By Chris Parker
Kickapoo cross country took three of the four available titles at Saturday’s Class 5 District 6 Cross Country meet at Inman Elementary in Nixa. Tyler Harris won the individual title on the boys’ side, as he led the Kickapoo boys to the team title. On the girls’ side, sophomore Klarie Brown won the individual title. The Lady Chiefs qualified for state as a team finishing runner-up to host Nixa.
Harris was dominant throughout the race, as he took an early lead on his way to posting a time of 15:48.90. That was almost 30 seconds better than runner-up Connor Ayres from Parkview, who finished with a time of 16:16.06.
“I told him (Harris) to be prepared to run and just steady push. I don’t care about times. It was his job to win and make sure he won,” Kickapoo head coach Jeremy Goddard said. “That was the message, and I said I don’t care how you do it; if you go easy or if you take it from the get-go. He runs his workouts alone at school. Even though we’ve got pretty good team; he’s made himself a little bit better, so he he’s used to pacing himself. He’s just been really strong. This is legit course and to run that time out here is pretty salty.”
CLICK HERE FOR PHOTOS OF THE BOYS RACE
The boys were in a battle with Joplin early in the race with a Joplin Eagle near a Kickapoo Chief everywhere you looked. Kickapoo would pull away in the second half of the race to win the team title easily with 38 points to Joplin’s 67 points. Both teams qualified for next weekend’s state meet.
“I think our boys ran smart. I think they didn’t get caught up in it early. They went out and ran their race,” Goddard said. “They knew the plan. We had to beat Carthage and Joplin. Joplin runs very packed. Carthage is a little bit more like us that they have (some) front and then they got some guys towards the middle, and so just I think that Joplin pack maybe got a little too excited. They (Joplin) went for it, and it paid off for them because they end up getting second. They (Joplin) knew they had to go for it. I think as they faded, our boys were executing the plan and building on them and maybe flipped the script a little at the end.”
Ozark’s Gabriel Bauer (16:26.71), Kickapoo’s Colby Garner (16:33.34) and Nixa’s Wes Hatman (16:34.77) rounded out the top five.
In the girls’ race, Brown was pushed early, but pulled away after the second mile to win in a time of 19:11.34. That was nine seconds better than runner-up Jennalee Dunn from Joplin who was second with a time of 19:20.17.
“She (Brown) is tough. She she’s got a really good sense for just being a sophomore, and Tyler as well, (they) just have a really good sense of competing and what it takes,” Goddard said. “She had the same instructions (as Harris); I don’t care how she just has to win.”
Nixa was paced by Alicen Ashley (19:25.74) and Emily Harris (19:40.71) in second and third on the way to a team score of 46 points. That was five points better than Kickapoo.
CLICK HERE FOR PHOTOS OF THE GIRLS RACE
The difference for Nixa came in the 3-4-5 runners of Macy Kopp, Adelyn Janssen and Brookelyn Bidinger who packed together to finish 14-15-16 in the race. Janssen and Bidinger were the first No. 4 and 5 runners across for any team. Bidinger actually beat every other team’s No. 4 runner.
“We spent all week just kind of focusing on you know each individual runner. What are your strengths? What do you need to do? And I really felt like they embraced it; where they need to place overall and they kind of had their target in mind. They all ran great today,” Nixa head coach Lance Brumley said.
Next up is a trip to Gans Creek in Columbia next Saturday for the state meet. It will be a state meet unlike any other with extremely limited fans and each class racing one at a time. The facility will be cleared after each race.
“We’re going to end it like we finished it. The first of the year this year at the the Southwest Coaches meet there weren’t any spectators. And so those kids they’ve at least seen that kind of deal before,” Brumley said. “We ran at some smaller meets this year to give an idea of what it’s like to be in a race with no one around you but your competitors. So I think they’ll be OK with it.”
The lack of fans won’t change the motivation for the runners.
“The battle will be there. It’s not like this (meet) that is spread out. You always have people to run with. Klarie and Tyler may be up there in the ranks. I expect them to be up there in the ranks that aren’t real thick, but they’re not going to run away with anything. They’re not going to be leading for certain, so I think I think the motivation is there, whether the fans are there or not.”
The Class 5 girls will race on Saturday, Nov. 7 at 8:30 am. The Class 5 boys will race the same day at 11 a.m.
