By Brennan Stebbins (For OzarksSportsZone.com)
LAMAR, Mo. – There have been plenty of second-place finishes in Spokane’s cross country history, but Saturday’s district win was a first.
Spokane avenged a second-place finish to Lamar last season by beating the Tigers on their home course – the Lamar Country Club. And the Owls did it despite having no runner finish higher than fifth.
“We’ve never had a kid make All-State,” Spokane coach Jeff Mitchem said Saturday. “We’re really the epitome of a team because we don’t have anybody super outstanding, we’ve just got a whole bunch right in the middle who are very good. Our highest finish was fifth but we had all seven guys right in a pack there. Our guys didn’t run their best runs of the year but I knew we could be right in there.”
While Lamar’s Kolin Overstreet won the race, and his teammate Joe Kremp followed in second place, Spokane placed four runners in the top 18 to win the Class 2 District 6 boys championship.
The top two teams and the top 15 individuals qualify for next week’s state championship.
Sam Shuman was Spokane’s top runner. He finished fifth with a time of 17:52.4. Grant Stewart earned eighth in 18:10.7, Jackson Bray placed 14th in 18:33.8, Caleb Lovato placed 18th in 18:55.1 and Michael Eddings finished 28th in 19:32.2.
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That was enough to beat Lamar by 11 points. The Tigers are still heading back to state after winning the state title in 2017.
“Sam Shuman’s been our number one runner all year and last year he wasn’t,” Mitchem said. “He’s improved so much. I always keep track of our top 15 in the history of Spokane times and five or six of our guys are on that list right now. They don’t have the school record yet but they’ve got a couple more years for Sam or any of those guys to get it. We have some outstanding kids.”
Overstreet’s winning time was 16:47.2 and Kremp followed in 17:22.9. Summit Preparatory qualified two runners, with Trevor Talley placing third in 17:49 and Eli Brown finishing fourth in 17:51.9. Fair Grove’s Logan Holliman was sixth (18:03.5) and Ryan Odom was 10th (18:18.4). College Heights qualified two with Caleb Wicklund placing seventh (18:07.7) and Skyler Levendosky taking ninth (8:17.2). Marionville had two qualifiers in Gavin Stanton (11th, 18:21.9) and Joshua Yudinsky (13th, 18:29.7). Southwest’s Travis Sickles placed 15th in 18:36.
Lamar’s No. 3 runner was Brayden Morrison, who placed 25th. Greggory Mather was 26th and Brayden Rea was 32nd.
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College Heights girls sweep team & individual titles
Lamar figured to contend – and was maybe even favored – for Saturday’s girls championship, but it was College Heights that captured the district crown.
Led by Grace Bishop’s first-place finish, the Cougars had three runners in the top 10 and five in the top 17.
“It could have went either way,” College Heights coach Phillip Jordan said. “We had some girls run real well and we’re fortunate enough to get a win today against a good Lamar team.”
Bishop was far and away the best runner in the race. She finished 18 seconds ahead of the second-place runner.
“She’s about as strong as she’s been,” Jordan said. “She had another strong race.”
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Bishop’s time was 20:48.8. College Heights’ Kylee Lang was third in 21:27.3, Jaira Glaser was 10th in 22:49.2, Emily Colin was 14th in 23:27 and Avery Parker was 17th in 24:01.1.
“The biggest difference for us was Jaira Glaser,” Jordan said. “She ran her best race of her career today and that made a big difference for us. Our number five Avery Parker has been dealing with some injuries and came out feeling good today and had a strong race. That was a difference maker as well. I thought all the girls ran well today.”
Lamar, which finished 11 points back in second place, had five runners in the top 19. Kara Morey was seventh in 22:19.4, Jessica Coble was eighth in 22:27.3, Abigal Kluhsman was 12th in 23:06.4, Alexis Parker was 16th in 23:56.8 and Delmi Noches was 19th in 24:38.4.
Summit Preparatory and Southwest were the only other schools with multiple state qualifiers. Alexis Workman was second (21:06.5) and Olivia Lynch was fourth (21:39.2) for Summit Prep. Brylee Wilson was fifth (21:58.7) and Maggie Robbins was 15th (23:35.3) for Southwest.
Other individual qualifiers were Diamond’s Gabrielle Hall (sixth, 22:16.3), Strafford’s Madalynn Ward (ninth, 22:41.1), Ash Grove’s Kylynn Thompson (11th, 23:02.1) and Sarcoxie’s Anette Ramirez (13th, 23:14).
