West Plains Dodges Raindrops For Two W's
It was a wet and wild one for the Ozark Conference on Saturday. The boys in particular got drenched, but that did not put out West Plains' fire on both the boys and the girls sides. In a highly competitive conference with many Class 4 schools in attendance, the West Plains boys made easy work of the conference, going 1-2-3-4-9 for the team title. With 19 points, the Zizzers were comfortably clear of Joplin in 2nd who scored 71. Ben Stasney led the way in 16:51 with Ethan Hutchinson just behind in 16:57, both great times for the conditions, and Jacob McCrackin in 3rd in 17:02. Caleb Boys was their #4 in 4th in 17:07. The top 4 boys were 13 seconds clear of 5th - a dominating performance for a squad that will see basically all of these teams either at District 5 or Sectional 3.
The girls would not be outdone and were able to get the job done once again without superstar Mia Harris. Kaylee Hatley brought home a huge win over Emma Puetz and appears to be probably the biggest of the MoMileSplit Top 15 Individuals from this past week. Her decisive 25 second victory will definitely shake things up for the next set of rankings as it comes on the heels of victories over #10 Abby Juedemann and #11 Chloe Hershenow at Hancock. Look for her to climb into the top 15 soon. Two fellow Zizzers followed in 3rd and 4th as McKenzie Bergman came across in 20:59 and Whitneigh Drown 21:24. They scored 35 and finished 40 points clear of Joplin who edged out Kickapoo on the tie breaker. Expect both the boys and girls from West Plains make serious podium runs in the next month.