By Dana Harding (For OzarksSportsZone.com)
NIXA, MO – Saturday’s Central Ozark Conference cross country championship featured ideal autumn weather and a Highway 14 sweep, as Nixa’s Aaron Ashley and Ozark’s Ellsie Estes each captured overall individual honors on the Inman Elementary course.
The event marked the first season for the new-look, 14-team conference and split awards between the East and West divisions.
BOYS RACE
A pre-race favorite, Ashley ran a cautious and conservative first half, opting to pace behind Glendale’s Lincoln Crews and Nixa teammate Reyes Martinez.
“The plan was really just to stick behind them and let (Crews) take me through the race,” Ashley said. “On the second lap, going into the woods, was where I really pulled away.”
The surge heading into the woods paid off quickly, as Ashley opened up a 30-meter gap that never closed.
Ashley finished with a winning time of 15:36.04 to capture both overall and East division titles. Crews (15:49.27) and Joplin’s Chance Tindall (15:52.38) rounded out the top three, with Martinez (15:53.46) finishing fourth and Kickapoo’s Noah Cones (16:07.52) finishing fifth. Tindall was the top finisher for the West Division.
CLICK HERE FOR PHOTOS OF THE BOYS RACE
In the Class 5 state championship race a year ago at Columbia’s Gans Creek course, Ashley finished in seventh. With another trip just around the corner, the Nixa senior is aiming even higher.
“I’m really excited,” Ashley said. “I think I can really show what I’ve got in this next one and, hopefully, I can have a top-five finish – I think under 15:20 would do it. My goal is really top-three, four or five and a sub 15:20.”
Nixa finished first in the COC East division and was the top overall team with a total of 38 points from Ashley (1), Martinez (3), Zane Novinger (6), Asher Coorts (13) and Gage Holmes (15). Kickapoo (46 points) and Glendale (80 points) rounded out the top three teams.
In the West division, Webb City captured the team title with a narrow 41-47 victory of runner-up Joplin. Willard finished third with 61 points.
FULL RESULTS: EAST RACE – CLICK HERE
FULL RESULTS: WEST RACE – CLICK HERE
GIRLS RACE
With favorite Gracie Troester not running, the girls’ varsity race looked to be a showdown between Webb City’s Brooke Hedger and Joplin’s Ava Doll, both of whom set personal bests in recent events.
Someone must have neglected to mention this to Estes, who executed a near-perfect strategy to pull off the surprise upset of the day.
“My plan was to stay with the Webb City girl, Brooke, and if I felt good, go ahead and push on ahead of her,” Estes said. “I just really went out there and ran. That’s really my mindset – just go out there and run and try not to overthink it.”
The Ozark junior did exactly that.
After pacing with Hedger for the first mile, Estes surged early in the race to take a commanding lead, and then never looked back en route to an 18:18.45 finish and a 15-second personal best to win the race overall and for the East Division.
Doll (18:43.95) and Hedger (18:57.57) finished second and third, respectively, followed by Lebanon’s Abigail Tague (19:16.30) and Kickapoo’s Alayna Stewart (19:26.02).
Doll was the first COC West division runner to cross the finish line.
CLICK HERE FOR PHOTOS OF THE GIRLS RACE
Ozark head coach Mitch Furtkamp praised Estes for sticking to the plan and relentlessly carrying it out on the course.
“We talked about getting out and just kind of establishing position early,” Furtkamp said. “We knew Brooke was going to be tough, and we knew (Estes) had to take a chance in the middle. She did, and she executed it beautifully. It was not only a PR, but it was a school record for us.”
In the team competition, Webb City turned in a dominant performance with all five runners finishing in the West division top ten.
The Cardinals captured the West overall title with 26 points from Hedger (2), Olivia Klotz (3), Emma McKinzie (5), Brooke Collard (7) and Araceli Perez (9).
Carthage (57) and Joplin (59) rounded out the top three schools.
Kickapoo (57) narrowly edged out Ozark (60) for the East division victory. Nixa (80) finished third.
