COLUMBIA, Mo. — Only three runners finished ahead of Thomas Jefferson’s Kip Atteberry at the MSHSAA Class 1 Cross Country Championships on Saturday at Gans Creek Cross Country Course.
A junior, Atteberry crossed the line fourth overall with a time of 17 minutes, 3 seconds.
West Nodaway’s Riley Blay was first (16:05), while Plato’s David Held was the runner-up (16:29) and Hermitage’s Bennett Mantooth placed third (16:34).
Atteberry earned a state medal for his effort.
It was a huge improvement from a year ago for Atteberry. At the 2020 meet, Atteberry finished 51st in 18:45.
Also in Saturday’s Class 1 state meet, McAuley Catholic freshman Michael Parrigon finished 38th in 18:17 and was the second local finisher after Atteberry. McAuley’s Phillip Motazedi was 65th (18:50).
CHC BOYS TAKE SIXTH
The College Heights Christian boys finished sixth in the Class 1 team standings with 173 points.
Hermitage (61), Oak Ridge (132), Wellsville-Middleton (155) and Valle Catholic (162) were the top four teams, with Van Buren (165) fifth.
For the Cougars, Rolen Sanderson was 44th in 18:23, Caleb Quade took 54th in 18:46 and Derrick McMillan was 56th in 18:47.
Also for CHC, Corbin Thomas finished 84th, Jace Edwards was 92nd, Brayden Youngberg finished 117th and Steven Calandro was 118th.
CLASS 1 GIRLS
In the Class 1 girls race, Thomas Jefferson’s Sarah Mueller finished 35th in 22:27 and McAuley Catholic’s Kendall Ramsey was 37th in 22:32.
Thomas Jefferson’s Macie Shifferd finished 68th in 23:26 and teammate Mia Grubbs was 86th in 23:55.
From the region, Liberal’s Abby Barton took 25th in 21:48.
CLASS 2 GIRLS
College Heights had runners competing in the Class 2 girls race. Jayli Johnson finished 39th (21:40) and Madi Carson was 131st (24:28).
CLASS 2 BOYS
Stockton won the boys team title with 87 points. Stockton’s Aaron Bradshaw was 19th, Colby Adams was 25th, Max Brown was 26th, Dakota Duncan took 32nd and Braden Postlewait was 52nd.
Southwest’s Christian Long was 15th in the Class 2 boys race with a time of 17:03 and teammate Caden Uthe was 24th. Purdy’s Bryce Ozbun finished 33rd.
CLASS 3 HIGHLIGHTS
East Newton’s boys had three medalists, as Gabe Bergen was eighth (16:27), Kelton Sorrell took 10th (16:34) and Chase Sorrell was 13th (16:36).
The Patriots finished third in the team standings with 127 points. Herculaneum was first with 95 and Maryville was second with 122.
In the Class 3 girls race, Lamar’s Kiersten Potter finished 13th in 19:34 and Aurora’s Kaci Singer was 26th (20:15).
Jennalee Dunn’s final time running for Joplin provided yet another time she reset the Eagles’ school record.
In her final race, Dunn finished in 18 minutes, 36.1 seconds to break the record for the final time and nearly dropped a minute off the previous mark of 19:22 during the MSHSAA Class 5 Cross Country State Championships held Friday at Gans Creek Cross Country Course in Columbia.
Her time this year allowed her to take 14th place, a few spots up after taking 18th last year and a noticeable drop in time from 19:11.9.
“It feels good to be all-state again,” Dunn said. “It has been a rough year. I was just going out and seeing how I could run and really try to enjoy the run and make it my last, best race. It feels really good. It was my last race, I wanted to make sure I ran the best I could the whole time. I didn’t want to have regrets afterwards.”
Joplin coach Dustin Dixon poses with Hobbs Campbell at Friday’s medal ceremony.
Dunn was in 28th place at the one kilometer check point but steadily started moving up the leaderboard. With 1K left, she moved up from 20th to 16th and then a 3:37.3 split on the final kilometer was her second fastest time – behind a 3:31.9 to open the race.
