West Plains XC sweeps Ozark Conference titles

By Dana Harding (For OzarksSportsZone.com)

Springfield, Mo. — Even the rain can’t stop the Zizzers.

West Plains continued its tradition of cross country dominance at Saturday’s Ozark Conference cross country championships. Zizzers captured both girls and boys overall titles, placing three girls and four boys in the top five of each race.

The girls race featured a highly-anticipated showdown between Kaylee Hatley of West Plains and Rolla’s Emma Puetz. The fast-starting Puetz has made a habit of running away from competitors this season; however, the Zizzer runners were well prepared.

Hatley and McKenzie Bergman stuck right to Puetz’s hip for most of the race, with Hatley making her move in the final mile to win in 20:22.14.

CLICK HERE FOR PHOTOS OF THE GIRLS RACE

“The competition was fantastic,” Hatley said. “There’s a lot of credit that goes to [Puetz]. She had a lot of support and a lot of coaches. She ran with me for a long ways. I think I pulled away at that first uphill coming out of the jungle.”

Puetz finished in second with a time of 20:47.61, followed two more West Plains runners. Bergman and teammate Whitneigh Down finished third and fourth in 20:59.92 and 21.24.52, respectively. Joplin’s Laurel Singh rounded out the top five in 21:41.24.

With all five runners placing in the top 15, West Plains rolled to a first place finish. Zizzers head coach Alicia Gunter was pleased with her team’s bunch-race result, especially with light rain falling on the back half of the hilly, challenging course at Lake Springfield.

“We knew [Puetz] was a strong runner,” Gunter said. “And we try not to underestimate anybody, so we just wanted to be with the lead group, but not take the lead too early. Now, we just need to work on our 4-5 spots, and try to move them up a little bit for the state series.”

While the West Plains boys didn’t face the same competitive push at the front of the pack, Mother Nature stepped to offer up plenty of adversity.

A gusting downpour pummeled runners and course, alike, throughout the race; however, not even the rain could slow the Zizzer train.

Ben Stasney led a quartet of West Plains finishers across the line, finishing with a winning time of 16:51.30. Teammates Ethan Hutchinson, Jacob McCrackin and Caleb Boys followed closely behind in 16:57.46, 17:02.74 and 17:0718, and Glendale’s Nick Ondr rounded out the top five in 17:20.46.

“It started pouring down right as we began,” Stasney said. “Coach Dixon said if the weather gets bad, not to let it deter from our focus, and we didn’t. We just ran how we should have with the weather. We knew it’s not just affecting us, it’s everyone’s weather.”

CLICK HERE FOR PHOTOS OF THE BOYS RACE

West Plains head coach Joe Bill Dixon talked about the Lake Springfield course being a great tune-up for Jefferson City’s state championships.

“We like running this course,” Dixon said. “It’s very similar to the state course. We came in emphasizing fundamentals, and I thought we executed the downhills well. We try to run downhills as good, or better, than anyone else, and then we try to minimize the damage on the uphills.”

All eight schools will be back in action  Saturday, Oct. 21, as state series competition begins with the Class 4 District 5 meet held at Nixa.