Lady Tigers place third at Big 8 Conference meet, junior Beshore captures gold

Saturday, October 13, 2018
Nevada Lady Tiger Big 8 Conference meet medal winner, from left: Amara Pippin, Calli Beshore, and Patience Lockhart.
Submitted photo

A phenomenal season got even better for the Nevada Lady Tiger cross country team at Tuesday’s 14-team Big 8 Conference meet in Springfield.

In addition to Nevada’s third-place team finish, junior Calli Beshore emerged with a gold medal in the girls 5K event, featuring 58 runners — clocking a first place time of 20.26.

Also netting medals were Nevada seniors Amara Pippin and Patience Lockhart. Pippin placed 12th (22:35), and Lockhart, 15th (23.37).

“Three of our five scoring runners finished on the medal stand,” said Nevada head coach Ryan Watts, “which was an exciting achievement for them.”

Said Watts: “Calli ran a very solid time, on a course that was essentially all hills. She really left it all on the course as she was completely spent at the end of the race — again showing that she will give everything she has to do her very best.”

Hollister High School, meanwhile, claimed the girls team championship.

Additionally for the Nevada girls, Malynn Pippin placed 33rd; Lillian Hart, 42nd; Haleigh Leisure, 47th; and Ashley Mather, 50th.

“On the girls side, we started the meet short- handed, as one of our top runners — Brooklyn Kutina-Smith was injured with a concussion suffered while she was cheerleading at the football game (Oct. 5). So she was unable to run, which shuffled around how our girls finished.”

Added Watts: “The girls that were able to run, ran good times, significantly faster than they did on the same course a week earlier at the Irish Invitational.”

The Nevada boys squad placed eighth, with East Newton taking the first place team hardware. The boys individual champion was Kolin Overstreet (16.33), while Trent Pryor was Nevada’s top individual finisher, placing 21st with a time of 18:51 — his personal best of the season.

“It was a tough course that we wouldn’t have expected anyone to PR on,” noted Watts, “so it was a great day for him.”

Additionally for the Nevada boys Will Johnson placed 28th, Ben Sudkamp, 41st; Bronson Smith, 60th; Colson Fisher, 72nd; and Jamin Mosher, 81st.

“The boys ran well on a tough, hilly course,” said Watts. “Unfortunately, our top boy runner all season (Johnson) sprained his ankle early on in the race — and while he made a good effort to tough it out and finish the race, it was nowhere near the kind of finish we have become accustomed to with Will.”

Nevada had another first-place finisher, middle schooler Kaden Padgett, who claimed the boys gold in the 1.75 mile run.

“Kaden ran a great race, leading it from gun to finish line,” noted Watts.

Watts said he was extremely impressed with the overall performance of his boys and girls middle school runners, as both teams notched third-place finishes respectively.

Nevada middle school results included: Kaden Padgett, first-place, gold medal; Eli Mosher, 13th, medal winner; Jaden Theis, 20th; Cody Leung, 33rd; Kasen Ast, 44th; Will Niestrath, 48th; Rylan Hedges, 50th; Lane Jones, 69th; Ethan McGinnis, 72nd; and Trey Streeter, 87th; (Girls) Allie Rains, seventh-place, medal winner; Avery Morris, ninth-place, medal winner; Anna Ashby, 22nd; Eva Resz, 26th; and Hadley Fletchall, 35th.

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