Houston cross country teams sweep SCA championships

Houston’s growing and improving cross country program had a pretty good day on Monday.

At the 2023 South Central Association conference championships at Willow Springs Municipal Golf Course, Houston’s boys and girls high school and middle school teams were all winners.

Called the SCA Cross Country Challenge, the meet featured runners from all conference teams.

“The kids have bought into what we’ve been trying to sell,” said Houston cross country head coach Justin Brown. “It’s a good feeling.”

In high school boys racing, the Tigers were paced by sophomore Jack Sawyer, who placed 6^th in a field of 42 runners with a time of 18:59.38 on the tough 3.1-mile course. Next for Houston was sophomore Warren Hinkle in 7^th at 19:17.34, while senior Jake Allen came in 10^th at 19:51.38.

Making up the rest of the Tigers’ team score were juniors Connor McKinney in 13^th and Riley Talbott in 15^th. Also running for Houston were senior Aiden Kelly (17^th) and freshman Dillon Shelton (32^nd).

Salem junior Alex Diehl finished first individually at 17:36.66, while Willow springs freshman Joel Smith came in second, over a minute back at 18:38.91. Salem took second in the team standings and Mountain Grove was third.

Sawyer, Hinkle and Allen earned All-SCA Second-Team recognition, while McKinney and Talbott received Honorable Mention.

In the high school girls race, HHS junior Kristen Ely placed third in a field of 27 with a time of 22:32.22. Sophomore Natalie Clinton was next for the Lady Tigers, finishing 5^th at 23:59.59, while sophomore Lilly Kincaid came in 8^th at 24:47.62, junior Summer Bittle placed 12^th and junior Allie Benoist ran 13^th.

Mountain Grove senior Katelyn Jarrett won the race with a time of 22:07.38, while Cabool senior Hannah McCroskey was second at 22:23.28.

Ava took second in the team standings, while Thayer was third.

In middle school girls competition, Houston dominated with three runners finishing in the top-4.

HMS 7th-grader Lyla Huffman won yet another race, scorching the 1.5-mile course in an SCA record time of only 9:43.66, while 6^th-grader Myles Copley took second with a personal record (PR) time of 10:03.38 and 6^th-grader Haley Crowe placed fourth at 10:55.47, also a PR.

“Lyla and Myles started a bit slow,” Brown said, “but after about a half mile they found their stride. They’re something special; it was pretty cool.”

The rest of the Lady Tigers’ team score came from 8^th-graders Jessyn Allen and Jesslynn Crawford finishing 12^th and 16^th, respectively.

The HMS boys squad was also dominant, with all five scorers finishing in the top-10 in a field of 23.

Sixth-grader Oliver Choate led the way, placing second with a PR time of 9:46.97. Next to finish for Houston was 6^th-grader Charlie Benoist in fifth at 9:57.91 (a PR), while 8^th-grader Christopher Meier came in sixth at 10:14.31 (a PR), 6^th-grader Liam Stickel placed eighth and 6^th-grader Tucker Richardson ran 10^th.

Also running for the Tigers were 8^th-grader Gage Smith (11^th) and 8^th-grader Thomas Kincaid (15^th).

Liberty 7^th-grader Ethan Dodd won the race with a speedy time of 9:20.38.

Almost every Houston runner shaved significant time off of their previous best efforts on the course – some improved by as much as 2 minutes, and several by more than a minute.

“Those are drastic numbers to take off on a tough course,” Brown said. “It’s a lot to take in, and it’s hard to wrap your mind around everything. It’s a conference championship meet and everything was so fast-paced.

“But I told the kids when we were on the bus that it’s time to be quiet because we’ve got a job to do today. Everyone seemed to take that to heart.”

On Thursday of last week, Houston runners competed at the annual Licking Wildcat Invitational at Deer Lick Park in Licking.

Runners from 9 high schools competed in the event, with 6 boys teams and 4 girls squads generating 5-runner scores.

On the boys side, West Plains took first in the team standings, as Zizzer athletes took all of the top-5 individual spots to post a perfect score of 15. Houston took second, while Versailles was third.

Sawyer paced the Tigers, finishing 10^th in a field of 52 with a time of 18:44.77 on the flat 3.1-mile course. McKinney was next for Houston, placing 15^th at 19:30.93, while the rest of the team scored came from Hinkle in 16^th, Shelton in 22^nd and Talbott in 24^th.

In girls racing, West Plains and Houston finished first and second again, with the Lady Zizzers taking 5 of the top-6 places individually.

Ely led the Lady Tigers, finishing 8^th in a field of 37 with a time of 22:34.26. Clinton placed 9^th at 23:24.31, Kincaid, Bittle and Benoist were bunched up in 14^th, 15^th and 16^th, respectively.

In middle school competition, Houston took the top 2 places in a field of 53 runners. Copley won her first-ever race, while Crowe finished second.

Huffman was sidelined due to an injury.

Houston’s boys were led by Meier, who came in 10^th in a field of 83. Houston had two other athletes finish in the top-20, as Choate and Benoist placed 15^th and 16^th.

Houston runners will compete again this week in a Thursday meet at Clever, and then host the annual Tiger Trail Invitational next Thursday (Oct. 19) at Houston Municipal Golf Course.

Brown plans to take Huffman to the big Clever meet as she prepares for the upcoming middle school state championship meet. She’s currently ranked 7^th in Missouri.

“It will be good for her to run against some really tough competition,” Brown said.

When Brown assumed the helm of Houston cross country three years ago, there were a total of 16 kids involved. This season, there are 36.

“If you would have told me then that we would be where we are now, I would have been baffled,” Brown said. “But these kids show up every day and do the things that nobody else wants to do.

“The proof is in the pudding.”