By Dana Harding (For OzarksSportsZone.com)
Bolivar, Mo. — A pair of seniors raced to statement wins at Saturday’s Southwest Cross Country Coaches Association meet, held at the Bolivar Municipal Golf Course.
Ozark’s Alexis Barber and Glendale’s Nick Ondr each pulled away from the field in the final mile to take top honors in the season-opener.
With 174 runners spanning a 34-box starting gate in the girls’ event, the 300-meter sprint to the first turn is a critical component in any overall race strategy.
Barber’s plan was no exception.
“That first part is a long start,” Barber said. “We kind of talked about it before; we thought it was important to get out hard so we had a good position in the beginning and then, once we got past the long start and turn, we made it a point to keep that pace through the first mile. By the two-mile, a lot of people started dying off.”
PHOTOS: GIRLS RACE – CLICK HERE — RESULTS: GIRLS RACE – CLICK HERE
Along with twin sister, Brocklyn, the Ozark senior successfully navigated the opening segment and settled in behind Carl Junction senior Maegen Derfelt, who maintained a comfortable lead throughout the first half of the race.
The Barbers remained in close proximity, knowing a strong move in the last mile could put them in an ideal position. Once again, Alexis kept the pace ramped up as the pair closed in on Derfelt with Carl Junction freshman Alaza Montez lurking just behind.
“We wanted to maintain a solid pace from the beginning,” Barber said. “At the two-mile, we passed the Carl Junction girl and pulled away in the last mile.”
As the race finale unfolded, the Ozark twins raced to the line unchallenged.
Alexis finished in 19:43.64, while Brocklyn crossed moments later in 19:59.36. Montez finished third with a time of 20:13.24.
The duo was surprised by the victory; however, both attributed the strong finish to hard junior campaigns in both cross country and track.
“We trained hard in track, and I think we’re starting to see it pay off,” Alexis Barber said. “It takes almost a season and a half to see some of your work pay off, and it was really cool today to see that. We weren’t expecting this.”
While the 2017 boys’ race was simply a question of who would finish second behind Webb City standout Ryan Riddle, graduation left the field wide open.
Glendale’s Nick Ondr seized the moment and delivered the surprise of the day with an impressive burst down the finishing stretch to capture his first cross country victory.
“Going in, I didn’t actually think I was going to do that well,” Ondr said. “All I knew was that, in all my other races in the past, I just always tried to get out front and then hang on for as long as I can.”
While Ondr got out to a respectable start heading into the first corner, he trailed a host of other runners led by Joplin sophomore Micah Bruggeman.
As more runners moved around him early in the race, the senior refused to panic as he continued grinding away at his own pace.
PHOTOS: BOYS RACE – CLICK HERE — RESULTS: BOYS RACE – CLICK HERE
“I started getting passed by people around a mile and a half,” Ondr said. “And then, they just started coming back to me and I started realizing that, maybe, I could win this.”
Bruggeman eventually yielded his lead to Webb City junior Haddon Spikereit before getting passed by Ondr shortly before the three-mile mark.
At that point, only one obstacle stood between the Glendale runner and the finish line wearing the same uniform Ondr had spent his entire high school career chasing.
“When I passed the Joplin kid, I was like, ‘We’ve got to go catch Webb City,’” Ondr said. “I could see [Spikereit] was starting to falter a little bit, and we caught him and was able to hold him off for the last 600 meters.”
Spikereit made an initial push to match Ondr’s kick but quickly fell off the pace. Rounding the turn, Ondr pulled away for a solo sprint into the finishing chute with a time of 16:23.42. Spikereit finished second in 16:35.55, and Bolivar senior Caleb Pyle rounded out the top three with a time of 16:42.16.
“I’ve never had a win in my past four years,” Ondr said. “It was amazing, and I couldn’t believe it was happening. It’s my senior year, and I knew if there was a year to finally do it, it would be this one.”
