Story by Coach Dickson
     Varsity teams competed in the 39th annual MSSU Southern Stampede on the Tom Rutledge Cross Country course in Joplin this past Saturday. This was a fun experience with some fast competition, and on a pretty fast college course. We competed against 41 other teams, with 255 runners in the boys race and 215 in the girls race!
Luke Thompson brought home the 2nd place overall runner, just 1.6 seconds behind 1st place. He was hanging right in that 5th/6th position through most of the 3rd mile, then with a quarter of a mile left he dropped the hammer and made a big move the other runners couldn't cover.
     The boys placed 12th, with most of them running their fastest times ever! The girls placed 19th, with most, also, running their fastest times ever! We're starting to work on carrying some difficult paces being about 5 weeks out from districts, so many of them gained the confidence they needed from this meet that they'll be able to carry that goal pace come district time.
Out of 255 Runners -
Luke Thompson (2nd) - 16:04 Season PR
Spencer Johansen (65th) - 18:30 - Career PR
Brody Norris (79th) - 18:49 Career PR
Trace Akers (98th) - 19:10 season PR
Ben Cady (146) - 20:13 career PR
Zain Wahid (166) - 20:49 career PR
Alexander England (167) - 20:51 season PR
Out of 215 Runners -
Sophie Hurtgen (66th) - 22:41 Career PR
Payton McGee (100th) - 23:46 Career PR
Myli Johansen (132)- 24:52 Career PR
Abby Longo (147)- 25:31 Career PR
Adrian Caselman (190) - 29:01 Season PR
     We had an outstanding weekend! We have our home meet this Thursday Sept 25th, here in our beautiful Simpson Park! Come watch & support these exceptional athletes compete against hundreds of other runners at our home meet!