Cross Country 11/2/2021 2:19:00 PM

Boys and girls cross country places 4th at districts, qualifies for state

After a meeting-winning Reeds Spring Invitational performance by the boy's team and bronze finish by the girls a week ago, the Nixa cross country runners returned back to the course for the mud-filled Class 5 District 2 meet, held at Bolivar Municipal Golf Course, on Oct. 30, 2021.

Two meets previous, a third-consecutive individual Central Ozark Conference (COC) championship run of 18:50.9 by Alicen Ashley propelled the Lady Eagles' team to a third-place finish in the conference, while Wes Haman's 16:28.6 seventh-place run helped the Eagles' team to a fourth-place finish.

At the COC meet, alongside Ashley, Adelyn Janssen (10th), Macy Kopp (14th) and Brooke Bidinger (27th) placed in the top-30 in the girls' race. On the boys' side, with Hatman, five additional Eagles had top-30 runs by Devon Kemp (20th), Logan Richart (21st), Kaiden McCormick (24th), Alexander Worthley (25th) and Mason Shank (29th).

Those performances in the last two meets carried over into a muddy-district meet, and Nixa, both the boys' and girls' teams, made sure their season, as a team, extended one more week. 2021's District 2 in Class 5 consisted of 16 teams, including Nixa, which was six more additional teams from 2020.

It was a historic performance by Nixa as a whole at districts. For the first time in program history, both the boys and girls team qualified for the state meet in the same year. The Eagles and Lady Eagles both placed fourth and will make their way up to Gans Creek in Columbia, Mo. for the Class 5 State championships meet Nov. 5.

The fourth-place COC runners who placed in the top-30, with the addition of Aaron Ashley, fielded the seven Eagle runners for Nixa at districts.

Hatman was the Eagles' top runner, placing 10th at 16:52.52. That time was his third fastest of the year. His fastest, which was ironically where he will be competing Nov. 5, is 16:14.1, ran at the Gans Creek Classic in late September. In 2020, he finished fifth in the district at 16:34.77.

Behind Hatman, four finishes by the Eagles in the 20th-place range also helped jolt the Eagles to that fourth-place finish overall. Shank (22nd), Richart (26th), Kemp (28th) and McCormick (29th) all finished with times in the 17:14-17:23 range.

Worthley and Ashley finished back-to-back at 36th and 37th.

Finishing ahead of Nixa 1-2-3, were Kickapoo, Raymore-Peculiar and Joplin. Nixa finished with 115 points and was over 20 points ahead of fifth place, Lee's Summit West (141).

The full Boys Class 5 District 2 meet results can be found here.

With the Eagles' team qualification, it also marks the first time in over two decades Nixa will be sending a boys' team to compete at the state meet. 1998 was the last time a Nixa boys' team qualified and competed at state. Their 2021 placement was an improvement by two positions, as Nixa finished sixth in 2020 and Hatman was the lone Eagle qualifier. This year's team qualification marked the program's fourth overall.

Alongside the four Lady Eagle top-30 COC runners, Emily Harris, Camilia Figueroa and Cassidy Williams rounded out the Nixa runners at the district meet, who entered the race the defending the district champions.

Like she has all season, Ashley was Nixa's top performance at districts, placing ninth at 20:05.96, and marking her third-consecutive district medalist run. Ashley was second in 2019, third in 2020 and now ninth in 2021. Her ninth-place finish this year also marks Ashley's seventh-medalist run of the year, as she has finished top-10 or better in seven-out-of-nine races.

The Lady Eagles next-best runs came from Janssen and Kopp, who finished 18th-19th at 20:48.79 and 20:54.50, really helped solidify their fourth-place finish.

Harris, who had been sidelined a good portion of the season due to an injury, finally returned to the course and her 26th-place run of 21:04.97 also helped in the team points. A fully-healthy Harris saw her run to a fourth-place finish a year ago.

Coming in behind Harris were Williams (48th), Bidinger (59th) and Figueroa (64th). Williams clocked in at 22:38.32, Bidinger at 23:18.18 and Figueroa at 23:32.82.

It was ultimately Bidinger's run that captured fourth place for the Lady Eagles.

At the end of the race, the girls' team standings fielded a third-place three-way tie between Lee's Summit West, Nixa and Republic, who all had 120 points. Those points were compiled by the team's top-five runners placement, and in order to break the tie, it then went to the top-six runners.

Deciding factor, Bidinger.

Lee's Summit West's sixth runner finished at 34th, Nixa's at 59th and Republic's at 68th.

Raymore-Peculiar stood atop the district with 56 points, followed by Kickapoo's 84, and Lee's Summit West.

The full Girls Class 5 District 2 meet results can be found here.

The Lady Eagles' fourth-place finish now marks back-to-back state appearances as a team and the girls' fifth overall as a program. In 2020, the Lady Eagles made program history by placing tenth, imprinting the best-state placement by a Nixa girls' team. Past appearances have seen the Nixa girls' team finish 14th in 2002, 16th in 2010 and 15th in 2012. The Lady Eagles will seek to make history yet again with an improved state finish in 2021 come Nov. 5.

This will also mark Ashley's fourth-consecutive state meet appearance. She placed 43rd in 2018, 15th in 2019 and 25th in 2020. Individually, Ashley is seeking her third-straight state-medalist performance, and is well in line for that. Ashley ran 19:31.3 a year ago, and on the same course this year at the Gans Creek Classic, her time was over a minute better, 18:17.6.

The Nixa runners conclude their 2021 season at the elusive Class 5 state meet on Nov. 5 at the Gans Creek Cross Country Course in Columbia, Mo. The boys race is scheduled for 11:15 a.m. with the girls to follow at noon.

For all state information, click here.

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