District Meet (continued from above)

“It’s the first time we’ve won the district in a long time,” said Carl Junction head coach Frank Pittman. “The seniors have worked real hard. The whole team has.

“I didn’t realize we would score this many points. They’re a consistant bunch,” he said. “I’m very proud of them.”

West Plains was second in the girls’ team standings, followed by Nevada. Webb City was sixth and East Newton was seventh.

Webb City’s Katie Box won the 100 hurdles, was third in the high jump and ran on the Cardinals’ runner-up 4x200 relay team along with Callie Beaver, Hailey Roderique and Kylie Eyermann.

“I wasn’t too worried about it because I did well in districts last year,” Box said. “But whenever those two girls false-started, that scared me. Overall, I felt pretty good.”

A steady rain in the morning carried over into the field events in the early afternoon and left small pools of water in the high-jump area.

 “I tried to step over it on purpose and on one run I restarted,” Box said. “It didn’t effect me as much as I thought it would.”

Lindsey Bragg of East Newton, who has signed to join Missouri Southern State University’s squad next season, won the long jump and triple jump for the second year in a row.

“Even with the weather, she had good marks and performed well today,” East Newton head coach Mark VanSlyke said. “We performed about as I expected. It’s a tough field, 16 teams, very good competition.”

Faith Collingsworth of East Newton advanced to the sectional in the discus for the second year in a row.

Carl Junction’s Taitum Mead placed second in the 100 hurdles and in the long jump and was third in the triple jump.

Nevada’s Mariah Mock won the 100 and 200, while Emily Weldin of Aurora was second in the 100, 200 and 400.

Seneca’s Victoria Foley won the discus, and Jennifer Frazier of Monett won the shot put. Kara Stutesman of Carl Junction placed fourth in both events.

Carl Junction’s Lauren McRae was second in the pole vault and fourth in the triple jump, and Harlee Stutesman was third in the pole vault.

In the boys’ division, West Plains ran away with the team championship.  

Webb City won the 4x200 relay, placed second in the 4x100 with a time of 44 seconds and was third in the 4x400.

Webb City senior Boo Rodgers ran on the first two relays along with Slade Byford, Alex Christian and Jarvis Jones.

“We could be a little better,” Rodgers said. “We need to work on our handoffs. That was a key mistake (in the 4x100).

“I think we can be in the low 43s or in the 42s,” he said. “It’s just a matter of the handoffs. We have to get them perfect.”

On the 4x400, Rodgers ran with Andrew Pisechenko, Byford and Braxton Baker in advancing to the sectional.

Meanwhile, Jones placed third in the 100 and 200, and Pisechenko was third in the 800 and 1600.

Corey Phillips of Mount Vernon won the long jump and triple jump, and Dylan Gibson of Cassville won the shot put and discus.

Ethan Hamilton of McDonald County won the pole vault and teammate Spencer Paul was second in the triple jump. McDonald County also won the 4x800 relay.

Big 8 Meet (continued from above)

The Bulldogs finished with 160 points, and Monett was second with 97, but CJHS coach Frank Pittman quickly pointed out the league title didn’t come as easily as the score indicates.

“Monett did a really good job of trying to push to win it,” he said. “After maybe eight events, they were up on us by six or eight points. It wasn’t like it was a runaway from the beginning by any means.

“I thought (the final total would be a lot closer), a typical Big 8 Conference track meet. Our girls did a very good job of competing. Our girls have been consistently scoring fairly high. I never thought we would be scoring as many points. At the beginning of the year I assumed we were going to be around 90 points, sometimes maybe over 100, but I never thought we’d score this high.”

East Newton placed third with 86 points, followed by Aurora 73, Lamar 64, Cassville 50, Mount Vernon 18 and Seneca 9.

Four double winners headlined the individual performances — East Newton’s Lindsey Bragg (triple jump, long jump), Lamar’s Maggie Tennal (1600, 3200 meters), Monett’s Jenny Frazier (discus, shot put) and Aurora’s Emily Welden (100, 200).

Carl Junction’s two first-place performances came from Korie Johnson in the 300 hurdles and Jamie Dunaway in the 800. The Bulldogs also registered nine second places and five thirds, and they scored 64 points in the field events — 28 more than any other team.

“A lot of our girls PR’ed,” Pittman said. “Kara Stutesman was first going into the last throw but got beat in both events. It was a typical Big 8 situation. Our 300 hurdlers did a good job, and our 4 by 100 did a good job. The field events came through really well. We scored more points than I anticipated there.”

Boys division

Monett posted four first-place finishes while winning the boys championship with 132 points.

Mount Vernon was next with 84 and prevailed in a tight battle for second place with Cassville (81), East Newton (80) and Lamar (73). Carl Junction had 58 points, Seneca 33 and Aurora 16.

Seneca’s Austin Jorgensen picked up first places in the 800 and 1600 meters. The field events produced two double winners — Mount Vernon’s Corey Phillips in the triple jump and long jump and Cassville’s Dylan Gibson in the shot put and discus.

Winners from Monett were Matt Hinkle in the 100, Chris Renteria in the 3200, Jacob Murphy in the 300 intermediate hurdles and the 4x200 relay team.

Carl Junction’s Josh McClarnon won the 110 high hurdles.