Zach Wills of Ohio sets a course record at the Laverne Gibson XC Course in Terre Haute Indiana. Missouri MileSplit was on-site to bring you race coverage and interviews with Missouri athletes and a few of the day's stars.
Zach Wills jumped to an early lead from the start and continued to dominate throughout the race. He went on to break the course record with a blazing fast time of 15:07. Danny Thater was the top Missouri finisher with a time of 15:32, while Caleb Hoover finished just behind. SLUH finished 6th place lead by Caleb Ford and Tim Rackers while Liberty finished 8th with a solid performance from Cody Smith.
I'm going to try and summarize what I know at this point about the Class 4 Missouri Champions from Lee's Summit West:
When Nike was announcing the Girls Individual results Alex Moase was placed 15 and Liga Blyholder 14th. Knowing that Johanna Kliensasser had finished ahead of Alex, Coach Griffin knew something was wrong. With Moase as 15th the LSW girls were announced as the 2nd place team earning a trip to Portland. The girls were obviously thrilled.
After the race Coach Griffin met with Nike to inform them that Johanna finished ahead of Alex. At first Nike simply swapped names but when LSW realized the girls were .20 seconds apart they knew something was wrong.
After reviewing finish line video tape it was determined that LSW was actually 3rd. Nike does allow for additional at large bids to be added to the teams attending in Portland. Hopefully the efforts of these girls and the integrity of their coach will be rewarded with an at-large birth.
LSW Girls put a solid effor as they just miss an automatic bid. Chelsey Phoebus finished 5th automatically qualifying for NXN.
