In years past, as tough as it was to admit, the Neosho track and field team headed to the district meet with the hope of just placing in the top four and advancing the season another week.

Come Saturday, the Neosho Lady Wildcats head to Springfield with one thing on the agenda — win the school’s first district championship.

The Wildcats and Lady Wildcats compete at 11 a.m. at the Class 4 District 6 Track and Field meet at John F. Kennedy Stadium at Parkview High School.

Joining the Neosho squads will be Camdenton, Joplin, Lebanon, Nixa, Ozark, Sedalia Smith-Cotton and the Springfield schools of Central, Kickapoo, Hillcrest, Glendale and Parkview.

The Lady Wildcats were third last year behind Camdenton, the champion, and six points behind Ozark. The Neosho girls’ team has dominated throughout the season and will likely challenge for one of the top spots again.

Ironically, Neosho coach Harry Lineberry noted, the Neosho girls’ have never won a district championship, nor taken second place.

“I think it will be between us and Ozark, that is my feeling,” said Lineberry of the district race in the girls’ side. “We pretty well know what we have to do, it’s just about our kids performing.”

Neosho had a handful of  district champions returning this year. Dimitra “Meter” Boman won the 100-meter hurdles last year and Lorelei Snow won the 300-meter hurdles.
Dora Eastin won the 800-meter run last year, while Bethany Henry returns as the champion in the pole vault. The girls’ 3,200-meter relay team also captured first place.
That team was Savannah Snow, Eastin, Shynnel Bohannon and Kisa Clark. Snow is out with a knee injury this year, so Lineberry will choose between the remaining three along with freshmen Courtney Wood and Jessica Jackson to make up the four running in the event Saturday.

“There are so many teams, there are 12 in the Class 4 district, so it’s pretty hard just to qualify four for the next round,” said Lineberry. “This year we are trying to win it. I feel pretty confident we will go up and give it our best shot. We went to KU (Relays) and we had three teams medal and that is exceptional.”

On the boys’ side, the Wildcats will look to make some noise and build on a successful Southwest Conference meet where the team took third place.

The Wildcats will be led by junior Cody Holland, who won the Southwest Conference title in the discus and placed second in the shot put.

Last year, Holland advanced to state in the shot put, but has been tinkering with a new rotation style in the event.

Lineberry noted the 400-meter and 800-meter relay teams could make some noise at districts. The 400-meter is Zach Evans, Matt Hiatala, Ethan Adams and Will McDaniel.
The 800-meter team will feature McDaniel, Evans, Derek Huskey and either Aaron Tracy or Logan Wilson. Wilson has been battling a hamstring injury and is questionable for the meet.

Evans, a senior, was fifth in sectionals last year in the triple jump and will be a factor in that event as well.