AND THEY’RE OFF — Carthage’s Kori Gregory (left) and McDonald County’s Tessa Robertson get out of the blocks at the start of the 100m dash at the Southwest conference Track Meet held May 1 in Webb City. Robertson came on late to take second while Gregory faded to fourth. Mariah Mock of Nevada won the event with a time of 12.5 (Staff photo, Peck)
Girls third at conference meet
by Rick Peck
rpeck@nwaonline.net
After getting disqualified on a questionable false start in the 4x200m relay, the four members of the McDonald County boys relay team were on mission the rest of the meet.
After taking first, second and fourth in the open 400m, the relay team put a Mustang exclamation point on the last event ever in Southwest Conference history.
After a strong third leg by John Graham that gave anchor Randy Mustain a small lead, the question was not who was going to win, but by how much.
Mustain, who won the open 400m, demonstrated his dominance of the 400m among Southwest Conference runners, steadily pulling away in the anchor leg, giving the Mustangs a 30 meter win in a time of 3:34, just five seconds off the school record.
“That was their fastest time all year when they haven’t been disqualified,” said coach Bruce Stancell. “We ran a 3:32 at Monett but were called for an illegal hand-off. But still no individual had their best time of the year, so there is room to get better.”
Blane O’Bannon ran the first leg of the relay, followed by Tristan Cummings on the second. O’Bannon finished second behind Mustain in the 400m while Cummings was fourth.
Mustain added his third win of the meet in the 200m with a time of 23.35, easily defeating 100m winner Trey Derryberry of Carthage.
“That was a big win for Randy in the 200,” said Stancell. “Derryberry had beaten him all year.”
McDonald County’s only other win in the boys division came from Kord Stancell in the shot put with a throw of 46-0. Stancell was second in the discus with a throw of 161 feet.
“That was Kord’s best throw ever,” said Stancell of the discus. “The shot wasn’t that good. It’s kind of ironic. He throws his best in the discus and takes second, but wins the shot with an average throw.”
Ronnie Murphy added a second for the Mustangs, clearing 11-6 in the pole vault. Graham picked up a third in the triple jump, breaking the 40-foot barrier for the first time with a jump of 40-1/4, and a fourth in the 300m hurdles.
“Graham had a good triple jump,” said Stancell. “That was a personal best by a foot and a half.”
Other Mustang points came from Shane Cote, fifth in the 110m hurdles.
Carthage easily won the boys title, totaling 141 points. Webb City was second with 65 points while Neosho beat McDonald county 63-62 for third. Nevada was fifth with 44 points.
“Being disqualified in the 4X200 cost us second place,” said Stancell.
Gayla Booth and Tessa Robertson led the Lady Mustangs to a third place finish. Booth set a personal best of 5-4 in winning the high jump. She added a second in the triple jump, a third in the 400m and ran a leg on the 4x400 relay team that finished second.
“Jumping 5-4 is very good,” said Stancell. “That probably would place at state. Gayla had a good meet. That was the first time she ran the open 400 and she took third.”
Stancell said Robertson’s win in the 300m hurdles was a surprise.
“That was a very good hurdle race,” said Stancell. “Tessa beat three girls who had beaten her this year.” Robertson added a third in the 100m hurdles, a second in the 100m and also ran a leg on the 4x400m relay.
The relay also included Shaye Buttram and Alex Dusseau.
“Shaye ran her best split of the year and Alex maintained our place on her leg just a few minutes after running the 3200m,” said Stancell. “She took Des’ (Reece) place because of an injury. It was a pretty gutsy performance.”
Reece sustained a leg injury attempting 9-6 in the pole vault after winning the event with a vault of 9-0. Buttram took second in the event with a vault of 8-6 while Sydney Wortman was fourth.
“Getting 16 points in one event is rare and we did in the boys 400 and the girls pole vault,” said Stancell.
Simone Palmer added a second for the girls, with a time of 13:14 in the 3200.
“The conditions for the 3200 were very tough,” said Stancell. “It was very windy and I was not worried at all about the time.”
Emily Nobharatana added a fourth place for McDonald County, jumping 15-0 in the long jump.
Neosho won the girls’ title with 120 points, followed by Carthage with 70, McDonald County 68, Nevada 61 and Webb City 56.
McDonald County begins state qualifying at the Missouri Class 3 District 6 Track Meet set for May 10 in Nevada. The meet had been originally scheduled for Carl Junction, but was moved due to construction. Starting times had not been announced as of press time.
