Valdivia 18:29, Gibbens 15:43 at Camdenton
A fast day around the state was proven to be further true as Blue Springs's Tessa Valdivia blazed the Ha Ha Tonka State Park course for another 18:30 on the day for MO girls (and get this: we still are not done with sub-18:30s yet). Only a junior, Valdivia is showing off her talents here as we move into October and is leading a Blue Springs team that continues to get stronger with each passing week. As a team, they won by 50 points over 2nd place Joplin. Coming off her first sub-19:00 at her notoriously fast home course on Monday, Rolla's Emma Puetz kept the good times rolling with a 19:05 at Camdenton. She was followed by Blue Springs senior Elaina Hubner who has now ran faster than her 2016 state meet time 3 times this season and still has a few more races before she jumps back on the course at Oak Hills. She was 19:14 Saturday. Hickman breakout freshman Elizabeth Henderson had another impressive race, going 19:23 for 4th and Ozark's Alexis Barber came across in 19:43 for 5th.
Hickman junior Chandler Gibbens continued his own run of excellence so far this season as he cruised to a 23 second victory in the large schools race. Gibbens was sub-16:00 for the second time this year after his 15:58 at the MoSo Stampede and appears poised for a potential top-10 finish at this year's state meet, solely based on how he has raced and how fast he has run so far this season. Branson's Keifer Dooley had an impressive showing, posting a 16:06 for 2nd, and was followed by Jefferson City's top 2 - Cole Biesemeyer and Thomas Nield. Jefferson City is another team that has yet to truly live up to its full potential just yet, but they were able to average 16:39 here and take down a sneaky Joplin team by 27 points. Joplin had a noteworthy race in their own right, putting their top 4 from 8-11 and between 16:38-16:48 with a freshman, sophomore, junior, and senior populating those four places. They averaged 16:52 on the day, pulled down by their #5 man.
In the small school race, Alex Dukes (Mexico) and Mason Gaines (Fulton) squared off for the third straight week and Dukes came out on top once again. This time, though, Dukes put an exclamation point on his fifth straight victory by crossing the line in 15:51. The #5 ranked boy in our preseason subjective rankings, it appears that Dukes has secured himself a spot in the top 3. Dukes has looked unbeatable, but has not met up with McDaniel and Kielhofner yet. Warsaw's Dallas Larsen had a major breakthrough as he looks to move back up in the Class 2 rankings with his 16:35 and Weaubleau's Chase Ratliff made good on that #2 Class 1 ranking has he came across in 16:54.