added to her collection of individual medals.

Akins didn’t get to compete at state as a freshman in 2020 because of COVID, but she won the Class 4 100, 200 and 400 as a sophomore and the Class 4 100 and 400 as a junior before her hat trick of first-place finishes as a senior.

She also got a little bit nostalgic during the past few days.

“It didn’t hit me til (Friday) when I was packing my stuff up and I’m looking in the mirror like, dang, I’m not wearing this uniform anymore,” Akins said. “It’s surreal to me. I’ve been there for the past four years – only competed for the past three years because of COVID – but it’s been exciting. I love Raytown South. I’m sure I’ll be back visiting sometime soon.”


MSHSAA Track and Field Championships

Camdenton's Angel Dickerson sweeps Missouri Class 5 sprint championships

Parkway Central junior Skyye Lee wins four Missouri Class 4 championships

Missouri football signee Joshua Manning of Lee's Summit caps track career with two titles

Seckman's Noa Isaia caps high school career by winning Missouri Class 5 discus

Photo gallery: Missouri Class 3-5 boys track and field championships (Saturday)

Photo gallery: Missouri Class 3-5 girls track and field championships (Saturday)

Nixa freshman Jackson Cantwell breaks record, wins Missouri Class 5 shot put

Purdue football signee Arhmad Branch wins Missouri Class 4 long jump title

Rock Bridge's Andrew Hauser pulls off dramatic finish to win Missouri Class 5 1600 title

Photo gallery: Missouri Class 3-5 boys track and field championships (Friday)

Photo gallery: Missouri Class 3-5 girls track and field championships (Friday)


Missouri girls track and field championships 5-27-23 Nate Latsch 22319
Missouri girls track and field championships 5-27-23 Nate Latsch 22324
Missouri girls track and field championships 5-27-23 Nate Latsch 22365
Missouri girls track and field championships 5-27-23 Nate Latsch 22366
Missouri girls track and field championships 5-27-23 Nate Latsch 22367
Missouri girls track and field championships 5-27-23 Nate Latsch 22368

Published
Nate Latsch, SBLive Sports
NATE LATSCH, SBLIVE SPORTS

Nate Latsch is a Regional Editor at SBLive Sports overseeing high school coverage for Missouri, Illinois and Indiana. A veteran sportswriter and multimedia content creator, Latsch has covered high school sports in the St. Louis area and Missouri for 20 years, with a focus on high school football, basketball, baseball and football and basketball recruiting.  He has worked for the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, STLhighschoolsports.com, the Associated Press, FOX Sports Midwest, MLB.com and Scout.com.  In addition to covering high school sports, Latsch has covered youth, college and professional sports, including covering the St. Louis Cardinals, St. Louis Blues and St. Louis Rams, the University of Missouri and Saint Louis University.