One of the biggest meets in SWMO annually is the Richard Clark SWCCCA Invitational in Bolivar. It'll give us a good luck how many of the best teams in that corner of the state look heading into the 2020 season. We'll take a look below at those athletes and teams to watch there this weekend.
Individual Races
The favorite for the boys race will be defending Class 2 state champion Daelen Ackley, who owns a personal best of 15:39 from state last year. He won this meet last year, and will look to start his season with another win as he looks to win the Class 3 crown later this fall.
Other top athletes to watch in the boys race include Riley Simpson of West Plains who owns a personal best of 15:30 from sectional last year, and is a contender in Class 4. Class 2's third place finisher Sam Shuman (Spokane) is also in the field with a personal best of 16:06 from last year, and ran 15:55 last week in a time trial.
The girls race looks to be a real barn burner as well. Defending Class 1 state champion Riley Arnold (Blue Eye) will be squaring off with some Class 4 state medalists from last season in Klarie Brown (Kickapoo) and Alicen Ashley (Nixa). Brown has the fastest personal best with an 18:16, followed by Arnold at 18:33, and then Ashley at 18:46. At State last year all three were within around ten seconds of each other, and this could turn out to be quite the race.
Other athletes to watch include Avery Arnold (Blue Eye) with a personal best of 18:57, Jayna Gunter (West Plains) at 19:05, Brayden Kantola (West Plains) at 19:14, and Sally Cybulski (Kickapoo) at 19:18.
Teams to Watch
There are plenty of good teams to watch at this meet Saturday in the boys race. Kickapoo is the ninth ranked team in Class 5 to start the season, and look like the favorites to win the meet with a very young and hungry squad. Class 4 number two West Plains also will look to grab the win as well. The meets hosts, Bolivar, also are ranked fourth in Class 4 heading into the season and will be competitive as well and are joined by fifth ranked Webb City. Class 3's third and fifth ranked teams are also in attendance with El Dorado Springs and East Newton respectively. Class 1's number ranked team in Blue Eye is also going to be running.
There's plenty of team firepower in the girls race as well. Class 4 number one West Plains will be competing with Class 5 number seven Kickapoo for the team title on Saturday. Defending Class 1 champion Blue Eye is in the field and will look to kick off their title defense with a good finish here. Class 3 & 4's eighth ranked team is also in the field with El Dorado Springs and Webb City looking for a good start to their seasons.