MHS cross country: Wells breezes to victory in MHS meet

Freshman Sam Wells dashes to the finish line to earn her first varsity medal for the Lady Owls.
(Chris Allen/Democrat-News)

[Click to enlarge] [Order this photo]

That hate-to-lose attitude was evident Saturday during the Marshall Invitational. A year ago, Wells finished second in the meet to Warrensburg's Abby Ersland by 27 seconds and had revenge on her mind during the rematch.

"She beat me last year at this race and I was kind of upset about it," Wells explained. "This was my home race and I didn't want her to do it again."

Wells led from start to finish, opening up a 20-yard lead by the three-quarter mile mark, and the Lady Tigers senior was never in position to catch her. Wells (20:08) cut 30 seconds from her time of a year ago to win by 15 seconds over Ersland.

"I was running my race," Wells said, but admitted peeking behind her despite no sound of footsteps. "I asked people where they were, but I was afraid I got lied to so I glanced back now and then to make sure where they were."

Wells' second straight win couldn't push the Lady Owls higher than third in the team standings with 74 points, with Warrensburg (28 points) taking the title by placing four in the top seven.

Sophomore Arozo Shahabzada (21:45), third last year, came in eighth for her fourth medal of the year. However, Wells was most proud of her sister, freshman Sam Wells (23:09), for her medal after placing 18th.

Sophomore Lauren McGrath (23:21) knocked more than three minutes off her time on the course to finish 21st and freshman Alex Farris (24:16) was 37th. What kept Marshall from a possible second-place showing was that junior Stormy Morrison, who usually runs with McGrath, couldn't finish -- entering the race feeling poorly and then pulling up hurt while running.

The rapid progress of Sam Wells, though, may give the Lady Owls the fifth solid scorer they were seeking heading into the season.

Junior Nick Jenkins, coming off his first varsity victory a week earlier at the Smith-Cotton Invitational, led the Marshal boys by taking sixth place. Jenkins (17:54) ran the course more than a minute faster than last year.

"It was hard: kind of hot and a lot of good people," he said. "It was a pretty good pace for the weather."

Jenkins "did a lot of speed work, fast paces at short distances," during the off-season -- accounting for his consistently lower times. Only one other MHS varsity runner improved his time from a year ago, junior Jeremy Jalilvand (20:03) coming in 39th with a 32-second gain.

Senior Patrick Todd (19:03) was the other medalist for the Owls, placing 20th. Junior Bryson Fergison (19:26) and senior Henry Yeagle (19:28) wound up 30th and 31st, respectively.

Marshall was fifth in the team tally with 114 points, Warrensburg (43) getting the sweep. Moberly senior Sam Dickerson (17:06) won the race.

The Owls had two medalists in the junior varsity races: sophomore Michael McNelly (21:12) finishing 12th for the boys and junior Katie Arends (25:25), with a time nearly three minutes faster than last year, seventh for the girls. Sophomore Logan Simmons, who ran for Marshall last year, was third in the JV boys' division for Warrensburg.

The Owls will compete Thursday in the Moberly Invitational.