By Dana Harding (For OzarksSportsZone.com)
Clever, Mo. — The perfect score, where a school’s top five runners finish in the top five spots, is cross country’s white whale.
The Lamar boys almost made it seem easy at Saturday’s Class 2 District 6 championships, scoring a perfect 15 to win the district title.
Almost.
While sophomore Kolin Overstreet, senior Mark Venable, freshman Ethan Pittsenbarger and senior Garrett Morey all finished well ahead of any competitive danger, freshman Joe Kremp had to move up several spots in the last mile to complete the perfect score.
Kremp received praise from Lamar head coach Rodney Baldridge after the meet.
“Joe’s normally our sixth runner,” Baldridge said. “He ran exceptionally well. We tried not to focus on that at all; we just wanted to go out and run our race. We’ve got a lot of good runners, and I’m proud of them all.”
Spokane finished second in the with 82 points and also qualified for the state meet as a team.
CLICK HERE FOR PHOTOS OF THE BOYS RACE
As for the race, Overstreet utilized a fast start and tactical move late in the final loop to cruise to a personal best 15:42 victory.
The sophomore Tiger ran with teammate and pre-race favorite Mark Venable for most of the first lap before making a huge move in the second half.
“This is our last fast course that we have for the rest of the year,” Overstreet said. “I was running with Mark when we came to the second-mile mark — the second mile has always been our slowest — and I just decided I needed to take off in order to PR today.”
Venable was unable to counter his teammates move and settled for a second-place finish in 16:22.
“Kolin ran exceptionally well today,” Baldridge said. “He’s had some really good races this year, and today was one of them. He and Mark run so well together — in workouts, they’re always pushing each other — and it was Kolin’s day.”
Pittsenbarger’s 16:31 rounded out the top three finishers.
In the girls’ race, senior Ashley Rolewicz notched a personal best 20:56 to score a victory over Diamond junior Gabrielle Hall.
Rolewicz emerged as somewhat of a dark horse, overcoming a slow start to catch Hall in the first mile. The pair ran together for most of the race, trading leads on the hill portions of the course before Rolewicz decided to go for broke in the final mile.
“I kept telling myself, I have two options — either run with her, or make her run with me,” Rolewicz said. “I thought if I could defeat her mentally first; it was on that back far hill where I was, like, well … this is the time to go, because she was slowing down, and that’s when I really kicked it in.”
Hall finished in 21:10, and College Heights Christian junior Kylee Lang came in third with a time of 21:16. Freshman Grace Bishop, Lang’s teammate and pre-race favorite, did not run.
CLICK HERE FOR PHOTOS OF THE GIRLS RACE
While its top finisher was freshman Kara Morey in fifth place, the Lamar girls were able to bunch enough points together to edge out College Heights for the team victory, 50-67.
The victory marked the first district title for the girls’ program.
“At the beginning of the year, they thought I was crazy when I told them one of our goals was going to be to win districts,” Baldridge said. “I’m just so proud, because they keep getting better and better.”
The top two schools and top 15 individual finishers qualify for next weekend’s state championship meet in Jefferson City. The Class 2 girls run at 9:00am, with the boys taking the start at 10:10am.
Girls state qualifiers – Individual
1. 20:56 Ashley Rolewicz, Ash Grove
2. 21:10 Gabrielle Hall, Diamond
3. 21:16 Kylee Lang, College Heights
4. 21:29 Madalynn Ward, Strafford
5. 21:31 Kara Morey, Lamar
6. 21:32 Lauryn Macy, Diamond
7. 21:33 Jessica Coble, Lamar
8. 21:38 Brooke Hoeft, Clever
9. 21:40 Brynn Fischer, Sarcoxie
10. 21:51 Ella Fabro, Strafford
11. 21:53 Emma Clouser, Spokane
12. 21:56 Abigal Kluhsman, Lamar
13. 22:02 Emily Colin, College Heights
14. 22:07 Rani Bain, Crain
15. 22:13 Kaylee Armitage, Spokane
Girls state qualifiers – Team
1. 50 Lamar
2. 67 College Heights Christian
Boys state qualifiers – Individual
1. 15:42 Kolin Overstreet, Lamar
2. 16:22 Mark Venable, Lamar
3. 16:51 Ethan Pittsenbarger, Lamar
4. 17:00 Garrett Morey, Lamar
5. 17:25 Joe Kremp, Lamar
6. 17:37 Dylan Funcannon, Crane
7. 17:37.9 Jackson Bray, Spokane
8. 17:39 Gavin Stanton, Marionville
9. 17:39.8 Patrick Davis, Strafford
10. 17:40 Skyler Levendosky, College Heights
11. 17:48 Sam Shuman, Spokane
12. 17:52 Parker King, Lamar
13. 17:53 Caleb Wicklund, College Heights
14. 17:54 Grant Stewart, Spokane
15. 17:55 Chandler Orwig, Purdy
Boys state qualifiers – Team
1. 15 Lamar
2. 82 Spokane
