By Josh Hall
CAMDENTON – Despite winning the Ozark Conference track and field meet four consecutive years, the West Plains boys team went into the event on Friday feeling like underdogs.
The Zizzers are young. They lost several core members from last year’s squad. And they don’t have a lot of depth.
With a target on their back and the odds stacked against them, the Zizzers rose to the occasion to win their fifth consecutive OC title.
“I kind of felt like we were the underdog,” West Plains coach Greg Dixon said. “Some of these kids kind of overachieved today.”
CLICK HERE FOR PHOTOS OF THE BOYS OZARK CONFERENCE TRACK AND FIELD MEET
That’s okay with Dixon. He just hopes there is more to come.
“We’re just going to have to keep plugging and fighting and improving… and hopefully try to peak at the right time to put ourselves in a good position,” Dixon said.
West Plains finished with 117 points. Joplin was second at 109, Waynesville took third with 106 and Kickapoo finished fourth with 101 points.
The meet ended in an nontraditional fashion. At the conclusion of the meet, there was a 30-minute delay to re-run the boys’ 100-meter dash due to a timing issue.
The odds were in favor of West Plains coming away with the gold at that time, but Keegan Hopes had to finish better than eighth to secure the win for the Zizzers.
“As soon as (the officials) told me that, my adrenaline definitely kicked in,” Hopes said.
He came through with a sixth-place finish. And a big smile on his face when it was all over.
“We said, you can’t false start,” Dixon said. “You’ve got to beat a couple people to give us a shot. He was just poised and did what he was supposed to do.
CLICK HERE FOR COMPLETE RESULTS OF THE MEET
“Everyone stepped up and did there job. That’s what we ask them to do.”
Ben Stasney gave the Zizzers what they needed with a first-place finish in the 800 meters and a second-place finish in the 1,600. Stasney was also part of West Plains’ 4×800 relay team that took first.
“Feels great,” Stasney said. “It’s good to know you worked really hard for something and then you finally achieve it. There’s nothing like it. Very new team this year. Lots of freshmen and sophomores. Not a lot of returners, not a lot of big hitters or anything like that. But we had a lot of people step up.
“As a team, winning this, it’s a big confidence builder. This is a good one to win.”
Jacob McCrackin helped pace the Zizzers by finishing third in the 800- and 1,600 meters. He was also part of the winning 4×800-meter relay team.
Senior Jay Talton took first in the high jump and long jump for West Plains, which suffered major damage to its track last week due to flooding.
“We knew what we had to do, and now we know where we stand,” Talton said. “Usually we’re one of the top-ranked schools. Until now, we were kind of an underdog.”
Jacob Hill of Camdenton took the gold in the 100- and 200-meter dashes.
Adrean Davis of Kickapoo was first in the 300-meter hurdles and second in the 110-meter hurdles, behind teammate Mavercik McGee.
Luke Miller of Glendale was first in the 3,200, just ahead of teammate Nicholas Ondr. Miller reached out to give Ondr a celebrational high-five as they crossed the finish line.
