The 2017 McDonald County junior high school's fall sports team got off to a successful start with wins in volleyball, football and a second place in cross country.
The seventh- and eighth-grade volleyball teams opened their season on Sept. 5 by sweeping Joplin East. The eighth-graders claimed a 25-14, 23-25, 25-17 win in the A match, then added a 25-12, 25-14 win in the B match.
The seventh-grade A team defeated Joplin 25-16, 25-11 while the B team won 25-19, 25-20.
On Sept. 7, the eighth-grade A team defeated Neosho 25-6, 25-18, but the B team dropped a 11-25, 17-25 decision to the Lady Wildcats.
Neosho held on in the second game of the seventh-grade A match to hand the Lady Mustangs a 25-13, 29-27 loss. Neosho also won the B game, claiming a 25-13, 25-8 decision.
Cross Country
In the opening meet of the season on Sept. 7 at Seneca, the combined seventh- and eighth-grade girls' team took second place out of about eight teams. Individual medalist for the Lady Mustangs were Kalyn Stetina in third place overall in a time of 9:51 and Melissa McCrory in seventh place in 10:39. Rounding out the results for McDonald County were Haley Mick, 31st, 11:58; Ebony Munoz, 46th, 12:56; Haley Walczak, 48th, 13:02; Hailey Staib, 49th, 13:05; and Britany Akins, 61st, 14:30.
Ally Montez won the girls' race in a time of 9:31.
East Newton won the team title with 48 points followed by McDonald County with 83 points, Joplin North 86, Carl Junction 90, Joplin South 108, Lamar 128, Neosho 138 and Monett 139.
The boys' team settled for fourth place, led by Dawson Wolff in 11th place in 9:37. Other McDonald County results were Levi Smith, 16th, 9:43; Hunter Leach, 24th, 9:53; Isaac Behm, 30th, 10:00, Remington Ziemianin, 31st, 10:03; Cross Spencer, 71st, 11:21; Eli Jackson, 81st, 12:08; Matthew McCall, 82nd, 12:11; Eli Jordan, 99th, 13:20; Ethan Pendergraft, 110th, 14:19; and Mark Wilson, 113th, 14:56.
East Newton's Kolton Sorrell won the boys' race in 8:25 to lead the Patriots to the team title. Carl Junction was second followed by Joplin North, McDonald County, Neosho, Lamar, Joplin East, Pittsburg, Wheaton, Joplin South, Monett and McAuley.
Football
Kasen Hahn scored two touchdowns to lead the McDonald County seventh-graders to a 12-0 win at Mount Vernon.
In the eighth-grade game, McDonald County jumped out to a 32-0 lead and went on to hand the Mountaineers a 44-22 loss.
Bo Leach ran for two touchdowns while Cole Martin, Junior Eliam and Jakobe Montes all ran for one. Malick Taylor added a kick return for a touchdown.
Both teams travel to Monett on Sept. 14 to face the Cubs.
Sports on 09/14/2017