Teammate Allie Keizer took 96th place for the Eagles, jumping 18 spots over her final 1K in the race.
The Joplin boys had seven runners there and took ninth place overall.
Junior Hobbs Campbell earned an all-state medal by placing 14th – like Dunn.
He ran 15:45.1 and peaked at 10th place at one point in the race – but that came after he made a strategic move.
“It was way faster than last year and it was very hectic,” he said. “At the very beginning, I was super boxed in and I had to come to a complete stop and go around people and try to pass people. I went out there and I wanted to be near the top and I was something like 13th (place) and then 10th and then after the 3K, I started hurting really bad. I was just trying to finish after that.”
Three other runners finished in the top half of the field of 159 runners: sophomore Ian Horton (49th), senior Zaben Barnes (64th) and Nick Horton (73rd).
An example of how much faster this year’s field was: Ian Horton’s time of 16:18.7 would’ve been 26th last year and Nicholas Horton’s time of 16:31.3 would’ve been 36th.
Neosho’s Kaden Cole is pictured during Friday’s Class 5 race.
“We had a great day, I was hoping we’d place a little higher than nine but you look at how the boys ran, out of the seven, we had four set lifetime bests and two ran within five seconds of their personal record,” Joplin coach Dustin Dixon said. “We ran about as well as you could hope. The other teams ran better. We were in seventh (place) in the 4K but dropped but it was close. We were 40 points from fifth. I’m really proud. They had a great year. We won four meets and the conference for the first time. We had a great year.”
Neosho’s Kaden Cole was in the group of leaders early on in the race and the senior finished in sixth place.
An all-state performer last year, Cole has made big improvements over the past three years. His debut at the state meet ended with a 131st place finish.
Cole was 14th early on but then worked his way into 10th then ninth over a 2K stretch. He closed with a 3:02.9 split, his second fast split on the 5K and moved up three spots.
Remember, remember the fifth of November when second-seeded Joplin ousted third-seeded Nixa from Class 6 District 3 tournament with a 24-13 win in the semifinals at Junge Field.
After Joplin handed Nixa its first loss of the season on Sept. 3 in Week 2, it seems quite poetic that Joplin also gave Nixa its final loss of the season in the district semifinals on Friday.
Joplin RB Drew VanGilder gives Joplin its first lead of the game with a first-quarter touchdown in the district semifinal win over Nixa. Photo by Shawn Fowler.
In a low-scoring first half, Joplin (10-1) and Nixa (8-3) went into the intermission tied at 10-10. Nixa struck first in the second half with a field goal late in the third period only for Joplin to score 14 unanswered points on the way to victory.
“It was a huge win,” Joplin coach Curtis Jasper said. “Our kids played fantastic. All three phases of the game did an amazing job.”
Joplin advances and travels to face top-seeded Lee’s Summit North, which defeated fourth-seeded Raymore-Peculiar 21-14 in the other district semifinal matchup, in the Class 6 District 3 title game on Nov. 12. This is the third district title game appearance in four years for Joplin, and its first since 2019.
“We are in a really tough district, and we are very fortunate to playing for the championship,” Jasper said. “We knew whoever we faced, it was going to be a good team. But, that is Class 6 football all the way through. We relish that opportunity, and we relish that we get to spend seven more days together fighting for a common goal. We’re going to enjoy every moment of it.”
Joplin’s offense finished with 354 yards on 64 plays. Running back Quinton Renfro led Joplin’s offense with 106 yards rushing and a touchdown on 28 carries, while RB Drew VanGilder added nine carries for 38 yards and a touchdown. QB Always Wright had seven rushes for 85 yards and a touchdown, while completing 14-of-19 passes for 125 yards.
“Everyone kept asking me what the difference was going to be in this game,” Jasper said. “I thought it was going to come down to who was the more physical team. That started up front, and I thought both with our offensive and defense lines were more physical than theirs.”
