The 1st annual
Richard Clark Invitational was held at the MSU Cross
Country Facility on a sunny and warm September
morning. A total of 22 schools sent runners to
compete on an individual and/or team level.
Kickapoo High School had the best showing winning
the 3A/4A team titles in both boys’ and girls’
varsity competitions, in addition to Danny Thater
taking the boys’ individual varsity title for the
school.
Liz Reida took
the individual title for the girls’ varsity with a
time of 19:14, bettering the second place finish of
Kickapoo’s Lauren Collette by 13 seconds. Reida,
from Nixa High School, said her key to success was
that “I just wanted to hang with the leaders and
when I was ready, I just put it in another gear.”
Kickapoo’s coach
Jason Goddard said the key to his teams’ success was
tight groups. “Our runners stick together and feed
off of each other. Someone always steps up.”
Goddard also talked about the boys’ individual
winner, Thater. “He is our stud. We push our other
runners to try to stay with him.”
Thater, with a
winning time of 15:39, paced the field finishing 32
seconds ahead of Matt Estlund from Chaminade High
School. “I knew he was a little ways behind, but I
kept pushing,” Thater said of his victory. “I’m not
one to look back.”
In the 1A/2A
division, College Heights Christian won the girls’
varsity team competition. On the boys’ varsity,
John Burroughs High School won the 1A/2A division
team competition.
Richard Clark,
the namesake of the invitational, was enthusiastic
about the competition. “It’s a tremendous honor to
have my name be a part of this event. This is a
quality meet. I have not seen a better meet in this
state.”
Hannah Fursa won
the girls’ junior varsity race for Kickapoo, while
Raj Lal won the boys’ junior varsity race for Rock
Bridge.
