By Michael Cignoli (For OzarksSportsZone.com)
BOLIVAR — The area’s largest cross country event is typically the first chance runners have to show how far they have progressed since last fall, as they look to begin a new season with a personal-record time and see how they compare to runners from schools of all sizes.
This year, they were just lucky to finish the race with both of their shoes.
El Dorado Springs senior Daelen Ackley and Kickapoo junior Klarie Brown posted the top times in the annual Southwest Cross Country Coaches Association Richard Clark Invitational on Saturday morning at a waterlogged and muddy Bolivar Golf Course.
The day’s races were delayed 30 minutes as crews worked to repair part of the course, which washed away overnight as heavy rains came through southwest Missouri. When the starting gun finally sounded, at least three runners lost a shoe mid-race in the muddy terrain.
The conditions ensured the race wouldn’t be nearly as fast as the ones in previous years, which typically attract upwards of 40 schools and over 400 runners from southwest Missouri.
Pretty much any school with a cross country program travels to this meet, an early-season test to determine how runners fare against competition both in and outside their class. And while no one was able to be at their best, two of the region’s elite rose to the top once more.
Ackley won the five-kilometer boys race with a time of 15 minutes, 46.61 seconds — a second slower than his winning time last year and 32 seconds behind his career best.
Brown took the girls event in 19 minutes, 6.19 seconds — 45 seconds off the pace Blue Eye’s Riley Arnold recorded to win last year’s race and about 50 seconds off her personal record.
GIRLS RACE – CLICK HERE FOR PHOTOS
After winning the SWCCCA meet as a freshman, Brown finished second in her sophomore season and was in that place for the majority of this year’s race. But the all-state selection kept pace with the leader, Alicen Ashley of Nixa, and finally overtook her as they approached the third mile.
“If you want to call yourself one of the best in the area, you have to show up at this one,” Kickapoo coach Jeremy Goddard said. “She did — and I’m proud of her for that.”
Brown trailed Ashley by three seconds with a half mile to go, but surged past the Nixa senior in the homestretch. She finished five seconds clear to earn her second SWCCCA win.
“My strategy was just to follow who was first,” said Brown, the reigning Ozark Conference champion. “I kind of biffed it a little bit at the beginning because I let her have some distance on me, but then I caught up to her and followed her. Whenever I felt like I could make my move, I did.”
If the rainfall before the race ensured runners would find this year’s competition more difficult, the abnormally humid conditions during the race only made things even harder.
“My goal was to get first and I did that, but that was way harder than I thought it was going to be,” Brown said. “After the mile-and-a-half, I was just dead. I was trying to get by Alicen and she’s so good. She really worked hard this race. She really pushed me. It was difficult.”
The week leading up to the race wasn’t any easier for Ashley, who passed out and needed to visit the emergency room last weekend. All things considered, the reigning Central Ozark Conference champion was content with the finish given where she was only a week ago.
“I noticed the first few miles weren’t too quick, but I should have realized it wasn’t about time — it was about place,” Ashley said. “Klarie definitely played the smarter race. She just kind of waited patiently behind me, which probably motivated her a bit more to eventually catch me.”
Arnold, a three-time defending state champion, finished fourth behind Parkview’s Lilah Genel.
The Blue Eye senior’s time of 19 minutes, 24.24 seconds was over a minute slower than her finish last year — a race she won by 53 seconds — en route to another Class 1 title. She said she wasn’t expecting the course to be as muddy as it was and called the finish “humbling.”
“My goal is to get another state championship later on in the year and just keep working,” Arnold said. “Don’t focus on today. It was definitely an off race for me, but I’ll get back out there and compete well and get right back on there to state.”
BOYS RACE – CLICK HERE FOR PHOTOS
Ackley, the reigning Class 3 state champion, was also looking to pick up where he left off.
As recently as this week, his plan was to come out and try to post a time of 15 minutes, 20 seconds — which would only be about six seconds behind his personal record. But the weather and terrain forced him to change his strategy — no need to be flashy, just get the win.
“I went out decently hard and started negative splitting,” Ackley said. “Then, finally, I felt some distance between me and (Kickapoo senior Tyler Harris) and so I was like ‘OK, just keep pushing.’ And I was in pain, because we had to work out yesterday. But my coach was just trying to teach us how to run on tired legs.”
That pain didn’t show at all, as Ackley led wire to wire and finished about seven seconds clear of Harris, winning this race for the third time in the past three years.
“We were contemplating a good time today,” Bulldogs coach Brian Goatley said. “But when the conditions hit, we were just going to make a workout out of it. Get with the pack that first mile, kind of build that second mile and race that third mile. We knew the top times would not come today with the wet conditions, but he has those expectations. He’s dreaming big. He’s dreaming past this year. He’s dreaming to the potentials and possibilities next year.”
Ackley has yet to receive a scholarship offer, but Goatley said he’s attracted interest from multiple Division-I schools. And if Ackley is able to achieve the goals he’s set for himself this year, that interest should become a lot more formal.
“I want to win Gatorade,” Ackley said, referencing the beverage company’s Player of the Year award that is presented to the top high school athletes in each of the 50 states. “I want to be one of the top runners in Missouri, ever. That’s the goal for this year.”
The goal may seem lofty, but it’s entirely within reach.
His cross-country personal record is 15 minutes, 14 seconds — and will likely drop again this season, if he runs on anything but a quagmire.
“I improve about 25 seconds every year,” Ackley said. “And that 25 seconds would put me like two seconds off the state record, so the state record is what I really want to hit.”
If there is anyone in the state who can break that record besides Ackley, it’s probably Connor Burns of Southern Boone. Ackley was heavily favored to win the title last year, only for Burns to finish 1.1 seconds behind him.
Ackley said he struggled with motivation for most of the 2020 cross country season, but the surprisingly narrow finish has fixed that problem heading into his final campaign.
“Having him right there motivates me every day,” Ackley said. “I can’t back off because Connor is right there to take my spot at any moment.”
GIRLS TOP 10
1. Klarie Brown, Kickapoo 19:06.19
2. Alicen Ashley, Nixa 19:11.08
3. Lilah Genel, Parkview 19:19.48
4. Riley Arnold, Blue Eye 19:24.24
5. Milhane Nambara, Republic 19:26.13
6. Abigail Street, Webb City 19:44.70
7. Isabella Frost, Rolla 20:05.20
8. Riley Hawkins, Webb City 20:07.24
9. Elizabeth Kitchin, Ozark 20:14.90
10. Kiersten Potter, Lamar 20:18.63
BOYS TOP 10
1. Daelen Ackley, El Dorado Springs 15:46.61
2. Tyler Harris, Kickapoo 15:53.17
3. Tanner Talley, New Covenant Academy 15:57.97
4. Nathanael Pohlsander, Rolla 16:05.14
5. Grant Musick, Kickapoo 16:12.78
6. Gabriel Bauer, Ozark 16:15.09
7. Brooklyn Creehan, Kickapoo 16:25.77
8. Cale Thiessen, Bolivar 16:29.72
9. Hobbs Campbell, Joplin 16:35.06
10. Evan Matlock, Joplin 16:35.64
