By Michael Cignoli (For OzarksSportsZone.com)
NIXA – The course was different, but the results were the same.
Kickapoo’s boys and girls teams were once again the top area performers at the Class 5 District 2 cross country meet on Saturday morning at Inman Intermediate School, the event’s new home.
Led by another dominant performance from Tyler Harris, Kickapoo’s boys secured their fourth consecutive district championship with a 30-point victory over Raymore-Peculiar. The senior also successfully defended the individual title he won when the meet was held in Bolivar last year.
But change in venue didn’t prevent Raymore-Peculiar from once again running away with the girls team title, as five of the top nine female finishers came from the Kansas City-area school.
That performance allowed the Panthers to score a meet-low 28, which was 88 points ahead of runner-up Kickapoo. The Chiefs also took second in the girls race last fall in Bolivar.
But the shift to Nixa created a historic opportunity for the course, which also hosted the Class 4 District 2 meet on Saturday. The multi-class event was the largest meet in the course’s history, drawing 70 teams from 36 schools.
Class 5 alone had 34 teams from 16 schools trying to win titles and qualify for the state meet.
Kickapoo’s boys prevailed in an 18-team race, sending the defending state champions back to Columbia. On Friday, they’ll have a chance to be the first Springfield public school to repeat in the sport.
“The hardest district in the state,” Kickapoo coach Jeremy Goddard said. “I think there were four or five teams that were very good. Nixa got sixth and they ran outstanding. We were just talking about how well they ran. You never want to watch somebody else celebrate. It’s more like you hate losing more than you love winning. I always want to win, but next week’s the biggest goal. I’m just glad they ran well.”
CLICK HERE FOR PHOTOS OF THE RACES
As the reigning state champions, Kickapoo was favored to defend its district title and there wasn’t a runner expected to legitimately challenge Harris for his individual championship.
But the parity among the district’s top teams made it important for Harris to deliver.
“We came in as the favorites, but Ray-Pec and Nixa and Rockhurst are really all the same team,” Goddard said. “They don’t have that stud like Tyler, but they have five, six – even seven – guys that are all really good. I knew that we were going to maybe get beat on the back end of that, so we had to put guys out in front of their front end. We needed Tyler to win. And I don’t care how much, we just need the one point.”
Harris finished in 15 minutes, 14.75 seconds – 15 seconds ahead of the field – but that was only part of the challenge.
The Chiefs needed a strong finish from the rest of their runners, particularly Kyle Keltner and Grant Musick, to create as much distance in the scoring as possible to help offset anticipated totals from Nixa, Raymore-Peculiar and Rockhurst’s packs.
“We needed our second guy, Grant, and Kyle to come through and try to beat everybody’s first guy to try to beat everybody’s first guy to put that many points in the front,” Goddard said. “That was the problem with this meet. There’s a lot of points down there in the fifth (spot), but there isn’t a lot of points up there in the front.”
Keltner and Musick crossed the line with virtually identical times of 15 minutes, 52 seconds and change. That placed them in fifth and sixth place, respectively, ahead of the top finishers from both Nixa and Raymore-Peculiar.
An 11th-place finish from Brooklyn Creehan (16:09.46) and a 26th-place finish from Colby Goddard (16:37.36) sealed the victory for Kickapoo.
The Chiefs finished with 49 points, well ahead of the Panthers.
“It’s great,” Harris said. “We’re just trying to keep working. Keep everyone up. We want to bring all the guys as far as we can and I feel like our work shows that. Every point we get is great for the team.”
Joplin was the only other area Class 5 boys team to qualify for the state meet, with its 98 points good for fourth place behind Raymore-Peculiar and Rockhurst. The top four teams and top 30 individual finishers from each gender advanced.
Nixa’s girls also qualified for the third straight year, finishing fourth behind Lee’s Summit West.
Erin Seale was Nixa’s top performer, taking 21st place with a time of 20 minutes, 16.74 seconds. Mackinzie Harris (23rd), Adelyn Janssen (25th), Chloe McCormick (36th) and Jenna Hefley (37th) also scored for the hosts.
Republic’s Gracie Troester, who took second, was the top local finisher. She crossed the line in 18 minutes, 51.69 seconds, about 10 seconds behind Ashlyn Smith of Raymore-Peculiar.
Klarie Brown was the top Kickapoo finisher, taking sixth with her time of 19 minutes, 28.21 seconds. Isabella Bateman (19th), Charlotte Cones (27th), Kaitlyn Davis (29th) and Brynlee Hodson (35th) rounded out the scoring for the Chiefs.
Jeremy Goddard said many Chiefs cut 30 to 90 seconds off their previous personal records.
“We ran our conference (meet) here two weeks ago and the girls were almost all faster all the way down the list,” the coach said. “A couple (personal records). They ran really well.”
He added the Chiefs accomplished that despite three runners missing school with an illness on Thursday. With minimal time left before the biggest meet of the season, the focus for both Kickapoo teams will be less on training and more on preventative maintenance.
