By Amanda Perkins (For OzarksSportsZone.com)
The Hermitage boys and Chadwick girls made it an area sweep of the Class 1 State Cross Country team titles on Friday. It was the third in a row for Hermitage and first ever for Chadwick.
Hermitage head coach Mark Sabala knew the pressure was on as two-time defending champions, but credits his runners’ perseverance with the victory.
“The kids are very committed to the program and the training that we are doing,” he said. “They stepped up this year and accomplished that. But we also had a little more at stake this year. One of our runners lost his mom over the summer. We decided to run the season for her. The shirts we had said, ‘We run for the sparkle.’ Of course, we run for the trophy, but that was her favorite saying, so that’s what we were trying to do this year.”
Seniors Bennett Mantooth and Justus Yates paced the Hornets in fifth (16:45.3) and 11th (17:27.0). Junior DeJuan Chambers was 12th (17:29.2). Juniors Jaxon Wheeler (30th – 17:48.6) and Cash Turner (81st – 18:55.1) rounded out the scoring. Seniors Gabriel Montejo and Trenton Pyeatt was sixth and seventh
CLICK HERE FOR PHOTOS OF THE BOYS RACE
Sabala’s seniors have blazed the trail for the team.
“This senior group has tremendous leadership, leadership, leadership. We can’t ask for anything else,” Sabala said. “They showed our program what to do and how to do it correctly, and that’s going to be very difficult to replace.”
“They are a great group of kids who followed the game plan all year long and put in the work,” Sabala added. “And they put their hearts out there today and ran for dual purposes on the year.”
McAuley Catholic (5th – 136) and Dadeville (9th – 233) also represented the area in the team competition.
FULL RESULTS: CLASS 1 BOYS RACE – CLICK HERE
While the Hermitage boys have a long tradition of team success, the Chadwick girls wrote the first chapter in what could be a similar tradition.
This is the first year that Chadwick has had a girls team and the Lady Cardinals dominated the field with 60 points, which was 38 points ahead of runner-up Liberal.
“This is the first year ever we have had a girls team. We had three returning runners who have been together for three years and performed strong individually. Then we had three freshmen runners come up this year to help solidify the team,” Chadwick head coach Jenny Gardner said. “We honestly had high hopes to be on the podium at all in the top four, but as the season progressed seeing our consistency and how we were peaking at the right time and wanting to make team history for Chadwick we started seeing the stars aligning.”
The Lady Cardinals were paced by freshman twins Emily and Macy Landry placing fifth (20:30.2) and seventh (20.34.5) overall.
They attacked the state course like any other course: with grit and a business-like mentality.
“They work on their (family) farm. They know hard work. That is the work ethic that is ingrained in them. They are all business,” Gardner said.
Junior Raeleigh Little (15th – 21:15.5), senior Alexis Loveland (23rd – 21:33.7) and Gretchen House (35th – 22:20.4) rounded out the scoring for Chadwick. Freshman Madeline Sallee finished 139th as she persevered through a hip injury.
With Sallee’s injury, the top five knew there was little margin for error.
“We knew that our top five had to have strong, consistent performances especially with Maddy’s (Madeline Sallee) hip injury,” Gardner said. “We knew the top five would have to be consistent and focused and could not settle. They had to keep moving forward.”
Dora (5th – 143 points), McAuley Catholic (8th – 169 points) and School of the Ozarks (11th – 248 points) also competed as teams in Class 1.
CLICK HERE FOR PHOTOS OF THE CLASS 1 GIRLS RACE
Individually, Morrisville’s Landon Duchscherer closed out his final race of his high school career with a 15:55 to take second place behind three-time state champion Riley Blay of West Nodaway (15:48) in a historically fast class one race.
“I knew we were pretty even, so I was just going to go out with him and run whatever he ran,” Duchscherer said. “I knew his kick was better than mine, so my goal was at 4K to gap him and bit and to not get passed at the end. But by the time we got to 4K, he had gapped me, but I caught up to him. In those final 200 meters, I was so dead. He absolutely toasted me on the final K.”
Duchscherer said racing against Blay has motivated him.
“If he wins, he wins, but as long as I run a good race, I’m happy,” Duchscherer said. “That was the first time this year that I was pushed the entire way. I’m really happy with my finish.”
Dora’s Cade Nold (3rd – 16:26.9), Michael Parrigon (4th – 16:28.9), Calen Faucett (6th – 16:57.5) and Caleb Phillips (10th – 17:23.5) gave the area six of the top 10 finishers in Class 1.
Dora’s Joshua Nold (15th – 17:31.9), Walnut Grove’s Nathan Inman (19th – 17:38.6), Jasper’s Leland Harris (20th – 17:40.8), McAuley Catholic’s Trae Veer (22nd – 17:42.8) and Will Mollnow (23rd – 17:43.9) and School of the Ozarks’ Ethan Howard (25th – 17:44.4) all earned all-state honors in the boys’ race.
FULL RESULTS: CLASS 1 GIRLS RACE – CLICK HERE
On the girls’ side, defending Class 1 state champion Mallory Shaw from Stoutland finished runner-up with a time of 20:15.3. She was followed closely by Liberal freshman Ally Barton in third with a time of 20:17.5). McAuley Catholic’s Kendall Ramsey (9th – 20:46.4) and Liberal’s Taylor Swarnes (10th – 20:53.1) gave the area six of the top 10 finishers in the girls’ race.
McAuley Catholic’s Olivia Parrigon (11th – 20:56.9), Dora’s Isabelle Martin (12th – 20:58.8) and Norwood’s Jadyn Chambers (14th – 21:10.1) rounded out the all-state finishers for the area.
