Between the Owensville Middle School (OMS) and Owensville High School (OHS) cross country teams, a total of 12 orange and black harriers left Joplin and Steelville with medals.

Leading the way at the Missouri Southern Stampede in Joplin was the varsity Dutchmen topping 28 other scoring teams in the high school gold division with 158 points.

“This is the first time we’ve won a team title here and the boys saw their hard work show with a team title,” OHS head cross country coach Matt Candrl said.

Zach Holtmeyer showed the way with a third-place time of 15:58.26 making him the first OHS male cross country runner to go under 16 minutes in a 5,000 meter race.

“Zach continues to get better with each race and accomplished something no other OHS runner had done in finishing under 16 minutes,” Candrl said.

Also in the medals was Cris Reyes with a 16th-place time of 17:32.11.

“Cris has really done his homework and is on another level,” Candrl said. “He worked really hard in the summer and I look for him to keep closing the gap between him and Zach.”

Also helping the varsity Dutchmen win a team title in Joplin were Grayson Lairmore (35th, 18:12.31), Drake Dietrich (42nd, 18:28.29), Dylan Dietrich (64th, 18:45.56), Bo Buddemeyer (71st, 18:53.01) and Ty Price (103rd, 19:33.78).

Owensville’s JV Dutchmen also placed fourth as a team in Joplin with 106 points behind Bolivar (28), Kickapoo (60) and Webb City (74).

Earning a medal for the third consecutive race, Max Altemeyer led the orange and black with a 12th-place time of 11:45.00.

He was followed closely by Brock Rutledge also earning a medal with his 15th-place time of 11:55.09.

Roman Crowe also finished in the medals rounding out the top 20 with a 20th-place time of 12:08.17.

Fellow JV Dutchmen helping Owensville place fourth as a team included Diego Lansford (36th, 12:37.11), Brahm Winter (39th, 12:46.93), Ryder LeClaire (54th, 13:14.89), Nick Hinson (66th, 13:30.78), Ethan Blankenship (101st, 14:30.55), Seth Mitcham (110th, 14:40.14), Logan Hackstedt (151st, 16:54.97) and Jasper McMahan (157th, 18:44.96).

Junior-varsity races in Joplin were only 3,000 meters.

Ella Davidson led the varsity Dutchgirls in Joplin finishing in the top 100 with a 99th-place time of 24:00.02 while Leah Hayes was close behind in 104th with a time of 24:08.67.

Meredith Reed was next for the Dutchgirls placing 139th in a time of 26:18.06 followed by Leola Hamann’s 161st-place time of 27:49.32.

Shaving eight minutes off of her previous race time, Avery Poggas placed 182nd in a time of 32:35.51 at Joplin.

Two days earlier in Steelville last Thursday, OMS’ Dutchmen and Dutchgirls had seven runners leave Crawford County with medals around their necks.

OMS’ Dutchgirls led the way with a second-place team score of 50 points finishing just behind Washington’s first-place team total of 45 points.

Alexis Christensen showed the way with a seventh-place time of 11:44.1 followed by Bella Daniels placing 11th in 11:53.7.

Adreahna Leach earned herself a medal with a 13th-place time of 11:58.5 before Paisley Hempelmann grabbed the 20th and final medal in a time of 12:28.6.

Also helping OMS’ Dutchgirls to a second-place team finish in Steelville were Alexandra Leach (22nd, 12:36.2), Hannah McQueen (42nd, 13:54.5), Avalon Breese (60th, 15:05.4), Aisha Santos (70th, 16:09.0), Allyson Smith (78th, 18:03.2) and Shaylia Ringeisen (85th, 19:38.1).

Narrowly missing a sub 10-minute time, Trevin Nolting led OMS’ Dutchmen at Steelville with a fifth-place time of 10:05.1 helping the orange and black place fourth as a team with 84 points behind Steelville (58), Washington (74) and Rolla (80).

Bentley Crews also earned a medal following his 11th-place time of 10:40.3 while Trace Ridder also grabbed the 20th and final medal in the middle school boys race with a time of 11:03.3.

Other OMS Dutchmen harriers helping them place fourth as a team were Liam Kramme (25th, 11:11.5), Garrett Ringeisen (31st, 11:21.6), Anthony Grube (33rd, 11:27.6), Ayden Gutermuth (45th, 11:50.4), Brady Rutledge (47th, 11:51.9), Brayden Kemp (64th, 12:20.7), Carter Price (84th, 12:46.7), Ryker Leach (85th, 12:49.8) Daven Dietrich (87th, 12:55.6), Chandler Howard (92nd, 13:12.1), Bowen Palmer (99th, 13:33.3), Andrew Allen (106th, 13:43.2), Leland Tirre (128th, 15:51.8), Ansel Winter (136th, 16:39.5) and Hollis Winter (142nd, 18:23.6).

OMS Cross Country will return to action on Tuesday, Sept. 29 at St. James while their OHS counterparts will head to Arkansas for the Chile Pepper Festival of racing on Saturday, Oct. 3.