It was all School of the Ozarks all the time in the Class 1 races on Saturday morning. The Patriots boys and girls teams swept the team titles and added an individual victory, dominating the smallest classification in what will surely be their final attempt there for a while.
The boys race started the day off right for the crew from the Southwest border as their team would go wire-to-wire, all 5 kilometers, to pick up the decisive victory. Not only did the team win every kilometer, but after sitting just a second behind the leaders at the 1K mark, sophomore Kellen Robertson took control of the race and never looked back. His 16:16.00 mark was just under the personal best he set at the Chile Pepper Cross Country Festival a month ago and was nearly 20 seconds ahead of the next closest finisher.
"I'm so happy...I was a little bit injured in the beginning of the season and had to work back from that. Really taking that and using it as fuel to know that I still have a chance to win the individual title was just amazing."
Coming across second was St. Joseph Christian's Austin Hill in 16:35.80. Just a second off his District 4 winning mark, Hill's breakthrough cross country season finished with a 26-place jump from the 2024 State Championships. Vienna's Hunter Schwartze crossed in third with a big personal best and first career mark under 17:00 (16:43.10). Clopton sophomore Jason Hoffman also had a banner day, capping off his own excellent breakthrough season with a fourth place finish and second career mark under 17:00 (16:46.20). At last year's Class 1 Championships, Hoffman finished 84th in a season best of 19:12.20. Fifth was a familiar face in Van Buren's Landon Street. The junior picked up his third State medal in as many tries so far and also dipped under 17:00 for the first time (16:49.30).
Hill spoke with Michael Smith after the awards ceremony.
For School of the Ozarks, the team victory was their first in their 12 years as a program. Led by first-year Head Coach Andrew Pyatt and Robertson's 1-point effort, the Patriots used some pack-running powers at the 3-5 spots to secure the only point total under 100 for a boys team on Saturday. Senior Isaac Todd was 38th, picking up 17 points at the 2-spot, a major development for the young man who only raced the Chile Pepper Festival, District 2 meet, and State meet this year.
"It's just really surreal to be here and win the State Championship," Robertson mentioned after the awards ceremony.
Van Buren earned their third runner-up trophy in the last five years, and fifth straight top five finish, with 114 points and two all-State athletes. Kingsville got the job done and earned their first ever team trophy in their fourth trip to the big dance, led by junior Avery Barnes in seventh. And Hermitage, of course, made another trip to the podium in their first year without legendary coach Mark Sabala at the helm. In Coach Matt Spunaugle's first year with the Hornets, he was able to lead the team to their fifth straight podium finish and ninth in the last 12 years. Senior Levi George was their top finisher in 15th.
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In similar, but even more dominant, fashion, the School of the Ozarks girls also brought home a team title on Saturday, scoring a meager 60 points to stave off the defending team champions, Dora, for the win. All-State finishes from seniors Ella Howard (10th) and Krystina Evans (20th) boosted the score up front and the backend scorers packed up nicely, just like their boys did, to secure the team program sweep.
Howard's final campaign ended with her fourth career sub-21:00 performance after entering the season at 21:00.31 and Evans finished out her career in style with her first career individual all-State medal. They spoke to Michael Smith about their individual runs and the team victory after the award ceremony.
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Head Coach Andrew Pyatt and Assistant Coach Connie Bolger also joined Michael Smith to discuss what it means to win both team titles.
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Dora's gutsy second place finish was led by juniors Isabelle Martin in 13th place and Haley Perkins in 31st, just outside of the individual award stand, but in a good enough spot to score only 12 points. South Nodaway's team of five, led by four-time all-Stater Mya Wray in fourth, picked up a third place finish, their first team trophy since their win in 2022. Senior Allison Riley also picked up her fourth individual medal with a 15th place, a great day for the Platte Valley co-op. In fourth was St. Vincent, who surged to the top four over final kilometer after starting out the race in tenth. Reagan Meyer, ever their fearless leader, was third overall in a personal best 19:28.30. Sophomore Anna Welker posted a 36-second personal best to finish 12th overall.
(Photo: SK Slaughter)
The story in the individual race was Norwood's Jayden Chambers. The senior who had never broken 20:00 in her career crushed her personal best, storming to a 19:09.40 victory, and the first individual championship for a girl in school history. Chambers' margin of victory was 10 seconds over St. Paul Lutheran freshman Amaya Shafer.
"It feels amazing. I've been wanting this for four years and I can't believe I did it in my senior year," she told us after the race. "I love cross country so much and I can't wait to do it for the next four years, too, (at Evangel University)."
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Random Notes...
The top 13, and 25 of the top 30, athletes in the Class 1 race were non-seniors. The fastest senior on the day was Stoutland's Michael Kincaid.
Stoutland senior Mallory Shaw capped off her stellar career with her fourth all-State honor: an eighth place finish. The 2022 State Champion joins an illustrious group of athletes who earned a top 10 finish all 4 years.
Nineteen individual qualifiers made the podium in the Class 1 Girls race, nearly 2/3 of the field.
