By Dana Harding (For OzarksSportsZone.com)
PLATO, MO – The heavyweights came out to play during Saturday’s Class 1 District 2 cross country championships.
2023 girls state champion Chadwick and boys No. 5 finisher McAuley Catholic cruised to decisive team victories and qualified for next weekend’s state championship meet at Columbia’s Gans Creek course.
GIRLS RACE
When you’re able to stockpile top ten finishers, good things tend to happen as a team. The Chadwick girls put that theory to the test on Saturday en route to a second-straight district title with a 63-83 victory over McAuley Catholic.
Emily Landry (3 – 21:25.78), Macy Landry (4 – (21:28.38), Raeleigh LIttle (7 – 22:09.17), Kaylin Hillman (23 – 25:26.36) and Mylea Bertoldie (26 – 25:44.32) paced the Cardinals victory and left little doubt the team will once again contend for a state podium finish next week.
“Our top three; they’re our returning district champions and state champion runners,” Chadwick head coach Jenny Gardner said. “We knew the consistency that they’ve always performed, and they led the team.
CLICK HERE FOR PHOTOS OF THE GIRLS RACE
“Our fourth and fifth runners are new to the team. They’ve never ran cross country until this year, and they closed the gap on the teams that we needed to pass and secured that position for the district championship. They’re putting the team above themselves, and I could not be more proud.”
While her squad has its sights set on a repeat finish at Gans Creek, Gardner knows the competition will be much stiffer for Chadwick’s return trip to state.
“It’s the second year we’ve had this program as a team,” Gardner said. “Coming into state last year, we had a nice comfort gap. We knew we had that podium spot if we just ran consistent at state. We’ve got the target on our back, and it’s a closer margin this year.”
School of the Ozarks (89 points) and Liberal (109 points) round out the team qualifiers for next week’s state meet.
Mansfield’s Faith Clark captured the overall individual title with a time of 20:37.80.
FULL RACE RESULTS – CLICK HERE
BOYS RACE
While Southwest Missouri features arguably the strongest Class 1 district in the state, McAuley Catholic left little doubt as to the district’s overall pecking order.
The Warriors placed three runners in the top ten – including the top two spots – and all five in the top 20 during Saturday’s emphatic 46-70 victory over second-place School of the Ozarks.
Michael Parrigon (1 – 16:48.47) and Trae Veer’s (2 – 16:50.41) one-two finish helped set the tone for McAuley, and the rest of the team did not disappoint with Will Mollnow (10 – 18:15.89), Gavin Anderson (16 – 18:36.58) and Thomas Perrin (17 – 18:37.95) stepping up to seal the deal.
Warriors head coach Andy Youngworth praised his anchor duo taking some of the pressure off the younger runners on the squad.
CLICK HERE FOR PHOTOS OF THE BOYS RACE
“We’ve only run cross country since 2013, and we’ve qualified for state three years in a row,” Youngworth said. “Michael Parrigon has been good all year, and Trae Veer just keeps getting better and better. Obviously, it’s pretty special when you can go one-two, and it takes a lot of pressure off.
“We’ve got three freshmen in our top seven, and they’re still learning how to race,” Youngworth said. “But it’s kind of gratifying for them to get this. I mean, first is as good as fourth, and that’s what we really focused on was just qualifying.”
Thomas Jefferson Independent School (75 points) and Hermitage (96 points) round out a solid foursome that could all find spots on the podium at Gans Creek next week.
