West
Plains v. Liberty -- worth the wait --
did Liberty's pack wait too long?
by Brandon Daniels
4A Boys
Athletes, coaches, parents and fans waited quite some time to see
the match ups presented by the 4A boys. The US#3 Harrier ranked
West Plains Zizzers were set to clash with the US#5 Harrier ranked
Liberty Blue Jays. Each year, the Oak Hills Golf Course offers hills
that remind runners of the differences between cross country and
track. In addition to this year, the toughest course in the state
offered 25 to 35 mile per hour wind gusts. The course record of
15:29.67 was set by Matt Tegenkamp in 1999.
During the first mile, the Blue Springs Wildcats led the chase
pack. But, the front runners included West Plains’ Brain Roe,
Josh Harper and Matt Brown. Also in front, Marc Tegenkamp positioned
himself just beside Adam Perkins. Perkins added, “What was
up at the start? The [my] goal was to stay tucked for the beginning
of the race.”
However, the race did not start the way Perkins planned. After
beginning the race as the primary wind blocker, Perkins came to
a complete halt which surprised dozens of followers. The stunned
competitors threw their hands in the air with confusion. “Overall,
I thought the first mile was slow. I kept telling Marc [Tegenkamp]
to draft off of me. I said ‘Marc get behind me! Get behind
and draft! There’s no use running beside me into the wind.’
But, he stayed right beside me and then I totally slowed down to
let them go around me.”
Hickman senior Nathan Smith (11th 16:51) claimed, “With the
winds, everyone tried to draft off of each other. Nobody would go!”
Just before the two mile mark, Perkins surged from the pack as
Harper maintained a close distance. Perkins cruised through the
two mile mark in 10:24. In a time of 10:55, Liberty’s pack
crossed the mark 20 and 25 seconds behind their goal time. West
Plains maintained pace with seven runners ahead of Liberty’s
second runner. Lee’s Summit’s Marc Tegenkamp sat comfortably
in third place.
Even after the two mile mark, Perkins continued his mid race fartleck.
St. Joseph Central sophomore Chris Pullen stated, “When I
saw him [Adam] make his move, it totally amazed me. He just blew
away from everybody! He was just gone!”
As Perkins rounded the final corner and headed uphill for the final
200 meters, he repeatedly glanced backwards to check on Harper.
Instead of kicking to finish the race, victory seemed inevitable
and Perkins cruised in comfortably. His finishing time was 16:09.78.
“[…] Yeah, I didn’t sprint the finish. I wanted
to enjoy the moment and soak everything in. When I woke up this
morning, I knew that the 20-plus mile per hour winds destroyed any
chance of breaking a record.”
So, the race for first was won, but Harper dashed through in 16:15.73.
Harper’s daring stance, against Perkins, was an effort good
enough to capture second place by 20 seconds. Perhaps, Harper will
have the opportunity to run with Perkins in Kenosha, Wisconsin later
this fall. Harper announced, “[…] Yeah, me and some
of my teammates will go to Footlocker [Midwest]. There will be a
lot of good representatives from Missouri and I really hope to qualify
within the top eight.”
The race for third place was led by Marc Tegenkamp. Pullen said,
“I was with Tony [Camareno] and then I caught up to Marc.
For most of the race, everyone in front of me was just isolated
by themselves. Marc and I were side by side going up Fire Station
hill and that’s where we broke Matt Brown. I started to kick
when I could see the finish line.”
Eventually, Brian Graybill caught Tegenkamp and Pullen in the sprint
for third place. The 1:54 half miler finished with a time of 16:35.99.
The Liberty junior said, “Even after I was told by a coach
[last spring], I really didn’t believe that I could make the
top five. Well, I guess I am the returning underclass, so I am expected
to win this next year. I’d like to live it up, but we’ll
just have to see next year.”
Pullen commented, “I was a bit discouraged when Graybill
passed me, but I just kept digging deep down for another gear. I
kept telling myself to find that gear that I have deep inside of
myself. I went into the race with hopes of getting in the top 4.
So, I just did what my coach told me to do and that’s how
I did it.”
As a 4:27 freshman miler, Pullen obtained the speed needed to hold
off the strength of Tegenkamp. The two finished 4th and 5th with
times of 16:36.28 and 16:37.90, respectively. Finishing closely
behind were Roe (6th 16:38.52), Adam Scrogham (7th 16:40.09 Lee’s
Summit North), and Camareno (8th 16:41.59 Blue Springs).
