By Amanda Perkins & Chris Parker
The area brought home a pair of runner-up finishes from the Class 3 boys state cross country meet with El Dorado Springs earning second in the team competition and East Newton’s Chase Sorrell placing second in the individual competition.
El Dorado Springs has had history of strong individual runners at the state meet, but Saturday was the first time the team was able to make it to the podium for a boys team trophy. The Bulldogs were just two points behind St. Michael the Archangel for the team title.
“We stayed together and fought,” El Dorado Springs head coach Brian Goatley said. “We controlled that first thousand (meters), and then from there, fought. When someone is going, go with them and cut the gap between each other. We told them, everybody else doesn’t know there’s a no passing lane in the last 200 meters, but you guys have the opportunity to pass. Just keep moving forward and not moving backwards in the race, and I thought they did a great job of that.”
The Bulldogs did it with youth as none of the top six runners were seniors this season.
“We believe in the system, and we believe in each other,” Goatley said. “We teach pack mentality from day one. We are youthful this year, so sometimes when you get puppies, they want to do their own thing. But as the season has progressed, they’ve started to buy into that mentality. Especially in the past few weeks, it has really shown and come to fruition. We knew we had a great possibility all year, but it’s finally starting to show through.”
CLICK HER FOR PHOTOS OF THE BOYS RACE
One of those young runners is Wyatt Klaiber. The freshman ran a 15:40.8 to finish fourth overall. He was one of only two freshmen in Class 3 to earn all-state honors.
“He’s (Klaiber) come in hungry,” Goatley said. “He had good success in middle school and is a student of the sport. I could move out of the way, and he would be fine. He’s a workhorse, so my job is to back him off some of that because he would kill himself. He’s done a great job. He has the hunger and desire, and you can’t coach that.”
Junior Braxton Watts was second across the line for El Dorado Springs running a 16:10.8 to finish ninth overall. Freshman Shane Fletcher (36th – 16:52.1), sophomore Sylas Fletcher (54th – 17:16.0) and junior Logan Fisk (57th – 17:20.1) were the other scoring runners for El Dorado Springs. Junior William Seitz and senior Kolton Nichols were the six and seven runners for the Bulldogs.
Springfield Catholic (13th), Lamar (14th) and Strafford (16th) also competed in the team competition.
FULL RESULTS: CLASS 3 BOYS – CLICK HERE
Individually, the area was paced by East Newton senior Chase Sorrell in second place.
Sorrell had the speed coming off a state track meet in May that saw him run 1:53.60 to win the 800-meter run while finishing runner-up in the 1600 and third in the 3200.
The state cross country meet was a culmination of a long summer of work to get his base up to have that speed translate to the grueling five-kilometer course.
“I really focused on summer. Summer is an important time to get that base, and then track last year coming off the speed, that 1:53 was good, so I think that gave me more confidence to work on speed work and hold more endurance,” Sorrell said. “I’m definitely more speed than endurance so I had to get more endurance work in. Summer was the biggest part, having to keep yourself accountable and go out and run every morning.”
Sorrell pushed the pace in the early going of the race taking the lead after one kilometer before slipping to third through the third and fourth kilometers. He showed off the speed in the final 1,000 meters with a closing time of 3:04.8 to take second.
“I was trying to lead it a bit in the first pack because usually my game plan is to sit and kick as long as possible, but the past two races I’ve fallen off a little bit,” Sorrell said. “I thought if I put myself in a better position, I’ll hold a bit better. I’m pretty happy with how it went. I held for the most part and was able to finish that last stretch.”
On the girls’ side of Class 3, Springfield Catholic was the area’s top team finisher in eighth place. Emma Belk led the Lady Irish with an 18th place finish in a time of 19:31.6 to earn all-state honors. Lamar (14th) and Clever (16th) also competed in the team competition.
CLICK HERE FOR PHOTOS OF THE GIRLS RACE
Individually, Fair Grove freshman Katrina Cantwell placed seventh in a time of 19:10.9 to lead the area. El Dorado Springs junior Audrey Goatley ran 19:42.6 to place 22nd and earn all-state honors.
