By Riley Bean
Lamar, MO – In just the second year of the program’s existence, the Liberal boys’ and girls’ cross country team both won first place at their district meet in Lamar on Saturday.
“This is just our second year of cross country at Liberal and so we had a group that had shown that they had that desire to get out on the road and run and work hard,” said Bulldogs XC coach Don Kentner. “It doesn’t surprise me that they got here, but it surprised me that they got here this fast.”
CLICK HERE FOR CLASS 1, DISTRCIT 4 XC PHOTOS
Senior Alexys Barton won the individual district championship with a time of 21:11.76, nearly 45 seconds faster than the second-place finisher. Barton placed fourth at the Class 1 state meet a year ago and is looking for a repeat performance in her senior season.
“I was just ecstatic,” she said after Saturday’s race. “I was so happy that we could bring both teams on to state. It was a good day.”
“She’s always been the leader of the team, even for the boys,” Kentner said of Barton. “We have one coach for both teams and we practice together and we work together, so what it developed into was that the boys would push her and she’d be pushing some of the boys. So it’s really been a relationship that has made both teams better having her around. She knows what kind of work it takes to be a champion.”
Caitlyn Budd finished sixth and Mary Bean finished seventh for Liberal behind Barton in the top ten. Cailee Lake (11th place), Kennedy King-Butler (17th place), Karleigh McClendon (32nd place) and Megan Short (33rd place) will all make the bus ride to Jefferson City next Saturday for the MSHSAA state meet.
Blue Eye will join the Liberal girls at the state meet, coming in second place as a team with 55 points. The top two teams in each race advance to the state meet.
In the boys’ race, Jayden Dalby and Tyler Stebbins finished eighth and ninth, respectively, representing the top finishers for Liberal. The Bulldogs earned 49 team points, ahead of Galena (71), McAuley Catholic (75) and Blue Eye (76).
“On Thursday, I told them my expectation is we are going to bring home two first-place plaques,” said Kentner. “With this group, what I’ve found is the more you ask for, the more you get. They really respond when you start pushing them.”
The individual champion in the boys’ race is McAuley Catholic senior Max Ostmeyer, who finished the race in 18:23.89.
“All these four years of work just came together,” said Ostmeyer. “It means something to me to finish up my career with a district championship.”
Ostmeyer has made it to Jeff City each of his four years as a cross country runner.
“I’m a little anxious for it, but excited,” he said. “I’m trying to get top ten. Anything up there will be good. But I’ll just try to finish as fast as I can and just do my best.”
CLICK HERE FOR FULL C1D4 BOYS RESULTS
CLICK HERE FOR FULL C1D4 GIRLS RESULTS
Class 1 Team Qualifiers
Boys – Liberal (49), Galena (71)
Girls – Liberal (38), Blue Eye (55)
Class 1 Remaining Individual Qualifiers
Boys
1. Max Ostmeyer, McAuley Catholic, 18:23.89
2. Evan Smith, Chadwick, 18:43.38
3. Ethan Webb, Blue Eye, 19:10.64
4. Sean Lowry, Wheaton, 19:12.34
5. Adin Hiebsch, School of the Ozarks, 19:18.04
7. Chris Lemp, Blue Eye, 19:41.27
10. Domenick Blanchette, McAuley Catholic, 19:49.84
11. Marek Smith, Wheaton, 19:51.16
14. Hayden Howard, Jasper, 19:58.32
15. Gavin Herd, Chadwick, 20:02.25
Girls
2. Autumn Alden, School of the Ozarks, 22:56.55
4. Olivia Fowler, School of the Ozarks, 24:02.22
5. Austin Flake, Thomas Jefferson, 24:09.10
8. Courtney Bates, McAuley Catholic, 24:26.81
10. Brittany King, Wheaton, 24:34.59
13. Elaine Moran, McAuley Catholic, 25:13.02
14. Annika Anzjon, Jasper, 25:24.54
15. Jaden Moore, Thomas Jefferson, 25:36.20
