By Dana Harding (For OzarksSportsZone.com)
SPRINGFIELD, MO – Monday’s first-ever Ozark Mountain Conference track and field championships benefitted from near-perfect weather and stellar performances across the board.
The West Plains boys and Branson girls took home team honors from the meet, held at Springfield’s JFK Stadium.
BOYS DIVISION
While all seven schools in the newly-formed Ozark Mountain Conference have had to make some adjustments, it didn’t take West Plains long to assert themselves at the top of the boys division standings.
The Zizzers amassed a whopping 170 points on the day, followed by Branson (117 points) and Logan-Rogersville (115 points).
West Plains head coach Greg Dixon talked about the strategy adjustments preparing for a new conference full of new rival schools.
“It’s a smaller conference than what we were used to,” Dixon said. “So now you don’t have as many people spreading those points out like in the Ozark Conference when we were there with 10 teams. You’ve got the big schools like Kickapoo and Waynesville – and all those Class 5 schools that have really elite performers in certain events that kind of spread things out.
“I was a little bit more concerned about it being a smaller meet. It’s not that there haven’t been great performances here by the schools in this new conference. It’s just that, when you have less teams, the points become a little bit more important. And so that was a little bit of a challenge trying to figure out, are we going to pull this kid out of this one and put them in something else we feel like they can make some points?”
PHOTOS: TRACK EVENTS – CLICK HERE
Make some points is exactly what West Plains did on Monday.
Junior Jaxon Hunter helped the Zizzers jump out to a fast start with a pair of first-place finishes and new school records in shot put (16.80 meters) and discus (51.26 meters).
“(Hunter) was kind of a little bit more relaxed today than he’s been,” Dixon said. “We talked about it before we came this week – we’re not worried about performances. We’re worried about place. Because any time you’re trying to get points for a team title, it’s more about the place. I think that maybe just relaxed him a little bit. We knew he had it in him, but he hit two big marks today and two school records.”
To no one’s surprise, West Plains also dominated in the distance events.
Seniors Carson King (4:24.02/9:50.83) and Kyler Gunter (4:27.71/10:02.78) swept the top two spots in both the 1600- and 3200-meter runs.
“Kyler and Carson going one-two at just about everything in the distance – that’s obviously huge,” Dixon said. “18 points every time out.”
A surprise for Dixon occurred in the relays, with the Zizzers capturing three of the four events (4×100/4×200/4×800).
“Our 4×100 team ran our fastest time of the year today,” Dixon said. “We’ve run in the Jim Vaughn meet with the big, big schools and everything, and they kind of did it in their lane by themselves – so that’s very encouraging. Didn’t anticipate that today. That’s not something that we were looking for. We were looking for a place, but the time happened, and so we’re always excited about those things.”
Before Cameron Miller helped West Plains win the 4×100 and 4×200 relays, the freshman won the 100-meter dash with a time of 10.97.
For Dixon, it was all a result of a plan coming together and everyone doing their part to help the team achieve its goals.
“We just talked about our game plan before we came in. You know, everybody not trying to do anything big today, but just hitting their performances and doing their job and each of their events,” Dixon said. “We talked heavily with our number twos today – we want you to try to scratch out points, whether you’re in a slower heat or something like that. And just felt like all of our kids came and executed our game plan very well.”
GIRLS DIVISION
The girls division featured a competitive, four-school race, with Branson, Carl Junction, Marshfield and West Plains trading places throughout the afternoon as events were officially added to the scoring system.
A late surge helped Branson capture the inaugural title with a 173-point finish.
Carl Junction (138 points), Marshfield (135 points) and West Plains (133 points) rounded out the top four.
A key element in Branson’s victory proved to be Alexis Carter’s dominant performance in the middle distance events.
The Pirate freshman posted victories in the 1600 (5:09.30), 800 (2:21.54) and 4×400 relay. Carter added additional points to Branson’s stockpile with a runner-up finish in the 400.
PHOTOS: FIELD EVENTS – CLICK HERE
Branson head coach Kevin Blackwell praised his young runner’s performance on the day as part of an overall team effort in the win.
The Pirates’ 4×200 relay also recorded a first-place finish (Brooklyn Davis, Joree McBride, Elle Johnson and Adrienne Roberts), and its winning time of 1:46.67 set a new school record.
“Alexis Carter has done extremely well in the distance races,” Branson head coach Kevin Blackwell said. “She’s a competitor, and she’s awesome – she’s different. Our relay team broke our school record today and got first place. So, I mean, that was big. Just all our girls have stepped up today and done a really good job.”
Branson senior Kaedyn Pierce also claimed victory in the 100-meter hurdles (16.51), and both Adrienne Roberts and Emma Skoglund recorded personal bests in their respective events.
“Some of our kids ran PRs today that they didn’t think they could run, and so they hit marks that they hadn’t been close to who and who were those,” Blackwell said. “Adrienne Roberts ran 60 in the 400, and she’s been 1:03 all season – a PR by three seconds. Several other girls – just at the throws, our javelin thrower, PR, our shots. PR. You know everybody, PR, today, so, I mean, that gives them a big positive motivation going into districts that, hey, they can do this and they’re gonna be successful.”
