Hollister, Mo. — Marshfield’s Tabi Weber and Springfield Catholic’s Stephen Kielhofner raced to comfortable victories Saturday in the Class 3, District 6 cross country championships at Hollister.
In the team competition, Carl Junction bested Catholic in the girls race, while Catholic held off Cassville in the boys event. All four teams will represent the Ozarks in next week’s state championship meet in Jefferson City.
Girls Race
Much like she’s done in most of her races this season, Weber wasted little time moving to the front of the pack to begin pushing a torrid pace on the rest of the field.
While the Marshfield senior wasn’t expected to have any challengers for the overall title, Weber’s eyes told a different story as she churned through the finishing stretch with a time of 18:44.22.
“We’ve been practicing a lot on our finishes lately,” Weber said. “So, I was just picturing the track workout that we did to help work with that. I really felt strong, and it really helped a lot.”
East Newton’s Kinsey Sorrell won a sprint finish for second place over Carl Junction’s Kaitlynn Franks. The finished in 19:20.80 and 19:22.35, respectively.
CLICK HERE FOR PHOTOS OF THE GIRLS RACE
Looking ahead to the next weekend’s state meet in Jefferson City, Weber is hoping to conquer a familiar course. In her previous three trips to state, Weber finished in 19:36 as a junior (7th place), 19:33 as a sophomore (10th place) and 19:30 as a freshman (6th place).
Weber feels a top-three finish is possible this year if she’s able to turn a personal best on the state course.
“Next week is going to take a lot of pushing myself,” Weber said. “I’ve been playing the course through my head lately and just really focusing on where I’ve struggled in the past, which is on the hills and maintaining after the hills. So, I’m really going to have to buckle down and just go, even when it’s hurting.”
In the team competition, Carl Junction placed all five runners in the top 20 to run away from the field.
Head coach Krista Otto pointed to the back half of her lineup, where a surprising finish from freshman Mayson Montez helped propel the Lady Bulldogs to the win.
“My fifth runner ran really well today,” Otto said. “We’ve kind of been working on getting her up there with the top four, and she did that today.”
With four freshmen on the team, Otto has taken steps to prepare her inexperienced squad for the state meet. Earlier in the season, Carl Junction participated in the Capital Challenge, which gave her runners valuable insight on what many consider a difficult, hilly course.
“I think being able to have already run the course was really good for them,” Otto said. “They’ve already seen it, so they know what to expect. I don’t do a lot of talking to hype it up too much. I just tell them to go out and do their best and, normally, that’s what they do.”
CLICK HERE FOR FULL RESULTS OF THE GIRLS RACE
Boys Race
Just as it was in the girls race, the boys event didn’t have a great deal of intrigue at the top of the standings. Springfield Catholic’s Stephen Kielhofner continued his dominant reign on area meets with a first-place finish of 15:48:72.
Last season’s Class 2 state champion, Kielhofner is looking forward to next week’s Class 3 meet, which will feature a hotly-contested overall title and a defending champion.
“That will definitely be Ste. Genevieve and Ben Naeger,” Kielhofner said. “I’ve not been able to run against him yet, but seeing some of those times is definitely intimidating. We’ll see how that goes, but it’s going to be a good race, I think.”
CLICK HERE FOR PHOTOS OF THE RACE
Rogersville’s Matt McHenry and Jay Strausbaugh finished second and third with times of 16:57.7 and 17:13.7, respectively.
Kielhofner’s first-place finish also helped anchor Catholic’s run to the team title.
The Irish placed all five runners in the top 22 to outpace Cassville for the championship.
Catholic head coach Tom Gray discussed the importance of cutting down the gap between his lineup.
“We’ve had certain groups of kids that have had to run together to be successful,” Gray said. “We let Stephen do his thing, and then our two-three tend to run pretty close. Successful teams are the ones that can get down to about a minute between their first and their fifth guy in. We’ve struggled with that. Of course, Stephen, you have to throw him out and go from our second to our fifth guy. Nick [Palmer] made up that gap today, so that was part of the deal.”
