Gracie Troester became the first Republic girl in recent memory to win a Central Ozark Conference cross country championship, and she set a new school and personal record in the process. Troester finished the 5,000-meter race in 18:28.48, shaving nine seconds off her previous best.
Troester finished 42 seconds ahead of Ellsie Estes of Ozark, who finished second. But during Tuesday’s race at Nixa, Troester was pushed harder than in previous races.
“All of my other races, I’m pretty much by myself a lot, so today they went out with me for like the first mile and a half,” Troester said. “At that point, it was like ‘Race for your life, because they’re coming for you.’ Once they died out, that helped me a lot.”
Republic’s other medalist, Kristin Probst, finished fourth.
Probst and Joplin’s Katherine Schaefer dueled down the stretch over the final 100 yards of the course, with Probst lunging across the line just ahead of Schaefer to take fourth place.
“In my mind, I knew I had to give it my all. I also knew what kind of runner (Schaefer) was, that she can have a really good kick, from running against her in track,” Probst said. “We were matching each other’s stride, and then the very last second, I just pushed off my right foot, and I barely crossed the finish line right before she did.”
Probst also set a personal best, running the course in 19:36.67.
Brady Purcell earned the only medal on the boys team, taking 18th with a time of 16:46.52. Sophomore Will Payne finished one spot out of medal contention, in 22nd. Freshman Gabe Benjamin finished with a personal-best time of 18:28.73.
In the girls race, Millie Waterman barely missed medaling with a 24th-place finish. She set a personal-best time of 21:27.42. Misora Nambara was 29th. Mylee Ramsey was 38th, and she also set a personal record at 22:56.54. Mei Pruitt also finished with a personal-best of 23:40.29.
The Republic girls finished fourth as a team and the boys finished eighth.