Nixa came into the game scoring nearly 40 points a game, but was limited to 13 points and 300 yards of offense on 53 plays.
“We have an experienced defensive coordinator who knows what he is doing,” Joplin LB Robert Kelly said of DC Nick Reid and the game plan for Nixa. “We practiced this stuff all week. This is our defense. We are for real. We are the real deal.”
Joplin’s Donovyn Fowler makes a stop to prevent a touchdown in the win over Nixa on Friday, Photo by Shawn Fowler.
Nixa QB Connor Knatcal completed 22-of-35 passes for 242 yards, while Austin McCracken caught five passes for 30 yards. WR Kael Combs had six receptions for 86 yards, while RB Dylan Rebura finished with 34 rushing yards on nine carries.
GAME ACTION
Nixa took the initial lead on the opening possession when PK Kaleb James capped a 12-play drive with a 40-yard field goal for a 3-0 lead with 6:44 left in the opening period.
Joplin responded with a double-digit drive in return, marching 65 yards on 13 plays with VanGilder punching it in up the middle from 4 yards out to give his team a 7-3 lead with 2:25 left on the clock.
Nixa looked to make it two drives with points before Joplin came up with a goal-line stand at the start of the second quarter to hold on to the early lead.
Nixa went to the air during its second drive before Rebura picked up 9 yards on first down deep in Joplin territory to give NHS a second-down-and-1 from the JHS 3-yard line. Rebura was stuffed on two consecutive runs before the fourth-down pass fell incomplete.
“Nixa is a good team, and they did some really good thing offsensively,” Jasper said of his defense’s stop. “We didn’t give up the big play. We kept making them lineup and snap the ball again. It was huge. Hats off to the kids for making those plays and the coaching staff for preparing them.”
Nixa eventually regained the lead late in the first half when Knatcal hooked up with McCracken on a slant over the middle for a 12-yard touchdown to make the score 10-7 with 3:35 to play in the second period. The score capped a 13-play drive for Nixa that started at its own 29-yard line.
Joplin had enough time to drive down deep into Nixa territory before PK Joseph Ipsen tied the contest at 10-10 after knocking through a 28-yard field goal as time expired in the second period. His fifth make this season.
Nixa got on the board first in the second half when James connected for a 28-yard field goal to give NHS a 13-10 lead with 2:08 left in the third quarter. Joplin looked as if it forced a turnover just two plays earlier when Kelly came up with a strip sack, but it was called an incomplete pass despite the ball moving backwards after Kelly hit the quarterback.
Joplin LB Robert Kelly (51) squares up to make a tackle in the win over Nixa on Friday. Photo by Shawn Fowler.
Joplin eventually regained the lead when Renfro capped a four-minute drive with a rushing touchdown from a yard out to give JHS a 17-13 lead with 10 minutes left in the game.
Joplin’s defense forced Nixa into a turnover on downs near midfield with less than seven minutes to play, and the offense took advantage.
“We played fairly mistake free,” Jasper added about his defense. “It was a very clean game, and when you’re playing the caliber of teams such as Nixa, you have to play mistake-free ball, especially on the mental side.”
Joplin took possession at the Nixa 46 and bled the final six-plus minutes off the clock before Wright found room four a 4-yard touchdown on fourth-down and goal with three seconds remaining to ice the win.
“Offensively, they were going to try and keep a roof over us and limit our big plays,” Wright said. “We knew that coming in. It was really won in the trenches. The most physical team won. The defense played second to none tonight. I really appreciate our defense because they help out the offense a lot.”
COLUMBIA, Mo. — Webb City’s boys and girls both had two all-state runners at Friday’s MSHSAA Class 4 Cross Country Championships.
Abi Street and Riley Hawkins placed fifth and eighth in the girls race, running 18:44 and 18:58, respectively.
According to Coach Dustin Miller, it is the first time the Cardinals have had multiple girls all-state and it is the first time since 2003 the girls have had an all-state runner.
