STATE BOUND

On Saturday, Nov. 1, the El Dorado Springs Cross Country team prepared for the MSHSAA Class 2 District 2 Cross Country meet with punching a ticket to next week’s MSHSAA Class 2 State Championship meet in Columbia on their minds. However, there was something different about this year’s District Meet and that was that the team didn’t have to load the bus, as El Dorado Springs played host to the Class 2 and Class 3 District 2 Cross Country Meet this year out at the Gene Pray Memorial Golf Course. Between both classes, El Dorado Springs played host to 49 schools.

To qualify on to the state meet next week individuals had to place in the top 30 in their race or teams had to place in the top 4 to move on. This year El Dorado Springs dropped to Class 2. The class 3 races started off the day, racing at 10 a.m. and 10:45.

At Noon the Girls Class 2 Race began. Braylie Steward led the way for the Lady Dogs, finishing 2nd with a personal best time of 20:14. Grace Seitz finished 16th with a time of 22:43 while sister Hannah Seitz finished 18th with a personal best time of 22:49. These were the 3 that qualified individually. These 3 were joined by Aleta Lyness, Riley Lee and Karcyn Rader to find themselves finishing 2nd place as a team.

At 12:45 the final race of the day started, the Class 2 Boys race. Wyatt Klaiber led the way for the Bulldogs winning the District race with a time of 16:12. Sylas Fletcher finished 9th with a time of 17:36. Rylan Coleman finished 24th with a time of 18:23 to round out the individual qualifiers for the Bulldogs. These 3 were joined by Carter Smith, Wilson Burchett, Gavin Boch and Shane Fletcher to finish 4th as a team and take the final qualifying spot, despite Shane Fletcher being injured and not being able to finish the race. We are hopeful that he will heal up by next week and be at full strength.

Overall, the teams took care of business and moved on and we are excited about the opportunities that await the teams next week. And we want to wish the teams the best of luck next week at State!!

Being able to host this meet was only made possible by the graciousness of the golf course manager, Drex Salazar, and the city workers who had the course looking in pristine shape. It also took some incredible volunteer workers who so unselfishly gave up half of their Saturday to help make things run so smoothly. This is my 29th year in El Dorado Springs and I can honestly say I am so proud to be a part of such a great community. I didn’t grow up here, but this is home for me. Thank you for being such an awesome and supportive community. It’s a great time to be a Bulldog! GO BULLDOGS!

Coach Goatley

GIRLS 2ND PLACE TEAM – left: Coach King, Coach Goatley, Grace Seitz, Riley Lee, Braylie Steward, Karcyn Rader, Aleta Lyness, Hannah Seitz and Coach Robertson.

BOYS 4TH PLACE TEAM – From left: Coach King, Coach Robertson, Gavin Boch, Preston Moore, Shane Fletcher, Camden Watts, Wilson Burchett, Sylas Fletcher, Rylan Coleman, Carter Smith, Wyatt Strawn, Wyatt Klaiber and Coach Goatley.