This past Wednesday the Roosters and Chicks competed at the MRVC Conference championships hosted in Richmond, Missouri. The MRVC meet consists of teams from Oak Grove, Harrisonville, Odessa, Excelsior Springs, Warrensburg and Pleasant Hill. Schools from the east (Holden, Lexington, Knob Noster, Richmond, and Lafayette County) compete in the same race but are separated electronically by chip and not included in our west results.
The course at Richmond is a two-lap course with uneven ground and rough footing in places. It is most known for two large and steep hills near the 1 mile and 2.5-mile mark that challenge athletes of all ability levels. Temperatures were fantastic for racing but the athletes competing in the MRVC race had to deal with a very strong wind blowing from west to east. The chicks got things started with an early race time of 2pm. Going into the conference meet, the Chicks were ranked a distant third behind Warrensburg and Excelsior Springs. We knew that Warrensburg was out of our reach with the shear talent that they have so we set our sights on giving Excelsior a run for their money. We had faced Excelsior Springs two or three times already this year and lost each time. However, we knew if we could break up their pack between their 3 and 6 runners that our girls would have a chance. Unfortunate injuries limited our roster size to 5 girls, the minimum amount needed to score as a team. Even with five girls, Stephanie Conway was running with a knee brace from an injury that happened at the Excelsior course. Our girls got off to a conservative start and could be seen near the back of the race in the first half mile. As the race progressed, our girls began to move up and pass groups of runners, including those from Ex Springs. Aubrey Scott positioned herself in the top 10 and moved ahead of Excelsior’s number one runner. Right before the large hill after the 2-mile mark, Megan Swinney and Kat Hoffman had established their position slightly behind Excelsior’s #2 but ahead of their number three. This meant that our girls had a lead through three runners and needed our number 4 and 5 girls to finish ahead of Excelsior’s number 5 for the win. Going up the last hill, Stephanie Conway grimaced in pain followed closely by senior Jasmine Brown. To my excitement, both girls were ahead of Excelsior’s #4 runner practically sealing the deal if they held their placed. Once notified of their team’s position, the girls continued their charge and finished strong. As expected, Warrensburg cruised to victory with a score of 17 points (just 2 points away from a perfect score). Pleasant Hill Chicks scored 59 points to earn second place compared with Excelsior Springs who finished third with 67 points. Odessa was the fourth team scoring 97 points. The boys attempted to use a similar strategy of starting near the back of the race and using left over energy to move up in the second half of the race. Unfortunately, our boys were unable to make significant gains needed to threaten a talented team from Warrensburg. Landon Fatino led the Roosters with a second-place individual finish. Tobin Wise, back from injury, David Rivera, and Rustin Branstetter all finished close together in the 11, 12, and 13 spots in the race. Caden Walker, Colin Paris, and Dakota Middleton formed a second pack that finished together in 19th, 21st, and 22nd. The Roosters earned an MRVC plaque as the second-place team falling to Warrensburg 28-57. The third-place team was Harrisonville with a score of 81. Second place is a noteworthy accomplishment, but the boys wanted to finish closer to the talented Warrensburg team. They have set a goal of getting revenge at next week’s district championship on Warrensburg’s home course. Our remaining athletes competed in the Richmond Invite following the MRVC Championship races. This year’s JV boys team has been one of the most talented and deep teams in my coaching tenure. They utilized pack running and looked impressive competing against varsity teams from non-conference schools. The pack of runners from Pleasant Hill finished 32nd, 35th, 37th, 38th, 39th, 40th, and 41st forming a sea of purple between 20:26 and 20:56. Our JV Boys placed 6th out of the 13 teams in the varsity invites and beat all other conference schools making them the MRVC JV Conference Champions. Our final four athletes competed in the Richmond JV race. Johnathan Rivera had an impressive run placing in the top 10 and earning a medal. Freshmen Brenden Bunch closely followed earning a medal for his 14th place finish. Behind them, both Jackson Crouse and Michael Maasen concluded their seasons with massive personal records. Jackson ran 27:36 which took off almost 2 minutes from his previous best. Michael completed his first hilly 5k and bested last weeks’ time by 38 seconds. On Saturday, November 2nd, our runners will take to Warrensburg, MO for the Class 3 District 7 races. Athletes that place in the top 15 positions will advance to the state meet in Columbia, MO. For the team to qualify, the Roosters will need to place in the top 2 team positions. We will not be running a full girls squad to allow injured athletes an opportunity to recover without causing further damage to their body but hope to have our individuals qualify out of the tough female district. Results MRVC Championship Girls 6 Aubrey Scott 22:41.3 *All Conference 13 Katherine Hoffman 25:08.1 14 Megan Swinney 25:12.9 19 Stephanie Conway 27:22.1 21 Jasmine Brown 27:26.8 1 Warrensburg 17 2 Pleasant Hill 59 3 Excelsior Springs 67 4 Odessa 97 MRVC Championship Boys 2 Landon Fatino 16:57.2 *All Conference 11 Tobin Wise 19:15.7 12 David Rivera 19:20.8 13 Rustin Branstetter 19:23.8 19 Caden Walker 20:08.1 21 Colin Paris 20:25.2 22 Dakota Middleton 20:33.4 1 Warrensburg 28 2 Pleasant Hill 57 3 Harrisonville 81 4 Excelsior Springs 103 5 Odessa 106 6 Oak Grove 114 Richmond Varsity Boys 32 Carson Case 20:26.1 35 Mavrick Crider 20:28.8 37 Keagon Madison 20:36.8 38 Kolton Kincaid 20:37.8 39 Jackson Hunt 20:42.0 40 Wesley Tibai 20:46.4 41 Parker Elkins 20:56.4 1 Smithville 42 2 Lawson 73 3 West Platte 88 4 Marshall 128 5 Van Horn 157 6 Pleasant Hill 169 7 Kingsville 178 8 Hardin-Central 214 9 Polo 238 10 Maysville 250 11 Lexington 253 12 Harrisonville 291 13 Oak Grove 326 Richmond JV Boys 9 Johnathan Rivera 21:28.4 14 Brenden Bunch 22:57.1 32 Jackson Crouse 27:36.5 36 Michael Maasen 32:50.8
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Coach Paul StahlHead Cross Country and Assistant Track Coach at Pleasant Hill High School Archives
November 2019
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