Boys' cross country team members with their 1st place plaque at Willard are, from left: Phillip Eubanks, Jordan Dimirsky, Dakota Renner, Luke Shortt, Chase Dixon, Kody Kutz Tyler Cox and James Ferguson on a knee.
On Sept. 22, the Ava High School cross country team traveled to Willard for the Willard Highline Meet.
The course was flat with tight curves on several of the corners. It was held at the Willard High School soccer complex, which butts up against the Frisco Highline trail. The Frisco trail is a government-funded rails to trails project that reaches from the west side of Springfield and follows the old Frisco train route all the way to Bolivar, a distance of approximately 34 miles. Both the boys and girls team enjoyed using the trail for their 30 minute cool down after their races.
Eight of the 13 Ava runners that competed earned their personal bests on the 3.1 mile course.
Both the boys’ and girls’ teams placed first in the small school division. Other schools in that division were Halfway, Fair Play, Hollister, Chadwick, and Ash Grove.
The Ava Boys team scored 38 points for the first place title. Hollister
Ava girls' cross country team members with their first place plaque at Willard are, from left: Brittany Walker, Amanda Greene, Destany Russell, Kendra McCleary, Christina Shortt and Ashley Rieken.
who defeated the Bears by 27 points at Willow Springs just two weeks ago placed 2nd to the Bears by 4 points, with 42 points. Fair Play was 3rd with 60 points, Chadwick 4th with 74 points, and Halfway had 140 points for 5th.
In the big school division, for the boys, Logan Rogersville placed 1st, Willard 2nd, Lebanon 3rd, Buffalo 4th and Marshfield 5th.
Chase Dixon and Dakota Renner finished 17th and 18th respectively and ran 18:18 each with Chase just barely nudging Dakota at the line. That was a personal best time for Chase and just 4 seconds off Dakota’s best time.
Luke Shortt continues to improve dramatically. He ran his best time of the season so far with an 18:39. James Ferguson was close behind Luke with a 19:01, which was his second best time of the season.
Kody Kutz improved by 1 second over last week’s meet with a 19:14. Phillip Eubanks had the 2nd best time of his career with a 20:25, and Tyler Cox debuted on his first cross country race of the season with a 23:25.
On the girls’ side, Ava placed 1st in the small school division. In the large school division, Willard won their home meet with 25 points, Marshfield was 2nd with 48 points and Lebanon took 3rd with 56 points.
Big and small schools all competed against each other in the medal race.
Christina Shortt medaled by placing 8th overall with a time of 22:44. Kendra McCleary ran a personal best of 25:46, Amanda Green dropped her time by 2 minutes and 55 seconds and ran a 26:13. Destany Russell in her first meet of the season ran a 26:16, and Brittany Walker improved her time by 44 seconds and ran a 29:04.
The Ava cross country team was at Mtn. Grove on Tuesday, then traveled to the MSU cross country course in Springfield on Tuesday, Oct. 4.
