By Chris Parker

Fordland sweeps Class 1 District 2 cross country titles

By Michael Cignoli (For OzarksSportsZone.com)

CLEVER — Fordland narrowly swept the team titles at the Class 1 District 2 cross country meet on Saturday morning, with its boys and girls teams winning by a combined 10 points.

The boys finished with a meet-low 99 points to hold off Dadeville (103) and College Heights Christian (105), securing the first district championship in team history.

Only 45 minutes later, Fordland’s girls scored 55 to hold off Liberal (61) Bakersfield (64) and Marion C. Early (65) to secure their third such title under head coach Becky Haynes.

By winning the district championships, both Fordland teams qualified for the Class 1 state championship meet that will be held next Saturday in Columbia. The top 30 individual boys and girls finishers also qualified for the state meet, as did the top four teams in each race.

“We’ve gone to state the last two years for the boys team, but not in first place,” Haynes said. “It’s a pretty big thing for Fordland.”

The Eagles accomplished it on an exceptionally muddy Clever High School course that wasn’t conducive to fast times or new personal records. Their only goal was to finish ahead of the other teams.

“We were kind of the underdogs on MileSplit,” Haynes said, referencing the website that tracks runners’ times throughout the season. “We were about 30 points out behind (College Heights Christian’s boys) and we’ve been talking all week about it. We looked up what color their uniforms are. Who do we need to be looking for? Everybody had a really good race.”

Each of Fordland’s five boys were among the top 34 overall finishers, but several schools didn’t have full five-person teams and their finishes didn’t count toward the team score.

So 11th-place Khristian Sommerfield led the Eagles with eight points, while Caleb Uchtman (25th, 19), Kaydin Kindall (28th, 22) Jack Coursey (31st, 24) and Andrew Jones (34th, 26) rounded out the scoring as the Eagles were nearly perfect in their execution.

“We had one guy a little off today, but a couple of the other guys really picked up and took his spot,” Haynes said. “They were all about the team today. There was nothing individual today. It was all about getting the whole team (to Columbia) and getting a No. 1 today.”

Only five schools fielded full five-person teams in the girls race. Less than half of the top 40 individual finishers were on teams, leading to often significant score adjustments.

The Eagles didn’t initially think they had won based on where their runners finished in the pack, but wound up on top of the leaderboard once the full results were posted.

“We had been doing research and we knew who did have a team,” Haynes said. “(Marion C. Early) came out really strong with their top runners, but then their back runners weren’t as strong. It kind of surprised us when we got everybody across the finish and we won.”

Emma Trotter crossed the line in 9th place and scored four points, while Tessa Feeback was in 19th and scored eight. Kayce Collins (24th, 10), Justine Justice (34th, 14) and Samantha Collier (40th, 19) all helped the Eagles emerge atop a field with three other teams within 10 points of them.

Both teams have several multi-sport athletes that also play either volleyball or baseball in the fall. That has made practicing difficult, but the end result made it all worthwhile.

“We’ve had to do a lot in a small amount of time with our practice,” Haynes said. “Our school schedule went earlier this year, so practice was shorter. We’ve had to run some after school with less athletes. We’ve just really had to work around a lot of things this year, but the kids made it work.”

Plato’s David Held and Marion C. Early’s Miya Bess won the individual titles, cruising to victories by decisive margins.

Held won the boys race in 16 minutes, 46.99 seconds — about 46 seconds clear of Thomas Jefferson’s Kip Atteberry. That was still slower than Held hoped to finish, though the terrain didn’t help that.

“I was going to relax for the first mile and then see what happened,” Held said. “But I just wanted to take the lead.”

Bess, a freshman who also plays softball for the Panthers, was only able to run in three other races this year. But she took the lead near the end of the second mile and never looked back, finishing in 21 minutes, 11.93 seconds — roughly 26 seconds faster than her closest competitor.

“I was just making sure she had no chance of passing me,” Bess said. “That’s what’s been my problem during all the races that I’ve had. There’s always been someone behind me that eventually made it past me.”

