The West Plains boys claimed the Ozark Conference team track title for the fourth consecutive year on Wednesday as the Zizzers got help from everywhere on the roster.
“There was a huge effort on everybody’s part,” West Plains head coach Joe Bill Dixon said. “We have got good kids that are willing to run beyond what their specialty is and compete. The whole team put out a big effort. I have the best bunch of assistant coaches that you could ever think of. We feel real grateful and happy to have won the Ozark Conference four times in a row.”
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One of those key pieces was senior Henry Eldringhoff who won the 110-meter hurdles and pole vault and finished runner-up in the 300-meter hurdles.
The win in the 110’s was especially impressive as he did it out of lane three.
“(The only thing going) through my mind is that I have to get points for my team. I wanted that four-peat for the seniors,” Eldringhoff said. “I am a really competitive person. If I am not out front I am really frustrated honestly.”
Eldringhoff won the race in a time of 15.31 which was just ahead of Kickapoo’s Maverick McGee.
He cleared 13-feet in the pole vault to take that title. In the 300 hurdles, he posted a season-best time of 40.81 to finish runner-up. Kickapoo’s Adrian Davis threw down a 40.33 to lower his season-best and post the area’s third-fastest time in the event.
The Zizzers also picked up wins from Chase Riley (high jump), Noah Friend (discus and runner-up in shot put) and Alex Ugbah (long jump). Ugbah just recently returned to the track from an injury he picked up on the soccer field. He jumped 22’08 to win the long jump. The leap is the area’s third best on the season.
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Now the Zizzers will turn their focus to getting back on the podium as a team. It is a quest that starts a week from Saturday with the district meet.
“We are going to take a minute to reflect and celebrate, but we have a tough district ahead of us. We are going to keep on getting ready for the next meet also,” Dixon said.
Kickapoo girls step up
Most track meets are focused on the individuals with team success being a byproduct. League meets throw that out the window as the onus is placed on scoring for your team; sometimes at the expense of individual personal bests.
“This is the one that we try to win. All of the others we are working on individualizing and getting individuals better,” Kickapoo head coach Jeremy Goddard said. “Allison Bailey has run one or two events each meet because the focus is her development and putting her in the right place to run the right times. When we come here we don’t care how fast she runs; go get us points. There is pressure and they rise to it and that is a credit to them.”
The Kickapoo girls rose to that challenge by edging out Joplin for the team title.
Some of the biggest points of the day came in the final high jump event.
“Definitely our high jumpers (stepped up). That event is so hit-and-miss so you have to be on at the right time. Madison (Bowles) matched her best jump ever and Jordan (Sanders) has never cleared 4’10 in a meet and she jumped 5’2 to get second.”
Those 18 points proved to be critical, but they were far from the only athletes who stepped up in a big way.
Allison Long had yet to break the 17-foot barrier in the long jump, but went 17’02 to finish third in the event. Bowles was seeded in the double digits but was able to make finals and score a point in the event. Olivia Hall is battling an injury, but was able to complete the 3200-meter run to pick up two more points for the Lady Chiefs.
Bailey was a key as well for the Chiefs as she won both the 400 and 800 and anchored the 1600 and 3200-meter relays to matching fifth-place finishes.
The Kickapoo standout is the state’s top 800-meter runner regardless of class and one of the top 400-meter runners, but she kept things in check today in her individual events running below her top-end potential.
“It is kind of hard, but we were preparing me for this all week. Going for a time wasn’t my job today. I knew all of my races today were for my team,” Bailey said.
Normally she only runs two events, but the conference meet called for her to step in a run four.
“Since I wasn’t going for times today and it was more of a drawn out meet it (running four events) wasn’t too much of a toll,” Bailey said. “It was a little more difficult, but I handled it pretty well I would say.”
Bailey posted times of 58.27 and 2:24.21 in her wins in the 400 and 800.
Savage continues to emerge
It is hard to miss Hillcrest junior Erik Savage when he is on the track running the 200 and 400, and that is by design.
“That is why I wear the glasses and the (speed suit). I want to let people know that I am here and they better come get me because I am going to be running,” Savage said.
On Wednesday, he ran to titles in the 400 and 200 on a day with a vicious cross-wind.
“I run at Parkview all the time. I have run here more than at Hillcrest, so I have run in these conditions before so it was like any other normal day,” Savage said. “I just know that first 100 you have to keep your head down and the last 150 you have to keep your eyes up and be aware of who is around you.”
He broke the tape in the 400 in a time of 51.33 to win by more than a second.
Savage, who missed all of last track season due to injury, saved his best for the 200 where he blazed a time of 22.11 to win the event and post the second-fastest time the area has seen regardless of class this season. It is also the second-fastest time in Class 4 to this point in the season.
Injury doesn’t slow Wormek
Camdenton’s Grace Wormek is battling back from a groin injury and is still not 100-percent, but that didn’t stop her from winning both the 100 and 200 on Wednesday.
“It is a lot of weight. I always feel like I am under so much pressure. I have to perform to the best of my abilities even though sometimes I don’t want to,” Wormek said.
Wormek broke the tape in a time of 12.86 and 26.59 to win each event. Hillcrest’s Whitney Williams was the runner-up in both events. She was able to finish second despite running in the slowest of three heats in the 200.
The Camdenton sophomore will now focus on the stretch run as she tries to better her 11th place finish in the 100-meter dash at state a year ago.
“I am ranked second or third I believe at state, so I am just hoping to push farther than I did last year and make it past day one of state,” Wormek said.
