By Amanda Perkins (For OzarksSportsZone.com)
The West Plains boys, making a 45th consecutive appearance the state cross country meet, brought home another trophy finishing third as a team. This year, the Zizzers were led by by underclassmen with four of the top five being freshmen or sophomores.
“I’m so proud of them,” said head coach Alicia Gunter. “I’m probably as proud of this third-place finish as I’ve been when we’ve won state championships before. These boys have come a long way. We have one senior, and one junior, but he’s new to cross country this year, so he’s like a freshman. And then we have the sophomores and the freshmen. It’s taken us a while to trust in the Zizzer pack attack this year, and today we made a promise to each other that we will never doubt the plan again.”
Carson King and Hoyt Stiner finished in 31st and 32nd in ties of 16:57.6 and 16:59.1, respectively. Ridge Smith was 49th (17:20.4), and Jackson Free 53rd (17:23.5) for West Plains. Kyler Gunter rounded out the top 5 in 55th place, 17:25.0.
“I really don’t think as good as today is and as happy as I am, I don’t think this is the best this group will see,” said Gunter. “I think they will hold a state trophy if they trust in the plan.”
The West Plains Zizzer boys have never failed to qualify for state competition since 1978, taking home their first title in 1979.
“This is in honor of Joe Bill Dixon, my mentor, my high school coach,” added Gunter. “This is all for him and all the Zizzers who have run in the past.”
CLICK HERE FOR PHOTOS OF THE RACES
The area’s top finisher in the race was freshman Cameron Martensen in seventh place with a time of 16:01.2. Willard’s Nolan Hansen also finished in the top 10 taking ninth place with a time of 16:15.5. Webb City’s Evan Stevens claimed 11th place with a time of 16:24.7. His teammate Mason Hedger gave Webb City a second all-state finish. Hedger placed 20th with a time of 16:45.3. Monett’s Julio Cruz (16th place – 16:36.2) and Bolivar’s Payson Reisner (21st place – 16:46.30) rounded out the area’s all-state finishers.
Willard finished seventh as a team. Webb City was 12th and Rolla took 14th.
In the Class 4 girls race, Abi Street led the area by finishing in third place with a time of 19:06.
“It was pretty tough in the wind,” Street said. “A couple races ago when we ran here at Gans, I did pretty bad, and after that my coach told me to focus on running hard and reeling people in. That’s what we tried to do.”
Rolla’s Isabella Frost was the only other area all-state finisher taking 13th place with a time of 19:28.7. She led her team to a fifth place finish overall with a total of 191 points.
Defending team state champion West Plains finished sixth overall as a team. Webb City (eighth) and Bolivar (12th) rounded out the area’s teams competing at the state meet.
FULL RESULTS: BOYS RACE – CLICK HERE
FULL RESULTS: GIRLS RACE – CLICK HERE
