Led by a 4x800 meter relay that broke an 18-year-old school record, the McDonald County Lady Mustangs took fifth place in their first year to compete in the Big 8 Conference Track and Field Championships which were held May 7 at Monett High School.
The relay team of Emily High, Cassidi Dowd, Faith Owens and Dakota Bunch finished second to Carl Junction, but its time of 9:57.9 was over a second better than previous school record of 9:59.0 set in 1997 by Jackie McDuffey, Alicia Sanny, Katy Brady and April Stauber.
"After the first meet this season, I told the girls the record would be theirs this season," said coach Darbi Stancell. "They broke the record of a set of girls that was very special to me. I think they will break it again before the year is over. They work hard every day in practice and it couldn't have happened to a better group of girls. I am really proud of them."
Each of the four also placed in at least one individual event, led by High's third place in the 3200 meter run (12:51.7) and fifth place in the 1600 meter run (5:53.4).
Bunch picked up a fifth in the 800 meter run (2:40.0) and a sixth in the 400 meter run (1:04.7) while Owens was fourth in the 800 (2:35.0) and Dowd was fifth in the 400 (1:03.5).
Other McDonald County athletes to score included Destiny Arnall, third place, pole vault, 8-0; Baily Rickett, fourth, high jump, 4-8; 4x400 relay (Bunch, Owens, Dowd and Isamar Lazalde), fourth, 4:29.0; Lindsay Limore, shot put, fourth, 29-3.5; Becca Sumler, fifth, shot put, 28-5 and fifth discus, 91-0; and Jordan Witt, fifth, long jump, 14-6.5 and sixth, triple jump, 30-1.
The Lady Mustangs took fifth place in the team standings with 50 points. Carl Junction won the team title with 163 points followed by Lamar in second with 144 points. Rounding out the field were East Newton with 57 points, Aurora 54, McDonald County 50, Monett 45, Mount Vernon 23, Cassville 13 and Seneca 5.
Boys
Connor Underwood ran a season's best 2:01.3 for second place in the 800 to lead the McDonald County boys. Nicholas Ray, of Lamar won the race in a time of 1:59.0.
Underwood also ran a leg of the 4x800 relay that took fourth in a time of 8:55.03. Other members of the relay were Wes Bethel, Wade Schmit and James Walker.
Schmit added a fourth place in the 3200 (11:11.0) while teammate Cole Cooper was fifth (11:32.5).
Cooper was also fifth in the pole vault at 11-6 while McDonald County's Jacob Spurlock was fourth at the same height, but with fewer misses.
Other results for McDonald County included Donovan Hadley, fourth, discus, 124-1.5 and fifth, shot put, 39-6.5; Cesar Santillan, sixth, triple jump, 36-9; and the 4x200 relay (Francisco Gonzalez, Jilberto Alejo, Ceasar Santillan and Drew Landers), sixth, 1:42.4.
McDonald County totaled 31 points to take sixth place. Lamar won the meet with 186 with Carl Junction second with 165 points. Rounding out the field were Monett 52, Mount Vernon 43, Aurora 32, McDonald County 31, East Newton 30, Cassville 17 and Seneca 0.
McDonald County's next meet is the Missouri Class 4 District 6 Track and Field Championships to be held May 16 at Carl Junction High School.
Sports on 05/14/2015