Three Joplin High School distance runners made their college decisions official at a signing ceremony on Monday.
Jennalee Dunn is taking her talents to Cornell University in New York, while Zaben Barnes and Evan Matlock signed to join the Missouri Southern track and cross country program.
Dunn said competing at the NCAA Division I level while also obtaining an Ivy League education at Cornell was too good of an opportunity to pass up.
“It’s an incredible opportunity,” Dunn said. “For a long time, I didn’t know if I could run at the college level. But coming to Joplin, they really helped me with my training and with dropping my PRs. It’s a huge honor and I couldn’t be happier.
“I was looking at a lot of highly-academic schools in the Northeast,” Dunn added. “Cornell really stood out as a good fit. It felt like home when I visited and met the girls on the team.”
Dunn noted academics were a big factor in her college decision. She plans to major in philosophy.
“Philosophy is something I’ve always been interested in and I have a lot of questions about the world,” Dunn said. “I wanted to go to a serious academic school where I’ll be surrounded by people who are just as passionate about what they’re studying.”
Dunn said she’s interested in doing missionary work or becoming a human rights lawyer after college.
Dunn is coming off a stellar cross country season. She placed 14th place at the Class 5 state meet with a school record time of 18:36. Dunn was fifth at the district meet and was the runner-up at the Central Ozark Conference Meet.
Dunn advanced to the state cross country meet every year of high school.
“It’s so cool for our program and for Jennalee,” Joplin coach Dustin Dixon said of having an athlete sign with a D-I school. “She came to us as a sophomore from Thomas Jefferson and no one had any idea she would end up setting the school record and running eight of the 10 fastest times ever here. I can’t say enough good things about her.”
In last spring’s track season, Dunn finished eighth in the 1,600 at the Class 5 state meet while also placing 11th in the 800. She’ll look to go one step further this spring.
Barnes and Matlock are continuing the Joplin to MSSU pipeline that recently included Evan Northcutt.
“It feels pretty good to know that I’m good enough to go on to the collegiate level and compete with some of the greatest runners in the nation,” Barnes said. “I’m excited to join (MSSU). I know they’ll push me to be better. I ran with some of their guys over the summer and their team chemistry was outstanding. I thought that was something I would enjoy.”
“It means a lot to me to be able to continue to run,” Matlock said. “I love running and I love competition. They are ultra-competitive at Missouri Southern. They have an amazing team. It’s always been a goal ever since I started running on the varsity. It’s been so much.”
Barnes finished 64th at the state cross country meet after an 18th place showing at the district event and an 11th place finish at the COC Meet. Matlock was 124th at state and 44th at the district meet. The two contributed nicely as Joplin won a conference title this year and advanced a full squad to the state meet for the second straight season.
Dixon, a former All-American runner at Missouri Southern, was pleased to see Barnes and Matlock sign with MSSU.
“It’s cool to send kids to the school that I ran for,” Dixon said. “I know Zaben has wanted to go to Missouri Southern from the time he could walk. Those boys have been instrumental to everything we’ve done the past few years. Zaben and Evan are a testament to hard work. They worked hard and developed.”
