By Dana Harding (For OzarksSportsZone.com)
PLATO, MO – Under near perfect conditions during Saturday’s Class 3 District 2 meet, the Strafford boys and Osage girls raced to overall team titles heading into next week’s state championship showdown at Columbia’s Gans Creek course.
BOYS RACE
Both Strafford and Springfield Catholic were favored to challenge for the overall title in the team competition. While the Fightin’ Irish narrowly edged out a two point victory in the Mid-Lakes Conference championship just over a week ago, the Indians returned the favor thanks in part to an inspired finish from Thomas Alford.
The Strafford freshman passed Catholic’s No. 4 finisher in the final 100 meters to help secure the victory.
Indians head coach Garrett Morey praised his No. 5 runner for stepping up to meet the moment when it mattered most.
“We were pretty dialed in but, today, I’d say the race was won with our fifth guy,” Morey said. “Our fifth guy passed their fourth guy at the very end, and it was big for us. We knew if we could get our five ahead of their four, we’d have a pretty good chance today.”
Colton Willis (1 – 16:15.89), Carter Zbaren (8 – 17:58.65), Austen Choate (9 – 17:59.29), Aaden Choate (14 – 18:07.42) and Alford (15 – 18:08.52) paced Strafford to the 47-56 victory.
CLICK HERE FOR PHOTOS OF THE BOYS RACE
Osage and Fair Grove rounded out the top four state qualifiers with 94 and 125 points, respectively.
Following the race, Morey discussed his team’s goals heading into the state meet next weekend.
“Best case scenario, we’d like to slip into the top four,” Morey said. “From a team standpoint, we’re going to go out and give our best. Four is the goal, but top six would be pretty amazing, too.
“Individually, Colton Willis has a good chance to be in the top ten. His goal is top three and, hopefully, not three.”
The individual title was won by El Dorado Springs sophomore Wyatt Klaiber with a time of 15:58.71.
FULL RACE RESULTS – CLICK HERE
GIRLS RACE
In the girls race, Osage cruised to a 54-71 victory over Springfield Catholic and captured the program’s fifth-straight district title in the process.
“They’ve kind of had the mark on them because they’ve won districts four years in a row,” Osage head coach Miriam Hill said. “They wanted to continue that tradition, and they showed up when they needed to show up, worked hard when they needed to work hard and took care of themselves and held each other accountable throughout the season. That showed today and they came through like they wanted to.”
The Indians placed their first four finishers in the top 15 and all five in the top 20, as Rosie Falter (3 – 20:45.80), Jaidyn Tabony (7 – 21:38.04), Mary Long (12 – 22:09.14), Macy Kauten (15 – 22:33.85) and Addison Fowler (17 – 22:42.35) all rose to the occasion.
CLICK HERE FOR PHOTOS OF THE GIRLS RACE
Hill was pleased with her team’s resilient nature and, in particular, that of No. 5 runner Fowler.
“Today, we had one runner, Addison Fowler, who was hurt earlier in the season,” Hill said. “She had to take off for a little while with a hamstring injury, but she came back today and ran exactly what we needed her to and fought all the way to the end.”
Osage and Catholic will be joined next weekend by fellow state qualifiers El Dorado Springs (88 points) and Houston (114 points).
The girls individual race was won by Fair Grove sophomore Katrina Cantwell (20:13.47).
