By Riley Bean
Lamar, MO – The Lamar boys and the Sarcoxie girls will both be taking their full team to the MSHSAA cross country state championship meet next weekend in Jeff City.
Lamar hosted the Class 2, District 6 meet on Saturday, and it was the Lamar boys’ team that came away with the first-place plaque as a team. Mark Venable, Kolin Overstreen and Jesse Compton did the heavy lifting for Lamar, placing second, third and fourth, respectively.
CLICK HERE FOR CLASS 2, DISTRICT 6 XC PHOTOS
“They’ve been real consistent all year,” said Lamar coach Rodney Baldridge. “They run together all year round. They just like working hard and running together and running for each other.”
Garrett Morey placed eighth and Parker King finished 19th for Lamar, giving the Tigers 36 team points. Strafford came in second as a team with 52 points, followed by Clever (101) and Crane (109). The top two teams in each district get a bid to the state meet.
In the girls’ race, the Sarcoxie Lady Bears achieved a groundbreaking win on Saturday.
“It’s the first time in school history,” Sarcoxie coach Michael Busselman said. “We knew we had something special with this group. There’re a lot of underclassmen and one senior in Jasmine Garrison. It means a lot. It’s the first time in school history for our cross country program that we’ve won the district championship. We won our conference on Monday, so we’ve basically won five of the last six meets this year. Before this year, we never won a meet at all.”
The senior Garrison took third place at districts with a time of 22:44.63. She won her first meet of her career at the Nixa Invite last month and said it was her dream to win a cross country meet.
She and her teammates Brynn Fischer (second place), Latisha Peveto (12th place), Araseli Meza (17th place), Rebecca Kilpatrick (23rd place), and Jessica Long (49th place) are all heading to the Class 2 state XC meet.
“Back in August, we set forth all these goals and we’ve achieved every one that we’ve set so far except for the one at state,” said Busselman. “They’re smart girls and their last goal is to finish in the top four and bring home a state trophy… They’re just special and it’s been a special fall, and we’re not done yet.”
Spokane will join Sarcoxie as the second girls team from this district to earn a spot at state next week.
Senior Shane Burns from Strafford won the individual district championship with a time of 16:51.91. Burns placed second at the Class 2 state meet a year ago, and he’s hoping to finish in that top group once again to cap off his senior season as one of the best runners in the state.
Ash Grove junior Erin Hall won the individual title on the girls’ side, coming in at 21:44.24. She’ll join fellow junior Ashley Rolewicz (11th place) at the state meet next week, something no Ash Grove female runner achieved a year ago.
CLICK HERE FOR FULL C2D6 BOYS RESULTS
CLICK HERE FOR FULL C2D6 GIRLS RESULTS
Class 2 Team Qualifiers
Boys – Lamar (36), Strafford (52)
Girls – Sarcoxie (43), Spokane (72)
Class 2 Remaining Individual Qualifiers
Boys
5. Matthew Christoffer, Clever, 18:03.25
6. Jarrett Pike, Southwest, 18:03.69
11. Mark Christoffer, Clever, 18:47.51
12. Tristan Williams, Crane, 18:48.01
13. Brian Freeman, Spokane, 18:48.19
14. Dylan Funcannon, Crane, 18:48.77
15. Scott Lewis, College Heights, 18:55.53
Girls
1. Erin Hall, Ash Grove, 21:44.24
4. Kyndall Compton, Strafford, 22:57.64
5. Brooke Hoeft, Clever, 23:01.15
6. Madalynn Ward, Strafford, 23:13.74
7. Maggie Robbins, Southwest, 23:30.64
9. Joy Grace, Purdy, 23:38.95
10. Lauryn Macy, Diamond, 23:47.41
11. Ashley Rolewicz, Ash Grove, 23:53.88
13. Rani Bain, Crane, 24:00.14
14. Catelyn Gundelfinger, Clever, 24:03.74
