BOLIVAR, Mo. — For the second straight season, Joplin High School is taking a full boys team to the state cross country championships.
The Eagles finished third in the team standings at the MSHSAA Class 5 District 2 meet on Saturday at the Bolivar Municipal Golf Course.
At the district meet, the top four teams and the top 30 individuals advanced to the state meet. The top four boys teams were Kickapoo (46), Raymore-Peculiar (75), Joplin (79) and Nixa (115).
“Today was just a business day for our boys,” Joplin coach Dustin Dixon said. “We didn’t run spectacular, but we didn’t run bad. Last year, we put a lot of emphasis on districts. We didn’t do that this year. We knew we were good enough to get through and so first is the same as fourth here. The state championships are only six days away. It’s hard to have your team at its best twice in a span of seven days. But today we took care of business.”
Joplin’s boys are in the midst of a special season, as the Eagles captured the Central Ozark Conference crown last week and advanced a full squad to state this week.
“We were 12th last year at state and we’re looking to build on that this year,” Dixon said.
Joplin’s Hobbs Campbell crossed the line fourth with a time of 16 minutes, 32 seconds.
“I feel good about my race, but I think I could have gotten a better place,” Campbell said. “I went to the front right away. I always try to go out hard and see if I can hold on. But all that matters in this race is advancing. It means a lot for our team to go back to state. The environment there is amazing and the course is so nice.”
A junior, Campbell finished 34th at last year’s state meet.
Kickapoo’s Tyler Harris was the individual medalist with a time of 15:58. Raymore-Peculiar’s Luke Voelker (16:19) and Ozark’s Gabriel Bauer (16:23) were second and third, respectively.
Neosho senior Kaden Cole finished sixth in 16:42 to earn his third straight trip to state.
Cole was the lone non-Joplin runner to advance from our coverage area in Class 5.
Cole took 14th at last year’s state meet and also qualified as a sophomore.
Also for Joplin, Ian Horton was 14th, Zaben Barnes took 18th, Chance Tindall was 20th, Nicholas Horton finished 23rd, Evan Matlock was 44th and Grey Edwards finished 55th.
Carthage’s Mariques Strickland finished 42nd and teammates Eddy Fuentes and Caleb Fewin were 53rd and 60th, respectively.
Neosho’s Carson Newell finished 56th, while teammates Bryce Hall and Connor Jordon were 59th and 66th, respectively.
GIRLS: JOPLIN, NEOSHO ADVANCE INDIVIDUALS
Joplin and Neosho had two girls apiece advance to state as individuals with top-30 finishes.
Joplin senior Jennalee Dunn finished fifth with a time of 19:43. Dunn is heading to state for the fourth straight season. She was 18th last season.
Dunn wasn’t the only Eagle to advance, as sophomore Allie Keizer secured a trip to state by finishing 14th in 20:30.
Dixon noted he was proud of both girls for getting the job done and advancing.
Also competing for Joplin were Sage Mitchell (40th), Mairi Beranek (44th), Cylee Gilreath (47th), Averi Burks (49th) and Meridyth Mai (61st).
Joplin finished sixth in the standings with 150 points.
“It’s hard to have a team run great two weeks in a row,” Dixon said. “We ran so well last weekend. We knew today would be an uphill climb, but our girls competed. We were a little behind at the midway point of this race. We made up a lot of ground in the second half of the race last week, but in these sloppy conditions, it’s hard to make up ground.”
Like Joplin, Neosho had two girls advance, as Chloe Wood finished 10th in 20:09 and Riley Kemna was 13th in 20:25.
Wood is a freshman for Wildcats coach Emily Abell. A sophomore, Kemna will run at state for the second straight season for the Wildcats, who bumped up from Class 4 this year.
Dunn, Keizer, Wood and Kemna were the only local girls to qualify in Class 5.
Neosho’s Bailey Miller finished 39th, while Carthage’s top finisher was Katelyn Witherspoon, who crossed the line 50th.
The top four teams were Raymore-Peculiar (56), Kickapoo (84), Lee’s Summit West (120) and Nixa (120). Neosho was seventh with 195.
Lee’s Summit West’s Makayla Clark was the individual champion in 19:04 and Kickapoo’s Klarie Brown was the runner-up (19:14).
NOTES: The 47th MSHSAA Cross Country Championships begin on Friday in Columbia.
The Class 5 boys race is scheduled for 11:15 a.m. on Friday at Gans Creek Cross Country Course. The Class 5 girls race is slated for noon.
FULL RESULTS: MSHSAA Class 5 – District 2 2021 – Meet Results (milesplit.com)
