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

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. – Lee’s Summit senior Joshua Manning had some lofty goals for his final Missouri Track and Field Championships meet.

Manning, who has signed to play wide receiver at the University of Missouri, wanted to not only win championships in the long jump and triple jump, but also to break the state record in the triple jump set by his father in 1993.

Manning had to settle for two of those three goals.

“It feels great,” he said. “I feel like I went out with a bang, which I originally planned.”

Manning won the Class 5 long jump on Friday with Class 5-record breaking leap covering 7.73 meters (25 feet 4 ½ inches) and then took the Class 5 triple jump title on Saturday with a mark of 14.99 meters (49-2 ¼).

The future Missouri Tigers wide receiver saved his best for last in both events. He achieved the first-place distance in the long jump on his final attempt, and his final two tries in the triple jump were the best marks in the competition.

The triple jump record his father Brian Manning set competing in the Class 3A championships while at Ruskin High School in 1993 – 51 feet 1 ¼ inches – proved to be out of reach on Saturday.

“I tried,” Manning said. “It was like 51 (feet), which would have been easily No. 1 in the nation. It was kind of out there and I tried but I just couldn’t get it.”

Still, it was a successful two days in Jefferson City.

The two state championships were the first for Manning, who had three second-place finishes over the previous two state meets.

Manning finished second in both the long jump (7.46 meters, 24 feet 5 ¾ inches) and the triple jump (14.76, 48-5 1/4) a year ago as a junior and finished second in the long jump (7.16, 23-6) as a sophomore.

Going into his final long jump attempt on Friday, Manning found himself sitting in second place for the third straight season before coming up clutch with the winning leap.

“I was terrified I was going to finish second again,” he said.

Manning won’t have to worry about that ever again. He stepped off the medal stand on Saturday afternoon as a two-time state champion.

“It means a lot to me,” he said. “I just feel like all the hard work I put in in the offseason and my 10-plus years of track, it finally paid off.”

Manning became the second Lee’s Summit male athlete in school history to win a state title in the triple jump and just the third male athlete in school history to win in the jumping events.

Johnny Brackins won the Class 5 long jump in 2019 and then won both the Class 5 long jump and triple jump in 2021. Kendall Pyatt won the Class 4 long jump in 2000.

Manning won’t have long to celebrate the successful end of his high school track career. He’s headed to Columbia on Sunday to begin the next chapter of his life as a student-athlete at Mizzou.

Manning emerged as one of the top 10 prospects in Missouri in the Class of 2023 after his junior and senior seasons where he established himself as a big-play wide receiver. He racked up 131 receptions for 1,737 yards and scored 25 touchdowns in his final two high school seasons.

“I’m very excited,” Manning said. “I leave (Sunday) at 12. I’m very excited and ready to get to work.”

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