West Plains Puts FOUR Boys Under 16; Ray-Pec Makes Another Statement
So it was foretold, so it was performed. On Saturday, West Plains put their top 4 boys under 16:00 and made an incredible statement heading into State weekend. Led by senior Ben Stasney, the Zizzers top 4 were all withing 15 seconds. Coming into the season, they were the only squad returning 3 sub-16:00 boys, but Caleb Boys joined Ethan Hutchinson and Jacob McCrackin made it 4 with his 15:53 performance on Saturday at the always fast Camdenton Ha Ha Tonka State Park course. In great conditions, and with one of the fastest guys in the state leading it out, West Plains made their mark. There is one question mark, though: Will Dylan Hayes be the #5 they need? Currently, the Zizzers are fine with where he is and if they put 4 in the top 25, they could hang on even if he does not run up to snuff, but they could absolutely lock up the position as state championship favorite if we knew for certain that he could be a top 50 talent at the least. On Saturday, he was 35th so we are not so sure just yet. West Plains will make their unprecedented FOURTIETH straight trip to the state meet. They last saw the podium in 2015 and will look to make it back in 2017. In second was Lee's Summit West and they put 2 boys under 16:00 in their own right. Ben Burnett broke up the West Plains pack and ran a huge personal best of 15:44 for third overall. Jimmy Dietrich took 7th in 15:55, a huge personal best for him, too. The Titans will be making their 9th trip to state and 4th in a row. All eyes were on Webb City senior Ryan Riddle as he got one last regular season chance to break 15:00. After running a 15:16 2017 debut, Riddle has been under 16:00 all year, but has not been able to reclaim that sub-15:20 form. On Saturday, he did by running away from some of the best boys in the state, running 15:13 for the 25 second victory over Class 4 #4 Stasney and leading his team to a 3rd place finish. With his performance on Saturday, it is apparent that Riddle is in top form and that we will be in for one of the most exciting Class 4 races in recent history. Webb City is making their 4th straight appearance and 5th overall. In the race for 4th, it was almost guaranteed that Raymore-Peculiar would not be grabbing it as they were dead last in the virtual meets. But the Panthers showed up big and proved all their doubters wrong, putting 3 boys in the top 20 (4 in the top 31) with that top 3 running 16:20 or better. It was a huge day for Ray-Pec as they were able to leapfrog a very solid Nixa squad for the final spot to state. They will not be a team who will compete for a podium spot, but after Saturday's performance, we do not expect them to lie down at state. They were led by Jaren Jones in 15th and Marlon Williams and Braden Zaner in 17th and 18th respectively. Those top 3 will return for 2018, too, at least. This is Ray-Pec's first trip since 2013 and 12th overall.
Miranda Dick has officially thrown her name in to the ring as a competitor for the state title next Saturday. The Raymore-Peculiar junior has been trailing Victoria Findley and Mikayla Reed all year, but after an 18:11 winner in Sectional 3, she is now the 2nd fastest girl in Missouri and could put a scare into the season-long top 2 girls. Not to be outdone, the Panthers put a second under 18:25 when Makenzie Stucker ran 18:24 for second. It was yet another 1-2 finish for the Ray-Pec juniors and this trend has led them to become the top ranked girls squad heading into state weekend. Sophomore Marissa Dick was 5th for the Panthers and made it 3 Ray-Pec girls under 19:00. The results were a little closer this week, though, as Ray-Pec was only able to dispatch Lee's Summit West by 4 points. Ray-Pec will make their 5th straight trip to state and could win their first state title since 2001. Lee's Summit West was led by Madison Hulsey this time as the sophomore went 18:43 with Mckenna Butler at 18:53 and Addie Mathis at 19:00. With three sophomores at 19:00 or better, the Titans have not gone away after getting bumped from the top ranking. They will make state trip number 11 in a row and go for a sixth state championship and first since their run of 5 straight from 2007-2011. West Plains was 3rd but only because they had to face off with Ray-Pec and LSW. Kaylee Hatley was in the mix and ran 18:44 for 4th and McKenzie Bergman was 9th. Mia Harris was 33rd in this race, so if we see her in full form at the state meet, it could be a different story for the Lady Zizzers. Webb City's girls are making their first ever trip to the state meet after taking fourth on Saturday on the backs of a sub-19:00 from Camilla Roy (18:52). Special shoutout to Rolla senior Krista Hilmas who has relentlessly fought back from some significant setbacks over her career to take 23rd on Saturday, including a stress fracture that took some 9 months to fully heal. According to our sources, she is model of what resiliency and hard work looks like. This is what the sport is all about - getting knocked down 9 times and getting up 10. Hopefully Krista's story speaks to those of you whose season's ended prematurely due to injury or other circumstances about continuing to work hard toward your goals regardless of what stands in your way.