Mansfield CC shines in Gans Creek, wins Willard title

Mansfield’s boys and girls cross country runners continue to leave their mark on the sport recently after competing in two races featuring a lot of big school runners.
In the Gans Creek Classic held on the state championship course in Columbia, the Lions’ Nolyn Corder finished eighth place overall in a field with 306 total runners.
He finished the race with a time of 16:40.30 in the Blue Varsity Division.
Michael Ivey was 156th place with his time of 19:31.20. Other runners include Zachary McCrite (19:57.00), Riley Stidham (20:03.50), Benjamin Williams (20:06.90) and Aaron Veenstra (20:07.50).
As a team the Lions finished in 33rd place with 702 points.
Faith Clark led the Lady Lions by finishing ninth overall with her time of 20:24.30. This came in a race featuring 182 total runners.
Other runners included Gentry Alsup (23:28.40), Cali Lemons (25:55.70), Addie Jones (29:28.20) and Chloe Napier (36:02.00).
Willard Highline XC Invitational
Back on Sep. 19, Corder won the Small Boys Division race by more than 40 seconds.
His time of 16:35.82 was the best time in the 92-runner field. Corder would have also won the Large Boys Division by one full minute as they had 40 runners representing the larger schools.
This helped the Lions win first place in the team standings with 84 points, holding off School of the Ozarks by seven points.
All of Mansfield’s other five runners earned spots in the Top-30.
Ivey was 17th (18:58.17), Veenstra took 23rd (19:32.12), Stidham was 24th (19:33.63), McCrite finished 25th (19:34.42) and Williams was 27th (19:35.21).
Clark led the Lady Lions in the Small Girls Division with her third place time of 21:22.25 in a race with 60 total runners.
Alsup was 15th place with her time of 23:30.20, Lemons was 30th (25:39.36) and Jones had a time of 29:43.85.