BOYS STATE QUALIFIERS

1. David Held (Plato), 16:46.99
2. Kip Atteberry (Thomas Jefferson), 17:32.33
3. Gavin Duchscherer (Marion C. Early), 17:42.11
4. Landon Duchscherer (Marion C. Early), 17:42.24
5. Colton Ellingsworth (Galena), 17:43.10
6. Calen Faucett (Crane), 18:09.29
7. Reid Goodman (Dadeville), 18:15.49
8. Cade Nold (Dora), 18:15.51
9. Titus Thompson (School of the Ozarks), 18:24.77
10. Michael Parrigon (McAuley Catholic), 18:31.18
11. Khristian Sommerfeld (Fordland), 18:45.25
12. Phillip Motazedi (McAuley Catholic), 18:45.33
13. Cameron Sartin (Galena), 18:51.03
14. Mason Bean (Bakersfield), 18:51.49
15. Zachery Ellis (Marion C. Early), 18:54.50
16. Rolen Sanderson (College Heights Christian), 18:57.12
17. Derrick McMillan (College Heights Christian), 18:59.37
18. Leland Harris (Jasper), 19:01.13
19. Ben Smith (Norwood), 19:02.36
20. Brayden Garver (Dadeville), 19:03.42
21. Shadrach Thompson (School of the Ozarks), 19:09.55
22. Blake Morgan (Wheaton), 19:12.02
23. Owen Kenig (Wheatland), 19:12.67
24. Carson Little (Greenwood), 19:13.39
25. Caleb Uchtman (Fordland), 19:14.64
26. Chad Carey (Bakersfield), 19:17.07
27. Bailey McGill (Dadeville), 19:17.58
28. Kaydin Kindall (Fordland), 19:19.64
29. Caleb Quade (College Heights Christian), 19:20.81
30. Gabe Foster (Fair Play), 19:22.26

BOYS TEAM SCORES

1. Fordland*, 99
2. Dadeville*, 103
3. College Heights Christian*, 105
4. Marion C. Early*, 118
5. Galena, 142
6. Bakersfield, 147
T-7. McAuley Catholic, 149
T-7. School of the Ozarks, 149
9. Wheatland, 151
10. Dora, 220
11. Wheaton, 253
12. Liberal, 307

No other team had at least five runner

* State Qualifier

GIRLS STATE QUALIFIERS

1. Miya Bess (Marion C. Early), 21:11.93
2. Gretchen House (Chadwick), 21:37.79
3. Raeleigh Little (Chadwick), 21:47.57
4. Addison Ratliff (Weaubleau), 21:56.54
5. Abby Barton (Liberal), 22:12.84
6. Emma Martin (Dora), 22:19.65
7. Libby Lakey (Dadeville), 22:19.92
8. Kendall Ramsey (McAuley Catholic), 22:21.53
9. Emma Trotter (Fordland), 22:25.54
10. Alexis Loveland (Chadwick), 22:29.46
11. Taylor Swarnes (Liberal), 22:41.71
12. Lakeisha Wise (Wheaton), 22:42.92
13. Maci Doak (Galena), 22:43.50
14. Autumn Nold (Dora), 22:54.49
15. Madison Garren (Sheldon), 22:59.33
16. Nautica Smith (Bakersfield), 23:04.55
17. Sarah Mueller (Thomas Jefferson), 23:07.73
18. Cali Frogley (Hurley), 23:31.05
19. Tessa Feeback (Fordland), 23:36.82
20. Quana Alaimo (Greenwood), 23:39.51
21. Olivia Moss (Jasper), 23:46.70
22. Macie Shifferd (Thomas Jefferson), 23:57.61
23. Callie Smith (Bakersfield), 24:16.91
24. Kayce Collins (Fordland), 24:31.47
25. Nyah Dogwiler (Greenwood), 24:32.73
26. Lydia Smith (Norwood), 24:39.79
27. Gretchen Zastrow (Bakersfield), 24:43.70
28. Mia Grubbs (Thomas Jefferson), 24:47.52
29. Brinlee McKinney (Marion C. Early), 24:50.45
30. Lori McNeill (Wheaton), 24:53.64