Semoball

Dexter boys earn high five at state cross country

COLUMBIA, Mo. — The Dexter boys cross country team headed to Columbia this past weekend with a dream of bringing home a state top-four trophy.

While that didn’t happen, the Bearcats did end up with a fifth-place Class 3 state finish that can be proudly known throughout Stoddard County for years to come.

The run, at Gans Cross County Course at the University of Missouri, was the first Dexter’s team made as a whole to state in 51 years — and they made the most of the trip.

“To finish 12 points off the podium is quite an accomplishment for our kids,” Dexter head coach Josh Dowdy said. “I could not be prouder of all of the hard work, perseverance, and team work these kids demonstrated the entire season.”

The Bearcats earned its top-five spot behind the recorded runs of Ben Dowdy (17:05.7), Cameron Bell (17:11.6), Chris Stone (17:16.1), Anistin Kyle (17:39.2) and Clayton Bell (17:43.3) who finished 23-26-30-49-50 in the individual places.

Junior girls Abbie Lloyd (22:29.4) ran to a 90th place result in her third straight appearance on the season’s final weekend.

CLASS 1

The Van Buren boys and girls teams both took second place in the state competition.

The Lady Dawgs, who came in as defending state champions, fell to South Nodaway, who scored 75 points to Van Buren’s 83.

Bernie’s boys ended up in 11th place while Van Buren was outdistanced by Hermitage.

Sophomore Kastin Cleaver of the Van Buren girls was the highest top individual finisher with a run of 21:24, good for 11th place, and a spot ahead of Bernie freshman Ella Harris (21:24.9).

Van Buren also had big runs by sophomore Ziah Been (21:43.5, 17th), junior Adria Marvin (2:05.3, 28th) and senior Mabry Madison (23:03.7, 43rd).

The top area runner for the boys was the 1-2 punch from Van Buren as senior Caleb Ricker (17:34.3) and junior Jaxson Houf (17:36.7) went for 11th and 12th places, respectively.

Freshman Patterson Crafton (18:38.6, 35th) and junior Blake Dorris (18:42, 39th) also had big finishes for Van Buren, who got an 18:59.9 last run by junior Daniel McLaughlin.

CLASS 2

The Puxico boys finished 12th and East Carter 14th at the Class 2 state finals.

Leading the way for Puxico was freshman Jett Hancock (17:45.5, 32nd place) and sophomore Logan Robison (18:02.7, 41st).

Sophomore Kaysen Long (18:22.7), freshman Karsen Long (19:45.1) and sophomore Avery Hancock and junior Caleb Pierce also ran for Puxico.

East Carter senior Kasen McCarty (18:17.3) finished 51st to lead the Tigers while freshman Cordell Duckett (18:57.8), junior Brendan Reynolds (18:57.9), junior Mason Carter (19:55.4) and junior Wyatt Chase (20:37.2) wrapped the scoring for the squad.

“Cross country is a very difficult sport and today’s weather conditions made it even more difficult,” East Carter head coach Kennedy Thies said. “With the ground being wet and the wind blowing against us, our runners had to dig deeper than ever before. They gave all they had, which is all we asked for. I feel that we have grown so much as a team and having this state appearance is definitely a building block for our program’s future.

“I have no doubt that the East Carter Redbirds will be back in Columbia for the 2023 state competition.”

Bloomfield sophomore Caleb Upchurch ran an 18:48.1 to finish 81st and senior teammate Blake Wagster finished at 19:42.60.

“I really wish these kiddos got to run (Friday): It was a nice 80 degrees and (Saturday) it was 40 with a wind chill of 32 and 20-30 mph winds,” Bloomfield head coach Victoria Mahoney said. “It was a very stark difference and it caught just about everybody off guard. Barely any of the kids had proper gear for those temperatures. There wasn't much compression gear out there. I was really looking for Caleb and Blake to drop some time off but that just wasn't in the cards for anybody. They ran their hardest and gave it what they had and that's all I can ask.”

Greenville’s Jeb Huff wrapped his career at 18:32.3, good enough for 64th place.

On the girls side, East Carter freshman Katelyn Nichols ran a 32nd-place time of 21:48.7 to lead the local contingent.

Puxico’s Paisley Wilkerson (23:11.8) and Lanie Wilkerson (23:18.7) also ran in Columbia.

Puxico head coach Hannah Hindman echoed similar sentiments about the colder weather.

“We didn’t get the results that we hoped for, but they should be so proud of all that they have accomplished to get to this point,” Hindman said. “We can’t wait for our next season to run again! We have such a good group of kids, and we are looking forward to working with you all again.

“(The boys) now have a starting point so next year we can beat that. From here on out we know what our competition looks like and we can only build upon that.”

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