Class 4 State Wrap Up

West Plains Grabs Trophy Number 35 in 40th Straight Trip

1st Place - 1979, 1981, 1984, 1985, 1989, 1991, 1992, 1994, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2004, 2008

2nd Place - 1986, 1987, 1988, 1993, 1996, 1998, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2017

3rd Place - 1980, 1982, 1990, 1995, 2011, 2015

4th Place - 1999, 2010, 2012, 2014

(Class 4 from 1978-2003, 2010-present; Class 3 from 2004-2009)

West Plains is the most historic program in the state of Missouri ever since head coach Joe Bill Dixon took over in 1978. Before him, there was no such thing as "West Plains Cross Country." Since then, they have not missed a state meet and Saturday's run was their 40th straight trip on the boys side and 35th straight on the girls (37th total). Coach Dixon has 34 state trophies with the boys and 13 state titles (the most in state history). He himself has brought 14 more boys teams to state than any other coach, earned 20 more boys trophies than the next closest coach, and won 6 more titles than any other boys coach. Furthermore, he has brought 9 more girls teams than any other coach, earned 12 more girls trophies, and won 5 more state titles than any other coach. He is no longer the head girls coach, but he brought 33 teams before handing over the reins to the new coach, Alicia Gunter, and won 11 state titles. 

Overall, he has brought 73 teams to state, earned 58 state trophies, and won 24 state championships. Not only that, but he has done all of this while moving between 3A and 4A throughout the years - the two highest classifications. He is also the only coach to ever perfect score the state meet and in that year they actually took 1st-5th. Only one other team has ever scored under 20 points. Individually, West Plains has had 7 state champion boys and 94 all-staters. They have also had 4 state champion girls and 92 all-staters. 

On Saturday, West Plains appeared ready to make it 14 state championships, but had to settle for 2nd. Led by Ben Stasney in 3rd, the Zizzers top 4 boys were able to secure places in the top 16 with senior Ethan Hutchinson grabbing 10th (16:04.64), senior Jacob McCrackin taking 12th (16:13.18), and junior and heir-apparent Caleb Boys taking 16th (16:15.58). West Plains headed into 2017 with 3 boys under 16:00 and no one else under 17:00, but the jump made by Caleb Boys has been instrumental in the Zizzers' return to prominence after having placed 9th in 2016. 

The four young men made headlines last week by all four going under 16:00, but in this one, only Stasney went under with his 15:46.43. "We just lowered the miles a little bit, kept up the speed, and worked on the hills," said Stasney after being asked if anything changed heading into this meet. Number 5 man Dylan Hayes said, "We were looking to win today and bring home another state championship for the Zizzers, but we just got beat by a better team today." Blue Springs, the champions, averaged 16:14 on the day and had a 1:23 1-5 split and the Zizzers averaged 16:16 with a 1:17 1-5 split. It all came down to the back end scorers from Blue Springs on Saturday, but though the Zizzers were disappointed, they were also happy to carry on the tradition. "It's one big family," McCrackin somberly remarked about the West Plains tradition. "It means a lot with all the ones who worked as hard, if not more, with the same training plan from the great Coach Dixon." West Plains will graduate its top 3 and 4 of its top 5, but behind the legendary Joe Bill Dixon, you can bet that West Plains will hardly lose a step in 2018. 

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