By Dana Harding (For OzarksSportsZone.com)
NIXA, MO – Life in the Ozarks has three proven certainties.
Death, taxes and West Plains cross country dominance.
The Zizzers showcased both talent and depth during Saturday’s Class 4 district meet by sweeping both the boys and girls overall team championships.
The boys, after placing all five runners in the top 12, rolled to the team title with 37 points.
Bolivar (60) finished second, while Springfield Central (102) and Washington (124) rounded out the state qualifiers.
West Plains captured the boys individual title, as well, when Joseph Roberson (15:58.95) outkicked Bolivar’s Maccaffrey Rich (16:03.84) down the stretch to pace the Zizzer victory.
Landen Young finished fourth in 16:05.41, and a three-man bunch of Hunter Stanley (16:47.67), Trevin Smith (16:22.52) and Chaska Shearin (16:23.16) took seventh through ninth places.
CLICK HERE FOR PHOTOS OF THE BOYS RACE
West Plains head coach Alica Gunter praised her team’s performance on the day, particularly Young for his team-first attitude early in the race, running alongside the other Zizzer runners to help position them for success.
“I’m super proud of that kid,” Gunter said of Roberson. “I asked him to run in the 3-4-5 position through the first mile, because I know he can come on strong. In the end, I didn’t expect him to come on quite that strong, but he played a selfless role. I needed him to help get my four and five in position before he left them, and he did exactly that.”
For Central and head coach Jake Burch, a team qualifier was a welcome surprise, especially with the school’s recent athletic issues, including the cancellation of football season earlier this fall.
While Central’s cross country team won a state title in 1951, the Bulldogs hadn’t qualified for the state meet as a team since the mid to late 90s and never at the Class 4 level, according to Burch.
“It’s really special, because the people inside the building know how hard these kids work,” Burch said. “They just want to be seen for their hard work and for who they are. It means so much that these kids have been working for several years to get where we were today, and they deserve everything – I just couldn’t be prouder.”
In the girls race, West Plains proved to be just as dominant.
While Union’s Viola Johanson won the individual title with a time of 18:13.47, the Zizzers placed all five runners in the top 15 to score 41 points in the team victory including freshman Kaebrynn Gunter’s runner-up finish – and 200-meter showdown with Johanson – at 18:14.60.
“Kaebrynn has shown nothing but guts the whole time she’s been on our team, but she’s a team player,” Coach Gunter said. “She’ll do anything I ask her to do in the race, and when we let her go, she goes as hard as she can and catches as many people as she can.”
CLICK HERE FOR PHOTOS OF THE BOYS RACE
Bolivar (92), Washington (101) and Rockwood Summit (124) all qualified for next week’s team competition in Columbia.
Karlee Romans (5th – 19:09.01), Emily Ritter (6th – 19:16.76), Lena Finke (19:43.67) and Emma Dixon (19:53.21) also helped pace the West Plains victory.
“That was kind of the plan,” Coach Gunter said concerning the tightly-bunched finishes. “Get our teammates into position in the first mile, and then just run hard and gutsy and fight like the devil for the second and third miles. So that’s what they did, exactly what I asked.”
With the state meet looming less than a week away, West Plains has high expectations for both teams.
“I’m kind of a weird coach,” Coach Gunter said. “I don’t focus on the other teams, as much. I just focus on my team, because there’s always a sleeper that shows up and gets on the podium, and we just got to be ready for everybody. You don’t want to ever underestimate anyone, so we’re going to take care of ourselves, do things right and, hopefully, that’s enough.”
AREA BOYS TEAM STATE QUALIFIERS
1. West Plains – 37
(Joseph Roberson, Hunter Stanley, Trevin Smith, Chaska Shearin, Blake Romans, Zion Barnett, Dylan Wade)
2. Bolivar – 60
(Maccaffey Rich, Landen Young, Thomas Henderson, Avery Wooderson, Andrew Hamann, Peyton Cole, Knox Vestal)
3. Springfield Central
(Ronald Timm, Jude Thomas, Dominik Quinn, Reilly Green, Trey Thomas, Justin Russell, Preston Stranghoener
4. Washington
AREA BOYS INDIVIDUAL QUALIFIERS
10. Landon Fawcett – Logan-Rogersville
16. Luke Webb – Camdenton
21. Henry Reeves – Parkview
29. Carter McGarrity – McDonald County
AREA GIRLS TEAM STATE QUALIFIERS
1. West Plains – 41
(Kaebrynn Gunter, Karlee Romans, Emily Ritter, Lena Finke, Emma Dixon, Seri King, Libby Hart)
2. Bolivar – 92
(Emma Howes, Michaela Young, Anna Roller, Sophia Stimpson, Adelyn Carrel, Eisley Scowden, Tessa Ludden)
3. Washington – 101
4. Rockwood Summit – 124
AREA GIRLS INDIVIDUAL QUALIFIERS
12. Rachel Lee – Central
14. Victoria Li – Central
16. Averie Hotle – Camdenton
19. Marissa Newman – Carl Junction
20. Caitlin Napton – Carl Junction
23. Maisie Rockne – Central
25. Payton Canales – Camdenton
26. Skylee Lamkey – Marshfield
27. Gracie Ulam – Camdenton
30. Kate Cheney – McDonald County
