SPRINGFIELD – While morning temperatures lingered in the 40s, it didn’t take long for the action to heat up at Wednesday’s Central Ozark Conference Track and Field Championships held at JFK Stadium.
The Nixa boys and Ozark girls squads each posted victories on the afternoon in the East Division team competition.
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BOYS EVENTS
Nixa rolled to a dominant victory with 224.5 points, besting Ozark (123.5) and Waynesville (122).
The Eagles posted individual victories in the 110m hurdles (Gedaliah Chepkondol – 15.40), 300m hurdles (Chepkondol – 39.24), 400m run (Morgan Thompson – 50.39), 800m run (Nicholas Flannery – 2:00.76), 3200m run (Reyes Martinez – 9:25.93), discus (Hayden Mays – 57.25m), shot put (Mays – 18.10m).
The team also captured wins in the 4x200m relay (Robert Adams, Jaren Davis, Chepkondol, Randy Flint – 1:26.96), 4x400m relay (Thompson, Roy Perez, Chepkondol, Nicholas Krueger – 3:22.61) and 4x800m relay (Martinez, Asher Coorts, Dylan Mabe, Flannery – 8:02.78).
Nixa head coach Lance Brumley was pleased with his team’s performance on the day, kicked off by the 4x800m victory.
“That was a fantastic race,” Brumley said. “I love to watch that race. It kind of sets the tone for the meet, and our kids competed really well. We had a great first leg right off the bat that put us in the hunt, and then we handed off in the lead every time. We traded the lead back and forth between Nixa, Ozark and Kickapoo, and it was a really great race.”
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Chepkondol kept the Nixa momentum rolling, winning the very next event on the track with a thrilling run in the 110m high hurdles.
“(Chepkondol) is a young man who was on the junior varsity team last year,” Brumley said. “I think he might have run a varsity race here and there, but he has really come on. Our hurdles coach, Richard Perez – who we’ve had for many years – has turned out some pretty good hurdlers. Currently, we’ve got the school record holder in the 100m hurdles for the girls (Alexandra Doulova – 14.89) and the 110m hurdles for the boys (Chepkondol – 14.94), and he’s coaching both of them.”
While Nixa runners were posting victories on the track, its throwers were simply competing on a different level outside the stadium.
The Eagles swept the top three spots in the discus and captured the top two places in the shot put.
Hayden Mays and Dylan Terry led the charge in both events, with William Wright rounding out the top three in discus.
“That was fantastic,” Brumley said of the throwing performances. “We went 1-2-3 in the discus with two seniors and a sophomore, so that was really good for them. Having Hayden Mays and Dylan Terry – two kids you can count on to score – really makes the track meet fun.”
While Nixa has postseason aspirations on both the individual and team competitions, Brumley acknowledged the conference meet as one of the biggest on the team’s schedule.
“We play (conference) up big – it’s in bold on our schedule,” Brumley said. “All the coaches talk it up with our kids, and our kids like to come here and compete against people they know. We’ve really tried to change our schedule up and travel out of the area to see some other competition, so it was fun to be here and compete against Springfield and these area schools.”
GIRLS EVENTS
The Nixa girls also enjoyed a banner day; however, the Eagles ran into a steamroller known as the Ozark girls program.
The Tigers posted a winning 233.5 score, besting Nixa (207) and Lebanon (87) for top honors.
Led by senior Bria Wright’s four first-place finishes, Ozark captured victories in the 100m hurdles (Wright – 15.09), 200m dash (Wright – 25.47 PB), 300m hurdles (Wright – 45.41), long jump (Wright – 5.43m), 400m run (Brooke Bowman – 58.97), 800m run (Sydney Lister – 2:17.61), 1600m run (Lister 5:08.25), 3200m run (Ellsie Estes – 11:41.26), javelin (Lola Kensinger – 40.71) and triple jump (Kensinger – 11.12m).
Ozark head coach Shawn Widel was quick to point out his team’s overall depth and significant number of contributors to the team’s overall total.
CLICK HERE FOR PHOTOS OF THE TRACK EVENTS
“When you look at all the events – all 19 events – we scored at all 19,” Widel said. “I haven’t looked yet to see how many of those we had champions in, but we had multiple medalists and, in every single event, our group contributed. That’s a testament to not only the girls, but to each of the coaches from those event groups.”
While Ozark has a considerable amount of depth, it also has standout performers on the top end in Wright, Kensinger and Lister. The three athletes accounted for 92 of the team’s 233.5 points.
“We have a top group of girls that contribute a lot of points,” Widel said. “But then we also have the ones to come in behind and fill in to make our team solid. With just those top end girls, I don’t think we beat Nixa. It takes all of the others to really put that big of a team score together.”
Like others before him, Widel also considers it a point of pride to win a COC team title in one of the state’s most competitive conferences from top to bottom.
“This is a team event, and we’re always trying to win as a team,” Widel said. “Especially for southwest Missouri, these are the best sports schools in the highest class. For the most part, I think everyone here might be Class 5, and for us to be able to showcase our girls program here – it’s awesome, and it tells you how deep our athletes are at Ozark.”