Webb City coach Dustin Miller hugs Riley Hawkins during Friday’s medal ceremony in Columbia. Submitted photos.
A unique twist, that runner, Kim (Boman) White, will have a daughter that will be a freshman next year at Webb City.
How did the team celebrate the success?
With friends and teammates dressed as the Pink Power Ranger, T-Rex and Chewbacca, among other Halloween costumes that got used only a few days later than normal.
“It’s been a tradition since I was in eighth grade and probably before that,” Hawkins said. “It is so fun all of our teammates and classmates come and support us. It makes us feel good.”
The Cardinals’ third runner, Alanna Bundy, was 40th and the team placed sixth overall.
“Realistically we couldn’t have been fourth, we could’ve been fifth, but I’m proud of the ladies,” Miller said. “They ran more relaxed than we have. This is the first time I had a girls team show up in a big important meet and compete to their ability.”
Dustin Brockmiller
The Cardinals boys finished fifth (171), coming up 12 points behind Ladue Horton Watkins (159) for the fourth and final trophy. Webb City was the state runner-up last year.
With three runners from last year’s team gone, Dustin Brockmiller stepped up to earn his first all-state medal, while Roman Borboa moved up from 21st last year to 19th this year. Evan Stevens, a sophomore, took 36th after placing 59th last year.
“It was pretty awesome, we have only gotten two all-staters at once and that was last year,” said Borboa. “Dustin worked his way up. I never expected him to be up here with me.”
Carl Junction had three runners at the state meet and Collin Emmert brought home a state medal for the second year in a row.
Emmert was 18th last year but ran nearly 30 seconds faster this year and was 21st.
Lexi Carpenter was 82nd, three spots ahead of teammate Hannah Franks for the Bulldogs’ girls squad.
CARTHAGE, Mo. — The Carthage Tigers took care of business on Friday night.
Now, a rematch with the rival Webb City Cardinals awaits.
Top-seeded Carthage handled fifth-seeded Willard 42-20 on Friday night in a semifinal contest of the Class 5 District 6 tournament at David Haffner Stadium.
Carthage will host Webb City at 7 next Friday night in the district championship game.
The Tigers defeated the Cardinals 42-14 on Sept. 17. Of course, Webb City knocked off Carthage in last year’s district championship game.
Ranked second in Class 5 by the Missouri Media, Carthage scored 35 unanswered points in the first half en route to the lopsided victory.
Luke Gall scored a pair of touchdowns in the opening half, a 70-yard scamper and a 12-yard run. Caden Kabance’s QB keeper from 2 yards out made it 21-0.
In the second quarter, Kabance’s 4-yard run and Gall’s 6-yard sprint gave the Tigers a commanding 35-0 advantage.
Willard’s Owen Bushnell scored on a 2-yard run with 3:13 left in the third period before Carthage’s Cale Patrick ran for a 53-yard touchdown, giving the hosts a 42-6 lead.
Willard scored twice in the fourth quarter, a 2-yard run by Bushnell and a 22-yard pass from Russell Roweton to Trey Pulford.
Coming off last week’s win over Neosho, Willard ends the season with a record of 1-10.
Carthage will take a 10-0 record into next Friday’s district title game.
WEBB CITY, Mo. — With a solid overall performance on both sides of the ball, second-seeded Webb City knocked off third-seeded Republic 35-7 in a semifinal contest of the Class 5 District 6 tournament on Friday night at Cardinal Stadium.
“I thought we looked pretty solid,” Webb City coach John Roderique said. “We’re real proud of our guys. It wasn’t real flashy. Republic has really gotten after people on both sides of the ball this year. It was a tough, physical game. That’s exactly what we expected. Hats off to Republic…you talk about a team that has vastly improved from Week 3. They have a lot to be proud of.”
Ranked fourth in Class 5 by the Missouri Media, Webb City led 21-0 at the half before adding 14 unanswered points in the third quarter.
