By Cody Thorn (For OzarksSportsZone.com)
COLUMBIA, Mo. — The West Plains girls continued a streak of bringing home a state trophy, while the Willard boys may have brought home the first in school history.
The Zizzers repeated as the Class 4 state champions and brought home the 14th in team history with the 59 points – easily ahead of runner-up Farmington’s 97.
The Kantola sisters went 1-2 in the standings for West Plains but the team had four runners earn all-state medals.
Jordan Kantola won the state title just ahead of her sister, Brayden, less than a full second ahead. Jordan finished in 18:28.5, while Brayden was second in 18:29.4.
Both runners were side-by-side as they headed down the straight away at the Gans Creek Cross Country Course toward the finish line.
“It was an amazing moment and it showed that our hard work paid off,” Brayden Kantola said. “I think we were worried the girl behind us was going to catch us.”
That was Kearney’s Alex Kinstler, who finished in 18:36.8
Last year, Brayden beat her sister, taking third, while Jordan was sixth.
“I don’t know if it mattered who won, the team, the team is first,” Jordan Kantola said. “It was cool to continue the tradition. We know the past Zizzer success and we wanted to do it for our team.”
Senior Jayna Gunter took seventh and the new guard, freshman, Addison Sanders, took 21st place for the Zizzers.
Webb City had a pair of all-state finishers, while Rolla had one on the girls side.
Abby Street was fifth and Riley Hawkins took eight for the Cardinals. Both were state qualifiers last year, but had marked improvements this year. Street was 77th last year and Hawkins was 57th. Rolla’s lone all-stater was Isabella Frost. The junior ran 19:02.4.
The Cardinals were sixth in the team standings, Rolla was ninth and Bolivar took 14th. Julia Jump led the way for the Liberators, placing 91st.
Willard was the runner-up in the boys race, coming in behind state powerhouse Festus, which won its eighth straight championship.
CLICK HERE FOR PHOTOS OF THE RACE
The Tigers were making their first-ever trip to the state meet as a team.
“This is really big for our team and for our program and our kids,” Willard coach David Matthews said. “It shows you when you put in a lot of work, in anything in life, something great can come out of it. It is great to see their work paid off in this instance.”
This is also the highest finish in school history in either cross country or track and field.
Festus finished with 38 points, while Willard won the battle for second with 148 points. Lutheran St. Charles was third at 154 and Ladue Horton Watkins took fourth with 159 points. Not a large margin.
“We knew with Festus there was not a shot, we knew Festus would not be touched,” Matthew said. “We knew it was absolutely a race for second. We’d been watching the rankings the entire year and we could be as high as second or as low as sixth, depending on who showed up and how the kids ran and we knew we’d be second if we ran our best. To finish second behind a historic program is an honor for sure.”
Willard had only one all-stater in senior Thomas Shuster, whose season was in peril before it even began due to a stress fracture.
“The doctor told me that I would not be back until halfway through November and with a little of my parents’ research and the doctor’s research and we decided to mix both of those,” Shuster said. “Then it was like, screw it, just jump back in the season and see how we do. It worked out. I never thought I would be here but we got a second-place trophy and I was 13th overall. It blows my mind. This year has been the most insane year … it’s been crazy.”
Shuster ran 15:50.4 and broke the school record in the process, set in 2004 by Jens Rodman of 15:53.
Webb City just missed joining its Central Ozark Conference rivals on the middle stand by taking fifth place with 171 points. The Cardinals were 12 points back of Ladue Horton Watkins, who took fourth.
West Plains took sixth with 177 points and Bolivar was 11th in the team standings.
Both Webb City and West Plains had two all-staters. Roman Borboa (19th) earned his second straight medal while Dustin Brockmiller (17th) earned his first after taking 26th last year.
West Plains went back-to-back with Drew Stewart taking 24th and Brodie Callahan taking 25th.
Other all-staters were Rolla’s Nathanael Pohlsander (seventh), Bolivar’s Cale Thiessen (15th) and Carl Junction’s Collin Emmert (21st).
