High School Girls
The high school girls race capped the morning's quartet of races. The race featured one of the state's best runners, a handful of other all-state honorees and standouts, a team looking to win a 4th straight state trophy, and the daughter of the man the meet is named in honor of.
Smithton senior Riley Bryan doesn't have a long history of running, but in a short time she's become one of the state's best. Bryan took up running after her freshman year in high school in Smithton, a small town 8-miles east of Sedalia off highway 50. It's paid off.
Check out her resume. It includes an undefeated first year in 2020 except for a Class 1 state runner-up finish to an eventual 4-time state cross country champion, another Riley, Riley Arnold of Blue Eye. Last year Riley Bryan won all but two races, taking down handfuls of the state's best Class 3, 4, and 5 runners before winning the Class 1 state title.
Smithton senior Riley Bryan makes her way up a hill just after the mile mark while Samantha Sharp trails.
Saturday, Bryan got out quick and never looked back. After the first kilometer, Brookfield sophomore Samantha Sharp was about 25-30-meters back. Another 20-meters back from Sharp was Glasgow's Addison Barringhaus, who was followed a few strides back by North Platte freshman Chloe Heckman. Another 10-meters back was a pack of 3 more North Platte Panthers, Jessa Cassity, Brianna DeBord, and Shelby Lingle.
Bryan and other racers on the day had a tiny bit longer to race than usual. Cones were on the course, seemingly to keep runners off a few of the most traversed and vulnerable parts of the course path (at least two inner path turns). The areas appeared to have been recently seeded after taking some wear at the Gans Creek Classic, the day following a decent rain.
Bryan cruised up the hill that encompassed the mile mark, her lead getting bigger. Sharp tried to stay in touch, wearing two ankle support wraps. Sharp's excellent freshman campaign ended too early last year. Samantha and sister, senior Alex Sharp, made one of the best 1-2 tandems in Class 1, 2, or 3 in 2021. Samantha had to watch Alex earn her 4th All-State cross country honor at the state meet last November. Samantha struggled at districts and had to settle for being a cheerleader for her sister at state, as she was at the meet wearing a boot, unable to go for her own 4x All-State bid. Alex is now running at Tulane.
Bryan pushed herself, without any close competition to do so. While weather conditions were good, temperatures weren't necessarily ideal for the 11:30 a.m. race. With her brown, braided hair bouncing behind her, Bryan checked her watch 30-meters out and bustled to the finish. Bryan finished in 19:04 for a 62-second victory.
The race came four weeks before she'll try to win her second state title. There she'll try to better her 18:55 and 18:27 state meet clockings from the last two years, and not have to dodge or determine which side of the cones she supposed to be on, as she did Saturday. The recent Missouri State University commit will study dietetics in college.
The North Platte quartet moved well over the final 3k lap after the initial 2k lap. After a 2nd-place Class 1 state team finish in 2019, North Platte was 2nd and 3rd at state in Class 2 the past two seasons. Coach Brendan Cary and North Platte will shoot for the calendar year sweep on November 5th, trying to win the Class 2 cross country state title after romping to the Class 2 state track and field 1st-place trophy in May.
North Platte freshman Chloe Heckman was the first of a string of 4 Panthers across the finish in the top-8.
North Platte's chances of a 4th-straight state trophy and state title seem promising, especially with the addition of freshman Chloe Heckman. Heckman finished 2nd in 20:06 Saturday. Sophomore Brianna DeBord, who was 4th in Class 2 at state last year, finished 3rd at her latest run at Gans Creek in 20:12.
Senior Jessa Cassity, who has All-State finishes of 17th in Class 1 in 2019, and 19th and 14th in Class 2 the past two years, took 6th Saturday in 20:29. Senior Shelby Lingle finished 8th to give the Panthers 4 of the top-8 finishers, as she crossed the line in 21:04. Fellow seniors Alaina Scroggins and Lonee French (who was on the state track champion 4x100 team) placed 21st and 24th.
North Platte freshman Chloe Heckman runs in 3rd-place while teammates Jessica Cassity (middle), Brianna DeBord (back right), Shelby Lingle (back left) trail, en route to placing 2nd, 6th, 3rd, and 8th to lead the team to score just 21-points in the 7-team race to easily win.
Brookfield's Samantha Sharp ended up 4th in 20:13. Glasgow sophomore Addison Barringhaus, the Class 1 state runner-up last year, was 5th in 20:16. Stoutland freshman Mallory Shaw was steady, moving up as the race went on. Shaw finished 7th in 20:32. St. Joseph Christian sophomore Joy Wallick was 9th, sporting the Lions trademark neon yellow jerseys with red accents. Palmyra senior Alyssa Noland rounded out the top-10 finishers, crossing the finish in 21:24.
North Platte totaled just 21 points to earn victory in dominating fashion. Monroe City was 2nd with 60-points, led by junior Meghan Hays who was 17th. Glasgow was 3rd with 82-points while Russellville was 4th with 111. Twenty-six schools were represented in the race while seven had full scoring teams. Ninety ladies competed.