By: Jason Peake
Abi Street and Evan Stevens were both all alone as they approached the finish line in their respective races at the 49th annual Carthage Invitational.
The Webb City duo claimed individual championships in convincing fashion on Thursday at the Carthage Golf Course.
The pair of Cardinals cruised to first place finishes in their 5K competitions, as there were no other runners close by when they finished touring the course.
Webb City's Evan Stevens is off to a great start to his junior season.
Stevens went to the front right away and never looked back on the way to a first place win on Thursday.
Stevens toured the course in 16:46. The runner-up, Willard's Nolan Hansen, finished in 17:23.
"Overall, I thought I ran all right," Stevens said. "I went out a little fast and faded on the hills a little bit, but I guess that's to be expected. I went to the front right away and wanted to make people race me. It feels good to be all alone like that at the end. It makes me feel like I came out and did my job. It's always awesome to finish first."
The individual win comes after Stevens placed third overall at last weekend's SWCCCA invite in Bolivar.
"Evan had a great day," Miller said. "He's fit. I'm really excited to see what he can do next week with some top athletes competing at Missouri Southern. We'll see if he can hang with some of those guys. There were some great athletes competing here today, too."
After Stevens and Hansen, Webb City's Mason Hedger finished third in 17:31.
"Mason went out harder than he did last week, and it paid huge dividends for him," Miller said. "He had a shot at second, but Nolan held him off. I'm really proud of Mason. He's figuring out how to race."
Thomas Jefferson's Kip Atteberry was fourth with a time of 17:40, Carthage's Caleb Fewin finished seventh in 18:11, Carl Junction's Jack Lawson placed eighth in 18:20 and Carthage's duo of Miguel Solano (18:23) and Eddy Fuentes (18:25) finished ninth and 10th, respectively.
Also, Carthage's Michael Lanyon and Devin Smith finished 17th and 23rd, Webb City's Dakota Grove was 26th, Carl Junction's Alexander Allison took 28th and Webb City's Andrew Dawson was 30th.
There were 73 runners in the boys race.
Carthage (60), Rogers (62) and Webb City (77) were the top three teams. See a related story on Carthage's team victory.
Willard (84), Glendale (86), Carl Junction (153) and Springfield Central (173) rounded out the top seven.
Miller noted his squad's finish in the standings will provide extra motivation going forward.
"I was really proud of the way the guys got out," Miller said. "Our back end, our No. 3-4-5, they got out well but didn't move up. We had some self-doubt creep in. We didn't perform well in the last mile and it showed. We deserved to get beat today. It's unfortunate, but it's early in the year and we'll learn, and we'll be better."