By Chris Parker & Jacob Cersosimo
Republic’s Gracie Troester and Nixa’s Aaron Ashley opened up the area cross country season by winning individual team titles at the SWCCCA Richard Clark Invitational on Saturday morning in Bolivar. The Ozark girls and Nixa boys won the overall team titles.
Troester keeps up momentum from strong spring
Republic’s Gracie Troester had a breakout season on the track qualifying for the Class 5 state meet in all three distance events and earning all-state honors in the 1600 and 3200.
She got off to a strong start to her junior cross country season running a time of 18:37.40 to win the individual on Saturday race by 47 seconds over runner-up Katherine Scahefer of Joplin.
Troester jumped out early and kept control throughout the race.
“I normally get out pretty fast because if get caught behind I lose my mindset,” Troester said. “If I get out there and set my pace from the start then normally I do pretty good. That is what I did. I had my teammates cheering me on and telling me where people were. It definitely helped.”
CLICK HERE FOR FULL RESULTS OF THE GIRLS RACE
She didn’t come into the race with any specific goal, but more focusing on where she was after a summer of training.
“I didn’t really think about placing that much. I was more focused on how my training from the summer paid off. The first couple weeks of summer I didn’t put in much effort because I had work and I was with camps. I was more focused on the last week of training and seeing how I could do,” Troester said. “Coming into this I was (thinking) just run your race and do what you can do.”
West Plains sophomore Emily Ritter finished third in a time of 19:30.88 followed closely by Webb City’s Brooke Hedger (19:31.32) and Central’s Alexandria Li (19:32.02) in fourth and fifth.
Ritter was the top Class 4 finisher. El Dorado Springs junior Audrey Goatley was the top Class 3 runner in a time of 20:12.42. New Covenant’s Clara Trent led the Class 2 race in a time of 20:13.44. Defending Class 1 state champion Mallory Shaw from Stoutland ran 19:56.39 to win the Class 1 race.
CLICK HERE FOR PHOTOS OF THE MEET
Ozark won the overall team title with 90 points and the Class 5 team title with 58 points. Webb City was runner-up overall with 99 points and Class 4 champion with 33 points.
Osage (Class 3 – 36 points), College Heights (Class 2 – 15 points) and Liberal (Class 1 – 25 points) also won team competitions.
Nixa boys make early statement
The Nixa boys cross country team is looking to make some noise in the postseason this year, and if Saturday is any indication, the state should be on notice.
The Eagles had the individual champion in Aaron Ashley and placed seven runners in the top 22 overall. Ashley ran a 15:31.15 to win the individual title over Rolla sophomore Cameron Martensen who ran 15:47.90 to finish runner-up.
Breaking the 16-minute barrier was big for the Nixa junior.
“Last year I was really close (to breaking 16 minutes) a lot of times. I am glad to get it over with in the beginning of the season,” Ashley said.
He was just one of seven Nixa runners who showed the Eagles will be a force as a team this year. Overall, the Eagles posted a score of 61 to win by 36 points over runner-up West Plains. In Class 5 only, the Eagles had 36 points well ahead of Glendale’s 85.
“We are really excited. (It’s) all for the team. I don’t run for myself at all. It was all for the team,” Ashley said.
Logan Richart (ninth – 16:11.60), Devon Kemp (14th – 16:22.92), Nicholas Flannery (18th – 16:30.89), Reyes Martinez (19th – 16:30.96), Mason Shank (20th – 16:31.14) and Zane Novinger (22nd – 16:34.91) gave Nixa seven runners under 16:35. Alexander Worthley ran 16:58.63 to finish 39th and give Nixa eight runners under 17 minutes.
CLICK HERE FOR FULL RESULTS OF THE BOYS RACE
Joplin’s Ian Horton (third – 15:53.28), East Newton’s Chase Sorrell (fourth – 15:54.49) and Glendale’s Sam Rinehart (fifth – 15:55.00) rounded out the top five overall.
Martensen and Sorrell were the top finishers in Class 4 and Class 3, respectively. Butler’s Brandon Hammett (16:50.68) won the Class 2 individual competition. McAuley Catholic’s Michael Parrigon (16:38.38) was the top finisher in Class 1.
West Plains (Class 4), El Dorado Springs (Class 3), New Covenant (Class 2) and Hermitage (Class 1) were the team champions across the other four classes.
