By Dana Harding (For OzarksSportsZone.com)
The Lamar boys entered state weekend poised to win both team and individual titles, keyed by a dominant, one-two punch of senior Mark Venable and junior Kolin Overstreet.
While a trio of runners spoiled the individual plans, Venable and Overstreet managed to hold on under adverse conditions and finish in fourth and fifth place, respectively, according to head coach Rodney Baldridge.
Saxony Lutheran senior Caleb Cornelius won the race with a time of 16:22.55.
Overstreet, in particular, labored to the uphill finish; however, neither he nor Venable would yield his spot.
“I was most proud of Mark and Kolin,” Baldridge said. “They were hurting a lot, and they went out a little too fast, but they had it in their mind that they could not fall back and further, and they held their spots. Even though it wasn’t the one-two finish we were hoping for, the kids that beat them were extremely good.”
While Venable and Overstreet held ground, Lamar’s depth made up the difference with a pair of finishing sprints from its third and fourth runners.
Senior Garret Morey’s finishing kick helped him overcome three runners near the finish to come in ninth place, and freshman Ethan Pittsenbarger picked off another two in the final meters to finish 16th.
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“I’ve done this for the last four years,” Morey said. “Going up that last hill, there were a lot of people that I didn’t want to let down. I was just thinking, ‘this is the last 20 meters of my career, I see the finish line and I’m going to give it all I got.’”
Lamar bested runner-up Fatima in the team competition 48-61.
The Stockton boys joined Lamar on the podium in third, led by junior Bryson Coulter’s sixth-place finish (17:10.96).
The Tigers pulled off the surprising team finish with three substitute runners in freshman Justin Harrison, junior Luke Culbertson and sophomore Wyatt Colgrove, according to Stockton head coach T.J. Sanderson
“I think it comes down to the depth of our team,” Sanderson said. “We knew our top three guys were going to do what they did, but we had an unfortunate happening where three of our top seven weren’t able to race today, so our eight, nine and ten became our five, six and seven. For them to do what they did, was absolutely amazing.”
The area’s other top-25 finisher was Stockton junior Tyler Adams in 22nd place (17:40.98).
In the girls race, Fatima senior Brianna Haller notched her fourth-straight state cross country title, running away from her closest competitor on the final mile for an 18:50.44 finish.
The top area finisher was El Dorado Springs senior Ashley Knoll, who crossed in 13th place with a time of 20:47.90.
Knoll, who made a move on the challenging hill segments leading to the finish, found herself completely taxed on the final pop-up, known as Fireman’s Hill.
“I just wanted to be done,” Knoll said. “Can I just run that hill straight to the finish, or do I have to run all the way down just to climb back up to the finish? I’ve run this race quite a bit, so I kind of knew the routes to take. It’s just that hill on the third mile — as much as you try to prepare for it, it kills you every time.”
While Knoll finished strong in 13th place, the senior came into the race hoping for more.
“I didn’t finish as strong as I wanted,” Knoll said. “My goal was top five, and then I was running and like, maybe top ten. Then, I died coming up that hill and they got me at the end, there.”
Gainesville senior Aspyn Britt was the area’s only other top-25 finisher in 18th place (20:55.45).
Fatima ran away in the team competition with 45 points. College Heights Christian was the top area team in eighth place.
