In the days leading up to the Class 5 District 2 cross country meet, Joplin coach Dustin Dixon wasn’t sure if his boys squad had enough firepower to finish in the top four of the team standings.
Simply put, the district was loaded with some of the state’s best squads, including conference rival Nixa, who beat the Eagles just 10 days earlier at the Central Ozark Conference Meet.
But on Saturday at Nixa’s Inman Intermediate School, Dixon’s Eagles got the job done.
Joplin finished fourth in the team standings, advancing the full team to the state championships. The state-qualifying teams were Kickapoo (49), Raymore-Peculiar (79), Rockhurst (82) and Joplin (98).
“That was the best district in Missouri and it wasn’t close,” Dixon said. “There were six teams in that district that are ranked in the top 10 in the state of Missouri.”
Joplin edged Lee’s Summit West (103) and Nixa (104) for the final spot.
“Nixa was the fifth-best team in Missouri on paper and Lee’s Summit West was the 10th best team in the state on paper,” Dixon noted. “We didn’t have a great day, but we beat both of those teams. Nixa kicked our behinds at the conference meet, but I think that refocused us. On Saturday, we didn’t run great, but we ran good enough. And that’s a testament to our kids. It shows that we’ve got a pretty solid group here.”
Dixon added he was proud of his team’s gritty performance.
“It’s so easy to say that if we can get everyone to have a great race on the same day then we’ll achieve our goals or we’ll win the meet,” Dixon said. “But more often than not, you simply just need to have a bunch of B-pluses and you can still have a great team score. If you coach long enough, you know that rarely will you have five, six or seven runners run at an A-plus level on the same day. Honestly, we just didn’t run that well. Every one of our boys, except for Grey Edwards, was slower than they were at the conference meet. We’ve talked about what it means to raise the floor so that the program and the team is still pretty darn good on bad days. That’s where we were on Saturday.”
It’s the third straight season Joplin is taking a full boys team to the state championships.
“We’ve gone from never qualifying for the state championships to qualifying in three straight years,” Dixon noted. “I think this year’s team is the best of the three that have qualified, and they were on the fringe of not making it to state because the district was so tough this year. That speaks to what this team has worked to do.”
Joplin senior Hobbs Campbell finished fourth at the district meet with a time of 15 minutes, 36 seconds. A Kansas commit, Campbell finished 14th at last year’s state meet. Campbell is seeded fifth in this year’s Class 5 race.
“If Hobbs gets fifth, we’ll be very pleased with that,” Dixon said, noting the strong competition. “Hobbs is stronger on the track than he is on the grass. Don’t get me wrong, Hobbs is a hell of a cross country runner, but there are four boys in the state of Missouri that have separated themselves from the field. We’ll see what happens.”
Three members of the JHS team have a shot at state medalist honors (top 25) — Campbell, sophomore Chance Tindall and junior Ian Horton.
“I really think we have a shot at having three medalists, so that’s our goal,” Dixon said.
At the district meet, Tindall finished 10th, while Horton was 13th.
Rounding out Joplin’s top seven are juniors Parker Durham and Aidan Koch and sophomores Grey Edwards and Coby Sampson. Edwards took 25th at the district meet, while Durham was 46th, Koch was 53rd and Sampson was 75th.
“The highest team finish we’ve ever had at the state meet is ninth and I think we’re going to be better than that this weekend,” Dixon said. “We’ve raised the floor. Even on our bad days, we’re still pretty good. If we want a shot at a state trophy, we’ll have to beat at least two of the teams that beat us on Saturday. But this year was never about getting a state trophy. Last year we graduated three boys who are now running in college and this team is still going back to Columbia. That’s something to be proud of.”
Joplin has two qualifiers on the girls side — junior Allie Keizer and senior Cylee Gilreath.
“Allie has battled some injuries, but she’s going to state for the third year in a row and that’s awesome for her,” Dixon said. “Cylee set really high goals at the beginning of the year. She’s run great this season and it’s really special to see her qualify for the first time as a senior.”
At the district meet, Keizer finished 12th and Gilreath was 18th.
The MSHSAA Class 5 Cross Country Championships will be held on Friday at Gans Creek Cross Country Course in Columbia.
The girls race is scheduled for 9 a.m., with the boys to follow at 9:45.