The West Plains pack led Liberty from start to finish, even with
several Liberty runners blazing through the final mile. Maybe the
outcome would have been different if the race was extended a hundred
meters? But when it counted, West Plains backed their #3 ranking
with a five point victory over Liberty. In third place, Blue Springs
high school finished with 85 points which normally would have won
the state meet – that is without having to compete with two
nationally ranked teams. After the awards ceremony, the West Plains
boys took their state championship picture. Many of the Zizzers
walked over to congratulate Perkins. The West Plains runners and
family members expressed many signs of joy. Perkins and Harper shook
hands while former West Plains’ coach Joe Bill Dixon took
part in a chat with Perkins’s mother and father.
Perkins concluded, “The race basically went as expected.
I had to make a few adjustments with the wind, but it just got the
goal of a record out of my mind. There’s going to be a lot
of competition at Footlocker [Midwest]. It’s going to be [Chris]
Solinsky and Nef Araia up front. I’d like to get in there
and run against those guys just to see how well I can place.”
4A Girls
After the sound of the gun, several girls moved to the front very
quickly. Shockingly enough, the West Plains pack distanced themselves
far back from the leaders. While leading the front pack, Kaly Prather
and Katy Bundy sailed through the first mile in 5:53. “The
beginning had a lot of twists and turns. I thought the pace was
really slow, but I also didn’t want to lead into the wind.
I ended up going faster than I actually thought I was going. I was
told to stay right behind the pack to draft. So, oops! I guess I
didn’t stick with my plan […]!” laughed Prather.
From the mile, the leaders began to push for separation in an early
break. In the mix was Bundy, Prather and West Plains’ teammates
Mindy Lahey and Jennifer Harper running side-by-side. Cape Girardeau
Central sophomore Jennifer Pancoast tried to maintain contact with
the pack.
Approaching two miles, Bundy tried many aggressive moves to string
out her drafters. Trailing Bundy were Harper and Prather who often
switch between second and third positions.
At two miles, Bundy barely led Harper as both cross with times
of 12:05. Prather and Lahey slightly faded back in respective times
of 12:07 and 12:08. Pancoast followed closely by holding on in 12:09.
Kelli Denny (7th 20:02.53 Lee’s Summit) and Stephanie Lavin
(6th 19:54.96 Blue Springs) led from behind at the head of the chase
pack.
After two miles, Prather made a gutsy bolt for both Harper and
Bundy, but even continued to move past the two. Bundy fell off of
the surge but Harper stayed in contention with Prather’s bold
move. Seemingly, Prather never began to slow down. Prather added,
“[…] Yeah, well she [Harper] caught back up to me going
down a hill. Then, she slow down going up the [fire station] hill.”
After that point, Harper never came in contact with the Raymore
Peculiar sophomore. Prather finished in 19:07.74 which would have
obviously been remarkably faster than Bundy’s winning time
from last year of 18:58.41. “I just did what I was told to
do. I had to respond to the change, a little, because of the wind.
Even though, we changed a bit of the plan during the race, it still
worked perfectly,” said Prather.
Nearly one-hundred meters behind Prather, was Harper kicking towards
the finish line. Harper (19:18.64) came very close to finishing
an undefeated season, even though, her talented efforts earned second
place. She put quite some distance on defending state champion Katy
Bundy. Bundy, a senior at Marquette high school, finished in third
place with a time of 19:26.39. She pulled away from sophomore Mindy
Lahey who finished in fourth at 19:32.37. The final of four sophomores
in the top five was Pancoast, who placed fifth in 19:35.95. Only
two seniors finished within the top eleven places and only 5 within
the top twenty-one places.
West Plains finished an undefeated season by winning with 32 points.
While finishing second, the Blue Springs Wildcats doubled the Lady
Zizzers’ score with 67 points. Lee’s Summit high school
finished in third place with 105 points and St. Joseph Central finished
just behind with 126 points.
Prather summed, “The race was a little bit different than
I thought. I expected to prepare for a huge group. Because I’m
small, I just imagine myself trying to move around a bunch of girls
to move to the front. But, it wasn’t like I imagined at all.
So, yeah, I was surprised. I imagined that more girls would be in
the pack, but there were only six or seven of us at the most.”
Prather’s display of talent showed how she can run up to
her potential and how she can run with the best. She plans to run
AAU cross country, but remains undecided whether she will compete
at Foot Locker Midwest.
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