CLINTON – The Eupora boys and girls teams both finished ninth at the 2A state cross country meet. East Webster had three boys and two girls run, but could not compete as a team with fewer than five runners.
Eupora entered seven runners each for boys and girls and all 14 are underclassmen. It was the first year with enough runners to compete as a team
“For the first time to compete as a team I think we did extremely well. I was really proud of them” said coach Randee Jernigan. “They put in a lot of hard work and set a foundation for us to be more competitive next year.”
The top individual performer was sophomore John Thomas Frank, who just missed making all state with a 15th place finish in the boys race. He traversed the hilly 5,000 meter Choctaw Trail course in 19:11.65. The top 14 receive medallions as all state.
Frank was followed across the finish line by seventh grader Chris Nicholson 47th, junior Anthony Schexnaydre 68th, junior Walter Mitchell 72nd, eighth grader Woods Mitchell 86th, freshman Jude Hawkins 93rd and eighth grader Alex Anderson 100th.
The girls were led by freshman Lillian Winter, 35th in 26:49.24. Junior Macie Manasco was 38th, eighth grader Hallie Johnston 53rd, eighth grader Estra Herard 59th, sophomore Lucy Tulipan 69th, eighth grader Katrelya Pratt 85th and junior Alyssa Ballentine 86th.
A team can enter up to seven runners in the state meet, but only the first five count toward a team score. Eupora had a score of 255 for the boys and 209 for the girls.
The standout performer for East Webster was junior Ali Azlin. She made all state finishing 13th in the girls race with a time of 24:21.09. Reagan Plunkett was 25th in 26:01.80.
Azlin won a bronze medal with a third place finish in the 3200 meter at the 2A state track meet in the spring, and was fifth in the 1600.
Runners for East Webster boys were eighth grader Austin Avent, 71st in 23:59.63; freshman Gabe Brown, 84th in 25:345.89 and eighth grader Brody Smith, 88th in 26:45.49.
“Our goal was for each of them to beat their personal best time and each one of them did. So I am extremely proud of them and their hard work,” said first year coach Jordan Smith. “Our goal for next year is to have a full varsity team to compete at the state championships.”
Team winners for the 2A meet were Walnut boys and St. Patrick girls. Individual winners were Tiler Castillo of West Lincoln for boys in 17:53.87 and Aubrey Britt of Loyd Star for girls in 10:16.
