Inductees

When coach Larry York implemented a summer training program ahead of the inaugural 1972 cross country season, his Jefferson City High School runners challenged themselves.

The rugged hills in town? No problem.

In fact, the next year, when York convinced the Building Trades teacher to let him borrow the department’s run-down blue Air Force bus – the school had no money in the budget for a cross country bus – the runners gladly hopped aboard. After all, they welcomed the challenge of competing against athletes from Kansas City and St. Louis.

That attitude has carried on for years with Jays runners, whose success is why the Missouri Sports Hall of Fame proudly inducted the Jefferson City High School Cross Country Program with the Class of 2025.

The boys have earned 35 Top 10 finishes from 1972 to 2023, while the girls have earned 36 Top 10 finishes from 1980 to 2023.

For the boys alone, they have had 12 podium finishes (top four), including the 1996 state championship in Class 4, the largest classification in the state at the time. The Jays also were state runner-up in 1981, 1982, 1995 and 1997. Jefferson City also had four third-place finishes in 1972, 1988, 1989 and 1992, and placed fourth in 1975, 1994 and 1998. David Cooper in 1974 and Bryce Allmon in 1976 were individual state champions. The boys also have 21 district titles, including 11 consecutive in one stretch.

Meanwhile, the girls have had 11 top four finishes. The 1994 team won the state title, while the Lady Jays had state runner-up finishes in 1995 and 2008. They also finished third in 1983, 1997, 2004 and 2006. They placed fourth in 1991, 1998 and 2005.

Overall, the Jays have had seven head coaches since 1972: York (1972-1979), David Harris (1980-1984), Jim Marshall (1985-2009), Brett Phillips (2010-2021), Lily Kennedy (2002), James Murphy (2023) and Landon Dunlap (current).

The girls have 16 district titles, including nine consecutive at one point.

Overall, the programs have a combined had 65 All-State recipients.

All this after humble beginnings. No local golf courses allowed the Jays to use their venues, and so they settled on a local park as the starting point.

That 1972 team finished in the top 10.

“The top 10 finish was not a surprise,” David Cooper said. “Coach York made sure we knew we could win and that we had done all the right things to be champions. If anything, we were disappointed we did not do better.”

A year later, York secured the Air Force bus.

“We got made fun of, laughed at and jeered for having to ride that old bus. But, in the end, after we had competed well and won a time or two, the laughing didn’t stop but it didn’t bother us as much,” York said at the 50^th reunion in 2022.

Cooper and Allman finishing 1-2 in 1974 secured Jeff City’s first state trophy.

“During (my) five years, the team aspect of the program took off,” said Coach Harris, who moved in from Kirksville in 1980. “Kids bought into tough training.”

In the early 1980s, Vonda Price Hammonds remembers the motto of, “Make every moment count. Don’t cheat yourself or your teammates.”

When Marshall took over in 1988, the program benefitted from strong middle school track and cross country program.

“After that, it was just a matter of getting the kids to commit to working hard year-round and developing a team family approach to the program,” Marshall said, noting longtime assistants played a big role – Proctor, Romine, Fisher and Phillips.

Mark Bollinger also was a longtime assistant coach.

State powers West Plains and Parkway West prevented Jefferson City from more titles for years, and so the girls title in 1994 and boys title in 1996 were all the more sweeter.

In the Marshall era, they practiced twice a days, lifted weights two or three times a week and challenged themselves on the hills. Numerous athletes went on to compete in the NCAA.

Additionally, the success led to Jeff City hosting the state cross county meet for 40 years (and the state track & field meet for 46 years).

“The kids and parents of those kids were all in when it came to the discipline, commitment and dedication it took to be the best every year,” Marshall said. “This induction is an honor for both the boys and girls program because it covers 52 years worth of athletes (thousands of them) and a half century of excellence.”