By Amanda Perkins (For OzarksSportsZone.com)
The Hermitage boys are class 1 champs for the second year in a row.
“Any time you can repeat…it’s difficult,” said head coach Mark Sabala. “This is special to us, and this is a great group of kids. They’ve been working very hard since last year. They had a great summer of training and literally our top ten trained all summer long, which is a first for us. They put in to everything we did during our workouts during the year. They understood that most of the meets were practice meets to us because we were working toward this meet. We had a chance to work as a team and work together, and we got here today and followed the game plan and executed properly. Good results occurred.”
Bennett Mantooth took third place (17:03.6); the junior also took third last year in his sophomore finish. Justin Horn was fifth (17:20.7), Justus Yates, 17th (17:47.4), DeJuan Chambers, 22nd (17:57.2), and Jaxon Wheeler, 34th (18:34.5). The team took first with a score of 51.
“I have two seniors, number two Justin Horn and our number six Kavon Wright,” said Sabala. “And we will return everyone else.”
McAuley Catholic also secured a team trophy, finishing in fourth place and led by all-state finishers Michael Parrigon (21st – 17:56.5) and Trae Veer (24th – 18:02.5).
Galena and Blue Eye both ended up just off the podium in the team competition, finishing fifth and sixth, respectively. Galena was paced by all-state finisher Colton Ellingsworth in sixth place. Jadon Weaver led Blue Eye with an 18th-place all-state finish.
CLICK HERE FOR PHOTOS OF THE RACES
Stoutland took 10th as a team, led by Bradley Shaw in eighth place with a time of 17:14.6.
Thomas Jefferson’s Kip Atteberry was the area’s top finisher, taking second place with a time of 17:01.0. Morrisville’s Landon Duchscherer placed fifth in a time of 17:11.2. Cade Nold from Dora finished seventh place with a time of 17:12.4.
The Crane duo of Calen Faucett (13th – 17:39.8) and Christian Church (16th – 17:47.1) earned all-state honors.
Macks Creek’s Caleb Phillps (20th – 17:56.5) and Thomas Jefferson’s London Rodriguez (25th place – 18:10.1) rounded out the area’s all-state finishers.
In the girls’ race Freshman Mallory Shaw of Stoutland put up a time of 20:38.0 to take first place.
“This is a little bit shocking,” said Shaw. “It’s a pretty big accomplishment.”
The area had seven other all-state finishers in the race, including Chadwick’s Gretchen House (6th – 21:03.7), McAuley Catholic’s Kendall Ramsey (8th – 21:07.6), Dora’s Autumn Nold (13th – 21:36.4), Liberal’s Taylor Swarnes (14th – 21:38.0), Dadeville’s Libby Lakey (15th – 21:39.4), Chadwick’s Raeleigh Little (16th – 21:42.2) and Summersville’s Lacey Wuertley (22nd – 21:52.4).
Liberal was the area’s top team finisher in sixth place, followed by Fordland (8th), Dora (11th), Stoutland (12th), McAuley Catholic (13th) and Wheatland (15th).
FULL RESULTS: CLASS 1 BOYS – CLICK HERE
FULL RESULTS: CLASS 1 GIRLS – CLICK HERE
