After seven events at the Class 4 District 6 track and field meet, the Neosho Lady Wildcats, one of the teams favored to possibly win the meet, sat in sixth place.

After eight events, the Lady Wildcats came back and were in a tie for third-place with Joplin.

Over the rest of the meet, the Lady Wildcats did something historic — win a district championship.

Neosho scored 109 points and defeated Ozark, which had 93 points and Lebanon, which had 87 points, to claim the schools’ first ever Class 4 district championship.

The win showed the muscle of the Southwest Conference champions, who defeated the Central Ozark Conference champion in Ozark and defeated a majority of the Ozark Conference schools, beating all except for three — three that weren’t at this meet.
The championship was a good way to end a big day for the Lady Wildcats, who advanced in nine different events to Saturday’s sectional meet at Camdenton.

“We had two groups that came through for us today,” said Neosho coach Harry Lineberry. “The hurdlers and distance runners and the other was the leadership from our seniors. The team unity and team spirit has been important all year. Look at the success this year. We won conference and district in cross country and now we have won conference and district in track. It could be a long time before that happens again.”

A veteran of 29 years at Neosho, the win was special for Lineberry.

When asked what this championship meant for him, Lineberry had to think.

“Man, I’m trying to think,” he started. “It’s a great accomplishment for our team and it shows the success of the team and the coaching staff. There was a lot of effort made and these kids we have are coachable.”

Neosho will advance runners in the 100- and 300-meter hurdles. In the distance events, Neosho had a champion in the 800-, 1,600- and 3,200-meter runs.

As well, the 3,200-meter relay team won a district championship.

In the 100-meter hurdles, Dimitra Boman ran a 15.47 in the finals, better than her 15.68 mark in prelims, to claim first place. Also in that race, Emily Paullus ran a 16.56 to place third.

In the 300-meter hurdles, Lorelei Snow was second and Jade Thomas was third.

In the 800-meter run, Dora Eastin, the defending champion in the race, repeated as the champ running a 2:23.2. Jessica Jackson also advanced on with a 2:24.6 to place fourth.

In the 1,600-meter run, Courtney Wood ran a 5:18.29 to advance. The freshman won the 3,200-meter run with a time of 11:58, running in that event with her older sister, Tanya, who placed eighth.

The 3,200-meter relay the team of Wood, Jackson, Eastin and Kisa Clark ran a 9:57.1 to take first place.

“The girls realize we will have to run a better time than that in sectionals,” said Lineberry.

Last year at sectionals, Neosho improved on its time and ran a 9:45 and that wasn’t fast enough to make it to state.

The 1,600-meter team will also advance after taking third place. That team was Clark, Snow, Eastin and Thomas.

In the field events, Bethany Henry took fourth place in the pole vault with a jump of 9 feet, 6 inches. In that same event, Rebecca Perkins placed sixth with a career-best jump of 9 feet. In the high jump, Amanda Thogmartin had a jump of 5-2, to take second place.