Pictured is 7th-grader Joey Fildes
It was a great day to be a Tiger!
Mansfield athletics saw a surge in their collective championships with a bag full of treats on Halloween. On the morning of October 31, the Mansfield cross country teams won three of four district titles at the 2A-4 Conference Finals. Later that night, the MHS Lady Tigers won the 2A State Volleyball Championship.
For the cross country teams, it was phase two of their postseason schedule after a Southwest Regional bid a week earlier. Their third phase will be a return trip to Hot Springs where the volleyball team won their state title. This time the Tigers will travel for a run at the Class 2A State Cross Country Championships.
The final leg of the 2020 cross country season will take place on November 5 at 11:30 AM at Oaklawn Park.
As for the Halloween district competition, the Tiger distance teams won the junior girls, junior boys, and senior girls conference championships at Magazine. The senior boys won a runner-up trophy leaving the squads with a remarkable three of four district titles.
Mansfield’s senior girls doubled down with a Regional Championship plaque as well. Since the Magazine hosted conference meet served as a dual district competition with another league, a regional title was also up for grabs.
The Lady Tiger senior high runners dominated the intimate event with a perfect score of 15. In consecutive order, Darby Jones, Jadelynn Wood, Katlynn Moore, Hope Rainwater, and Alyssa James crossed the finish line for their sectional win.
In the combined regional scoring, Jones was the overall individual runner-up with a career-best 23:23. The lanky junior held a slim lead headed into the final 200-meter stretch before a faster non-conference opponent caught her to take the tape.
“No doubt, Darby ran a terrific race,” explained Mansfield’s head Coach John Mackey. “She knows she has to maintain a pace most runners can’t handle. She reminds me of Hannah Holstein, our 2012 State Champion. Not the fastest Tiger on the trail but one that has to keep her distance so a faster runner can’t catch up.”
Wood also ran a terrific race finishing second in league play and fourth overall. She narrowly missed the 23 minute and some change status with her second consecutive 24:01 timing.
Wood’s younger sister also performed well. In the shorter 1.5-mile junior girls’ race, little Laney Wood inched out a Mount Ida Lion for the overall first place award. The eighth grade Wood reached the finish in an amazing time of 9:33.
Trinity Triska, Raine Hecox, Addie Bowman, and Azlynn Stover completed the scoring five for the Jr Lady Tigers. As a group, the younger prep team wrangled the Rattlers of Magazine by a narrow three points for the team trophy.
Triska was second in the league standings and third overall with a time of 10:11. Hecox (9), Bowman (10), and Stover (11) along with Wood and Triska all collected medals in the 2A-4 conference division.
For the men’s events, a modified scoring system took place as reduced numbers in the Covid era lightened the overall number of competitors. As a result, Mansfield’s roster against the other teams’ abbreviated rosters outran the competition to take two trophies.
The Mansfield junior boys with four Top 10 scorers hauled home the championship plaque over Lavaca, Magazine, and Johnson County Westside. The MHS senior men captured the runner-up team award with two Top-10 finishers.
John Branche off the high school team was fourth in the league standings and eighth overall. The eleventh grader chopped a minute off his personal best to sprint past the finish in 20:22.
For his efforts, Branche collected an All-District medal and a Regional Top 10 individual plaque. Teammate Ethan Streets also collected an All-District medal.
Josiah Fildes (2), Rylan Nichols (4), Jonah Martin (5), and Joseph Carter (10) all earned All-District medals out of the 2A-4 league. As a unit, the four seventh-graders amassed a better team total to win the outright league championship.
The district finals marked the end of the junior high season. The senior high will proceed to the state championships on Thursday.
