Riddle, Pyrah Rule at COC - Large Division
The fastest time of the week belonged to the MoMileSplit Class 4 #2 Ryan Riddle out of Webb City. His 15:30 at the Central Ozark Conference Large Division race was a 42 seconds ahead of 2nd and was actually faster than his time at Chile Pepper on a worse day weather-wise. Nixa's course has produced fast times in the past, but Riddle's solo 15:30 shows that he's starting to round into form as we enter the state series. Coming across in second, by a nose, was Carthage junior Clayton Whitehead, trailed closely by Branson junior Keifer Dooley in 16:12 and 16:13 respectively. In fact, the next senior finisher did not come across until 11th as Nixa's 3, 4, and 5 rolled across 11th, 12th, and 13th. It was a tight race between Webb City and Nixa, but in the end, Webb City squeaked out the 7 point victory. Unfortunately, with Webb in District 6, these teams probably will not see each other again until the sectional meet, but Webb and Nixa look like the cream of the crop out of Southwest Missouri at the moment.
On the girls side, it was Willard sophomore Sydney Pyrah with a huge race to take the COC Large victory. Her 19:06 was a 30 second personal best for Pyrah and a 44 second season best. The daughter of former Olympian Jason Pyrah, it appears that Sydney is slowly but surely making a name for herself. She continues to remain right on the bubble for our top 15 subjective rankings, but she should be a strong pick for a medal at the state meet this season as she is rolling at the moment. Just behind her was Webb City's Camilla Roy in 19:19. The 58.3 400/2:17 800 senior in her first season of cross country broke 20:00 for the first time on Tuesday, running 45 seconds faster than she did at Chile Pepper just 10 days earlier. It was a huge race for Roy as she led her Cardinals to a team title, besting Branson by 16 points. Madeline Caruthers was 3rd in 19:41 for Branson and Carthage sophomore Jenari Lopez came across 4th in 19:51.