By Brennan Stebbins (For OzarksSportsZone.com)
On paper, at least, the Webb City girls weren’t supposed to win Wednesday’s track and field meet at Joplin High School.
But the Cardinals made a late surge to clip Carthage in the girls standings, and Webb City headed home with first-place finishes from both boys and girls squads.
“We were ranked third coming in on the girls side,” Webb City coach Dustin Miller said. “Us and Carthage were really tight and Joplin was supposed to beat us by 20. I challenged my young girls squad––we have several girls here for the first time running in a varsity meet––and I’m really proud of how we competed as a girls team.”
The Cardinals (154.50 points) finished ahead of Carthage (145) and Joplin (133) in the final standings on the girls side, and the Webb City boys amassed 178 points for a comfortable finish ahead of the host Eagles (141).
Sophomore Brooke Hedger was one of several highlights for the Cardinals. She won the 400-meter dash (1:00.55) by edging “a really good competitor” in Joplin’s Brylee Strickland (1:00.71). And then Hedger later took first in the 3200 with a time of 12:06.62, while senior teammate Emily Countryman followed in second place.
Webb City freshman Jaylee VanBecelaere won the long jump with a distance of 15–7.75, and the 4×800 relay team of Kristina Bundy, Emma McKinzie, Countryman and Hedger earned another first-place finish with a time of 10:28.91.
“I just liked the way we competed in each and every event,” Miller said. “We didn’t have a perfect day but we’re doing a good job having the right mindset; not too high or too low about anything.”
“We’re very, very young and I just want to see if we can continue to be competitive warriors,” he said. “Can we just get better and not be afraid of the moment. We don’t expect to score big points at the conference or district meet; I expect to be battling for third, fourth, fifth. Our goal is just to beat everybody in striking distance and get them to believe so next year we can build on this for the ladies.”
CLICK HERE FOR PHOTOS OF THE MEET
The Webb City boys, meanwhile, arrived Wednesday with a veteran crew and it showed as the Cardinals won eight events and excelled in the field and distance events.
Ryan Reid, Jr. won the high jump at 5–9.75. Jadon Brisco was tops in the pole vault at 11–9.75. Nathaniel Miller was first in the discus with a distance of 155–6. And Eric Lathan won the shot put with a distance of 48–11.75.
On the track, the 4×800 relay of Dakota Grove, Evan Stevens, James Baldassaro and Mason Hedger won their event by more than 20 seconds (8:34.83). Stevens won the 800 in 1:59.69, with Hedger following in second. And Noah Lankard won the 1600 (4:37.15) and the 3200 (10:04.79); Spencer Kendall followed his teammate in second place.
“We ran some distance kids in off events and wanted to see some younger guys get some opens against some good competition, so our top dogs ran some different events today,” Miller said. “I’m just really proud of the way we compete. That’s all we were talking about––this is Webb City weather. I heard we won the disc on the last throw. The distance squad absolutely dominated and lived up to their expectations.”
Eagles win 11 events at home meet
Both Joplin squads were at or near the top of the standings all afternoon and evening, and the Eagles combined to win seven girls events and four boys events.
On the girls side, Maria Loum earned first in the pole vault at 9–6.25. Micah Holden won the 100 hurdles in 17.77 seconds. Katherine Schaefer was tops in the 1600 with a time of 5:37.50 and also won the 800 in 2:32.33. Kiki Thom won the 300 hurdles in 48.45 seconds.
Joplin’s girls also won the 4×1 and 4×2 relays.
“Kiki Thom in the 300 hurdles PR’d today which is hard to do in this headwind,” Joplin coach Nick Reid said.
Joplin’s boys squad was highlighted by a pair of first-place finishes from Davin Thomas. He won the 100 (11.67 seconds) and 200 (24.10 seconds). Avarus Kuhn-Wofford won the 300 hurdles in 42 seconds. And the team’s 4×100 relay also earned first.
“You never know how they’re going to react to the situation today with the cold and wind but they came out and competed well,” Reid said. “It was kind of all over; our sprinters, our distance events, and we had some good throws and jumps. It was truly a team effort on both sides, and you can see progress is being made on both sides. None of the times were really outstanding today because of the weather but we’re coming along in a lot of different events.”
Carthage and Carl Junction combined to win 10 of the other events. For the Tigers, freshman London Shepherd won the triple jump with a distance of 34–0.25, Chasity Straw won the shot put (39–2.5), the 4×400 relay of Ashleigh Rowden, Maggie Boyd, Evelyn Carrol and Lexa Youngblood finished first in 4:20.85; the boys 4×200 relay of Braxton McBride, Henry Laytham, Brody Jackson and Joseph Childs won in 1:33.51; and the boys 4×400 relay of McBride, Laytham, Eddy Fuentes and Childs won in 3:32.58.
Carl Junction’s Sydney Ward won both the 100 (13.01 seconds) and 200 (26.72 seconds) and Madilyn Olds won the javelin throw with a distance of 118–11. For the Bulldog boys, Ryder Pyles won the triple jump (41–11.5) and Aidan Beachner won the javelin throw (152–6).
Besides Pittsburg (Kansas) High School, McDonald County was the only other team to earn a first-place finish. Savannah Leib was the winner in the high jump at 4–9.75, and Joshua Pacheco won the long jump at 20–6.5.
Girls team scores
Webb City 154.50
Carthage 145
Joplin 133
Carl Junction 76
McDonald County 64
Pittsburg 54.50
Nevada 39
Thomas Jefferson 37
Pierce City 23
Boys team scores
Webb City 178
Joplin 141
Pittsburg 97
Carthage 88
McDonald County 82
Carl Junction 81.5
Nevada 44.5
Pierce City 13
Thomas Jefferson 7
Exeter 1
