McDONALD COUNTY — A veteran group of returning runners along with a talented group of newcomers give coach Darbi Stancell high expectations for the 2012 McDonald County High School cross country teams.
“Our goal is for both teams to qualify for state,” Stancell said. “The boys fell short last year, but they were young. They are looking to return as one of the top programs in southwest Missouri. The girls qualified for state and return nearly everyone. But the under classmen that have dominated in junior high will contribute in a major way.” Leading the boys returnees is senior Caleb Littlefield, who earned All-District honors while qualifying for the state meet last year. He is joined by returning lettermen Connor Hackworth, Jake Walker, Wade Schmit and Connor Underwood. “The strength of the boys is the trio of Caleb, Connor and Wade,” Stancell said. “They have put in more miles since last season than anyone else. Also, we have a lot of depth of athletes battling for the final three spots.”
Returning from the girls state qualifying team are Makala Stephens, Evelyn Martinez, Yessi Dominguez and Cendy Garcia.
“The leadership of Makala Stephens is key with this young group of fantastic athletes who were unbeaten in junior high,” Stancell said. “The girls are eyeing a district title and will focus on placing in the top eight at state.”
Key newcomers for the girls include freshmen Kelsey Thornton, Emily High, Kylie Littlefield and Samantha Smith and sophomore Faith Owens.
“We have real good numbers this year,” said Stancell, who has been the coach for all seven years of the program at MCHS. “We have 15 boys out and 12 girls. The kids are working hard.
We look better than last year’s teams atthis time.”
McDonald County will open theseason Sept. 1 at the Border Wars meet in Neosho. Some of the larger meets are the MSSU Stampede in Joplin (Sept.
15), the Irish Invitational in Springfi eld (Oct. 2) and the Chile Pepper Festival in Fayetteville, Ark., (Oct. 13). Districts are set for Oct. 27 in Bolivar and the state meet is Nov. 3 in Je◊erson City.
Sports, Pages 30 on 08/23/2012