“Get healthy and take care of the little things,” Goddard said. “Sleeping and eating right and staying hydrating. Be ready to compete, because everybody’s coming.”
GIRLS STATE QUALIFIERS
1. Ashlyn Smith, Raymore-Peculiar, 18:40.91
2. Gracie Troester, Republic, 18:51.69
3. Avery Raymond, Raymore-Peculiar, 19:12.68
4. Kopelyn Delong, Ozark, 19:18.39
5. Chloe Wood, Neosho, 19:20.40
6. Klarie Brown, Kickapoo, 19:28.21
7. Brooke Stephenson, Raymore-Peculiar, 19:32.63
8. Alexis Borum, Raymore-Peculiar, 19:36.06
9. Isabel Chatfield, Raymore-Peculiar, 19:41.15
10. Ellie Webb, Camdenton, 19:46.07
11. Ella Cronhardt, Lee’s Summit West, 19:50.16
12. Allie Keizer, Joplin, 19:58.64
13. Ellie Barker, Raymore-Peculiar, 20:00.15
14. Alexandria Li, Central, 20:03.49
15. Kristin Probst, Republic, 20:03.50
16. Georgi Carolus, Camdenton, 20:05.26
17. Maggie Boyd, Carthage, 20:09.87
18. Cylee Gilreath, Joplin, 20:13.87
19. Isabella Bateman, Kickapoo, 20:14.75
20. Madison Cross, Lee’s Summit West, 20:16.74
21. Erin Seale, Nixa, 20:16.74
22. Riley Kemna, Neosho, 20:16.88
23. Mackinzie Harris, Nixa, 20:16.91
24. Laine Garner, Ozark, 20:24.56
25. Adelyn Janssen, Nixa, 20:26.51
26. Reese Cannon, Lee’s Summit West, 20:28.91
27 Charlotte Cones, Kickapoo, 20:30.64
28. Maya York, Raymore-Peculiar, 20:31.04
29. Kaitlyn Davis, Kickapoo, 20:34.04 6:36/M
30. Ella Johnson, Lebanon, 20:35.91
TEAM RESULTS
1. Raymore-Peculiar*, 28
2. Kickapoo*, 116
3. Lee’s Summit West*, 129
4. Nixa*, 142
5. Ozark, 149
6. Republic, 155
7. Joplin, 187
8. Camdenton, 189
9 Lebanon, 242
10. Neosho, 262
11. Glendale, 283
12 Carthage, 302
13. Belton, 349
14. Central, 372
15. Waynesville, 417
*Denotes state qualifier
BOYS STATE QUALIFIERS
1. Tyler Harris, Kickapoo, 15:14.75
2. Henry Acorn, Rockhurst, 15:31.35
3. Jack Williams, Lee’s Summit West, 15:33.30
4. Hobbs Campbell, Joplin, 15:36.07
5. Kyle Keltner, Kickapoo, 15:52.09
6. Grant Musick, Kickapoo, 15:52.97
7. Mason Shank, Nixa, 15:53.80
8. Carter Younger, Raymore-Peculiar, 15:53.82
9. Derek Nissen, Raymore-Peculiar, 16:03.89
10. Chance Tindall, Joplin, 16:06.63
11. Brooklyn Creehan, Kickapoo, 16:09.46
12. Caleb Benton, Lee’s Summit West, 16:10.46
13. Ian Horton, Joplin, 16:11.41
14. Gabriel Voelker, Raymore-Peculiar, 16:12.86
15. August G. Thompson, Rockhurst, 16:14.31
16. Justin Waldron, Rockhurst, 16:14.61
17. Brian Humphrey, Rockhurst, 16:16.17
18. Aaron Ashley, Nixa, 16:16.69
19. Tristen Bough, Branson, 16:17.44
20. Sam Mathis, Lee’s Summit West, 16:24.34
21. Andres Kemper, Raymore-Peculiar, 16:24.47
22. Reyes Martinez, Nixa, 16:27.81
23. Peter Stunja, Lebanon, 16:31.03
24. Logan Richart, Nixa, 16:32.97
25. Grey Edwards, Joplin, 16:36.97
26. Colby Goddard, Kickapoo, 16:37.36
27. Blake Borum, Raymore-Peculiar, 16:37.42
28. Luther Supancic, Waynesville, 16:41.39
29. Brady Purcell, Republic, 16:42.56
30. Caden Morby, Lee’s Summit West, 16:43.60
TEAM RESULTS
1. Kickapoo*, 49
2. Raymore-Peculiar*, 79
3. Rockhurst*, 82
4. Joplin*, 98
5. Lee’s Summit West, 103
6. Nixa, 104
7. Lebanon, 219
8. Carthage, 266
9. Republic, 282
10. Branson, 292
11. Ozark, 297
12. Glendale, 324
13. Waynesville, 362
14. Central, 368
15. Neosho, 422
16. Camdenton, 488
17. Belton, 490
18. Ruskin, 564
*Denotes state qualifier