“We took care of business,” Webb City senior quarterback Cohl Vaden said. “We had two weeks to prepare, so our guys had a lot of focus tonight. And we want to be at our best at this time of the season.”
Webb City’s Dupree Jackson attempts to elude the Republic defense on Friday night at Cardinal Stadium. Photos by Israel Perez.
The Cardinals scored on all of their possessions in the opening half.
On the other hand, Republic’s first half possessions ended with an interception, a turnover on downs and a missed field goal.
“Defensively, you have to be in a bend but don’t break mode against these guys,” Roderique said. “I felt like we did that. They got some first downs and I’m sure they had more snaps than we did in the first half. But we were able to convert and get points on the board on our possessions.”
With Friday’s win, Webb City (7-3) advanced to the district championship game, where they’ll travel to No. 1 seed Carthage (10-0) next Friday.
“This is what you hope for and this is what you practice for,” Roderique said. “This is what we talk about all the time. It’s nice to get an opportunity to play another game. You just want to extend the season as long as you can. We’re playing an undefeated team and probably the best team in Southwest Missouri, so we’ll have our work cut out for us for sure.”
A 44-yard touchdown run by Webb City senior running back Cade Wilson was the lone score of the first quarter.
The Tigers were threatening on their first drive, but Webb City’s Brentan Wilson grabbed an interception.
The Cardinals went up 14-0 with 10:30 left in the first half on Dupree Jackson’s 1-yard touchdown plunge. A 27-yard pass from Vaden to Trey Roets set up the score.
After Republic’s turnover on downs, Webb City extended its lead to 21-0 on Cade Wilson’s 2-yard touchdown run.
The Tigers missed a 30-yard field goal attempt in the final seconds of the first half.
The hosts took a 28-0 lead with 5:56 remaining in the third quarter when Jackson sprinted to an 18-yard touchdown run.
The Webb City defense converges on Republic’s Cole Gimlin during Friday’s game at Cardinal Stadium.
A few plays after he picked off a pass, Webb City junior Dante Washington hauled in a 16-yard touchdown reception from Vaden to give the Cardinals a comfortable 35-0 cushion.
Republic’s Avery Moody ran for a 58-yard touchdown in the fourth quarter for the final margin.
Webb City compiled 313 yards of offense, with 228 on the ground and 85 through the air.
Jackson ran 15 times for 103 yards and two scores, while Cade Wilson had 11 carries for 85 yards and two TD.
Wilson surpassed 1,000 rushing yards for the season.
“He’s not a very big guy, but he’s got the heart of a lion,” Roderique said of Wilson. “I’m just proud of him.”
Vaden completed four passes, with three to Washington (58 yards) and one to Roets (27 yards). Washington also converted five PAT kicks.
Republic (6-5) finished with 276 yards, with 212 rushing and 64 passing. Moody ran 29 times for 160 yards and also completed two passes.
DISTRICT TITLE GAME AWAITS
The Cardinals will have an opportunity to capture a 22nd straight district championship.
Carthage topped Webb City during the regular season en route to an undefeated run through the Central Ozark Conference.
Of course, next week’s rematch will determine who advances in the state tournament.
“This is what we all wanted,” Vaden said. “I think it’s going to be a fun game.”
WEBB CITY 35, REPUBLIC 7
Republic 0 0 0 7—7
Webb City 7 14 14 0—35
SCORING SUMMARY
WC: Cade Wilson 44 run (Dante Washington kick)
WC: Dupree Jackson 1 run (Washington kick)
WC: Wilson 2 run (Washington kick)
WC: Jackson 18 run (Washington kick)
WC: Washington 16 pass from Cohl Vaden (Washington kick)
REP: Avery Moody 58 run (Marco Donjuan kick)
Webb City’s Dante Washington runs after a catch on Friday night. Washington had a touchdown reception and an interception.
Webb City senior Cade Wilson scored two touchdowns against Republic on Friday night. Wilson also surpassed 1,000 rushing yards on the season. Photos by Israel Perez/SoMo Sports.
