By Brennan Stebbins (For OzarksSportsZone.com)
The Spokane’s boys cross country team showed up in Hollister on Saturday as the third-ranked team in the Class 2 District 6 field.
The Owls left as the champions.
Senior Sam Shuman won the district race for the second year in a row and set a new school record in the process: 15:47.24. Grant Stewart and Audric May added top-six finishes and the Owls beat New Covenant Academy by 10 points and Southwest (Washburn) by 11.
“We were definitely the underdogs this meet,” Shuman said. “I really think this gave us good confidence beating the teams here today going into state. That’s what I’m happy about.”
How did Spokane make such a jump in the standings? Shuman credited a pep speech delivered by May before the race started.
“I think that helped us out,” he said. “I don’t know, just confidence I guess today. We weren’t nervous, we just came out and ran today and I think that’s what helped us out a lot.”
Stewart, a senior, finished third and May, a senior, was sixth.
Shuman and Stewart will be making return trips to the Class 2 state meet. Stewart was 23rd a year and Shuman finished third at 16:06.30.
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“I’ve been practicing different strategies coming out,” Shuman said. “I came off the line straight into my pace. I felt good today. Usually I try new things. Don’t want to change anything too much since it’s later in the season. I came in and was ranked second in districts so I was like I’m not expected to win this but I’m going to come out and win it because I just have that confidence. I build it up in myself.”
“We were ranked third and I knew we had three of the top runners but we were younger kids, brand new kids,” Spokane coach Jeff Mitchem said. “We lost a lot of kids from last year so I knew we weren’t ranked real high. Everybody that ran for us got their PR today except for one and that’s okay because he was close. I told them that’s what it would take, they’d all have to run their best today to get it.
“Sam got our new school record and he should be back into being ranked first in the state now where he was most of the season,” he said. “Pretty proud of all of them.”
New Covenant was led by junior Tanner Talley’s second-place finish and senior Trevor Talley’s fourth-place showing.
Southwest came away with four qualifiers: juniors Christian Long (fifth) and Caden Uthe (seventh) and sophomores Otis Rainer (eighth) and Lucas Lakey (13th).
Alton was the only other Class 2 boys team with multiple qualifiers. Sophomores Cory Miller and Tucker Combs took ninth and 11th, respectively.
Crane, Sparta, Purdy and Marionville each had one.
For Crane it was freshman Calen Faucett, who finished 10th. Spart freshman Talon Phillips was 12th. Purdy freshman Bryce Ozbun was 14th. Marionville Sophomore Gabe Whitman was 10th.
Sparta, Thayer top two in girls meet
Four of the top 10 girls finishers came from either Sparta or Thayer and those two teams battled for first place. Both will go to state.
It was Sparta who earned the district championship, though, with a four-point advantage.
The Lady Trojans had a fourth-place individual in freshman Rylie McMurry, an eighth-place finisher in senior Kimber Rains and a 14th-place finisher in freshman Lilly Merrill. Four of the team’s six runners on Saturday were freshmen.
Thayer was slightly older – two freshmen and two sophomores among its six runners. Audrey Harris, a freshman, finished in fifth place for Thayer; sophomore Chasity Wodinowich was 10th and senior Haddle Atkisson was 11th.
The individual championship belonged to Summit Preparatory School, however. Senior Alexis Workman won the race in 19:51.22, beating Spokane freshman Madison King by about seven seconds.
Workman was a ninth-place medalist at the state meet as a junior.
Her nearest challenger, Spokane’s King, set a new school record while placing second. The record had belonged to sophomore teammate Lily Hunsucker, who followed in third place on Saturday. Spokane’s only other runner, sophomore Katherine Hoffman, also qualified for state with a 12th-place finish.
“We knew the Workman girl, she’s ranked first in the state, so I said if you just stay close to her we know that we’ll be good,” Mitchem said.
Alton had two qualifiers: senior Harlee Hughes (seventh) and freshman Karizma Hurst (13th).
Ash Grove junior Allison Hall finished sixth. Southwest sophomore Cally Bowyer was ninth. Marionville sophomore Sofi Armfield was 15th.
