By Amanda Perkins & Chris Parker
It was a history-making day in the Class 5 girls cross country race on Friday.
Entering the race, southwest Missouri had not won an individual cross country title in the biggest girls’ classification since Allison Medlin won the Class 4 (when there were only four classes) championship in 1995.
30 years later, Joplin’s Ava Doll broke that streak.
The senior executed a near-perfect race to run 18:06.4 and win the Class 5 individual title.
“It means so much,” Doll said. “I couldn’t be more grateful for it. I didn’t expect it coming in. I know I had so many supporters from the area that I didn’t want to disappoint, but I knew whatever happened, they were going to be proud of me.”
Doll planned to either take the lead or stick with the leader early, but a blistering early pace forced a change of plans.
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“Going in I thought I was going to either have to take the lead or sit on the lead,” Doll said. “Then it was a change of plans, and they went out way faster.”
At the kilometer mark, Doll was in fourth place a full eight seconds behind the leader. From there, she went to work.
Doll remained with the chase pack at the two-kilometer mark now just two seconds back of the leader. By the third kilometer, Doll and Cor Jesu’s Mary Mckenzie were out alone with Mckenzie leading the race over Doll by two seconds. Doll was up six seconds on third place.
At the four-kilometer, Doll was almost stride-for-stride with Mckenzie and 18 seconds clear of second place.
The Joplin senior closed her final kilometer in 3:46.9 to pull away for a four-second victory.
Even with the relatively comfortable margin for the final meters, Doll was still pushing like it was neck and neck.
“I am going to be honest I thought she was right there. I knew (kicking) was not my strong suit. I gave everything that I had. I honestly couldn’t feel anything at that point,” Doll said. ““It was crazy. I couldn’t see anything, but I looked up and I saw that camera and I saw her behind me and it gave me (an) extra (boost).”
Doing something that hasn’t been done in 30 years requires some belief. For Doll, the belief was always there but really manifested with a strong showing at the Chile Pepper XC Festival in Fayetteville.
“I believed that I could do it coming into the season, but since Chile Pepper I really saw what is was capable of,” Doll said. “That gave me the boost (knowing) that I have trained for this. I have put these 50-mile weeks. I am ready.”
The other piece of history came from the Webb City girls. Webb City, the third-smallest school in Class 5, ran an incredible final kilometer as a team to vault into second place in the team race to claim the program’s first team trophy and southwest Missouri’s first trophy in the biggest class of girls’ cross country since 2010.
“Coming in we were ranked fourth and we knew we were running really well,” Webb City head coach Dustin Miller said. “We thought we had a shot at the podium. In my previous experience, we have had a lot of close calls and not gotten there, so I love the way they were prepared mentally and physically. They were relaxed and having fun with each other. We were fifth at the one kilometer, and I loved how relaxed we were and then we moved up to fourth. We knew those teams in front of us were great. We were sitting in fourth and it was just ‘keep fighting for each other’. We watched the finish last year, and we weren’t very proud of our effort at the finish. The last three weeks we have been talking about that girl who is right there might be the difference between standing on the podium or standing on the sideline. I put a lot of pressure on them, but they responded very well and ran for each other. I love this group.”
The finish tells the whole story.
Entering the final kilometer, Webb City was in fourth place with 139 points trailing second by 35 points and third by 20 points.
In that final kilometer, Webb City moved up six spots as a team in the standings while the other two dropped a combined 39 spots. When it was all tallied, Blue Springs South won with 87 points followed by Webb City with 133, Eureka with 135 and St. Teresa’s with 137.
“They ran for each other and they ran tight,” Miller said. “We talked about not getting washed out at the beginning. Who cares about anybody else, just do our thing and fight for each other.”
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Senior Brooke Hedger once again led the way for Webb City with a fifth place finish in a time of 18:33.5.
“She set new standards for our program,” Miller said. “She leads. She is humble in her approach. She is dedicated. She is a warrior.”
Araceli Perez placed 18th in a time of 19:04.0 to earn a medal.
The 3-4-5 runners ran as a team with Brooke Collard (52nd – 19:53.9), Emma McKinzie (56th – 19:55.2) and Olivia Klotz (19:55.8) all moving up over the final kilometer.
The trophy means a lot for the Cardinals to be able to accomplish big things with a small enrollment compared to the competition.
“We feel like we are against the giants knowing we have to be perfect on this level because the teams are so great,” Miller said. “They didn’t throw a fit about not being in Class 4 they just buckled down and got after it and had a big day today.”
Ozark (14th) and Nixa (15th) also represented the area in the team competition. Ozark’s Sydney Lister placed 10th in a time of 18:51.4 to lead the Tigers and earn an all-state finish.
Branson’s Alexis Carter took 24th in 19:11.3 to also earn an all-state finish.
Glendale senior Lincoln Crews paced the area in the boys’ Class 5 competition, taking 10th overall in a time of 15:42.0.
He was focused solely on placing well entering the race.
“It was to go out and hold on,” Crew said. “(I didn’t) worry about the time or worry about how fast I got out and just try to get out and hold onto the race. I fell apart a little at the two-kilometer, but I stayed with the bottom five (of the top 10) well. I lost my positioning right at the end, but I held onto the top 10. I was seeded somewhere in the top 10 and that is what I was trying to stick to.”
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Crews credits a new outlook on his training with helping him jump into the top 10 as a senior.
“I think it was changing how I was looking at my training,” Crews said. “I upped my mileage and changed my mindset on my training to enable myself to run times I haven’t and get places I haven’t. I think overall just mentally training and trusting my coaches and really wanting to work hard is what the big change was.”
Kickapoo, paced by Gavin Blaine in 12th place (15:45.1) finished fifth as a team. Nixa, led by Reyes Martinez in 13th place (15:47.6) placed ninth as a team.
