#CaughtEm

By: Aliyah May

Photo Credits:

The Cross Country team reflects on a 2025 season that included a technical disqualification, 3 runners going to state, and the team’s determination to come back stronger than ever.

In the competition that determined what parts of the cross country team could continue to state, the girls team lost due to the tie-breaking rule. The tie-breaking rule is incorporated whenever two teams are tied up, and the winning team is determined by the 6th runner’s score.

“Not making it to state as a team because of a tie-breaking rule was heartbreaking. I felt like our girls team deserved to make it to State just as much as any other team competing,” Natalie Doney, a junior runner and 3 time state goer said.

The tiebreaking rule in cross country is based on the 6th runner's score. Even though the Odessa girl’s team times were faster than the St. Michael’s team, Odessa did not have a 6th runner while the other team did. In turn, the girls team was disqualified. 

“The only reason we didn’t go to state was because we were missing a runner. That's a big downer,” Zachary Meler, the head cross country coach said.

The disqualification wasn’t all bad, it did have a positive outcome. Both coaches agreed that the girl’s team worked hard, and even with the loss, it was apparent that the girls were gonna work even harder to win next year.

The team as a whole, including both girls and boys, went very far and a lot of runners are super proud of themselves and their team. Three runners even went to state, including Doney at 16th, along with Ace Kroesen, a freshman who got 91st, and Jackson Dyer, a senior who placed at 142nd. 

Krosen said he planned on going to state for all four years of high school. He was grateful his first season at the high school started off so strong and that it can only get better from here. 

“I was pretty proud of my accomplishment. Yeah, I was pretty excited,” said Kroesen.

Doney isn’t the only one thankful for her coaches.

Doney attributes her success to Jesus and her coaches for pushing her to her limits and never giving up on her. 

“I have gone to state cross country three times, and two of those times I medaled,” said Doney.

“They've [the coaches] always been proud of me, no matter what.” said Kroesen.

The runners are not only thankful for their coaches, but their teammates as well. Edwards said that the team was full of goofballs, and everyone got along. 

“I liked the feel of the team,” said H Meler, “the teamwork of the team was strong, which I enjoyed.”

The team plans to continue to grow stronger and closer as a team and come back next year and play even harder.

“Next year we want to come back stronger as a team so we can make it to state”, said Doney.

By: Sadie Booth

A team of DECA Students break through into the Adzou Marketing Challenge, making it to compete in person in Columbia.

Adzou is an annual challenge put out by Mizzou for DECA students across the state of Missouri. Students in all of Jessica Wade's, OHS business teacher and DECA advisor, marketing classes were assigned to set up a business solution to the problem presented for this year's challenge. The students were given the goal to come up with a strategy to expand a businesses customer base. The company they were given is called “Backpacker’s Pantry”. 

“Backpacker’s Pantry” is a business that sells pre-made, dehydrated meals to be easily packed in hiking and extreme outdoors equipment. The company mainly sells to rock climbers, hikers, and campers. 

The students were told to work in groups of two to five. In these groups they would organize by finding a group leader, and assigning different tasks to each team member. 

All of the teams were told to make and record a presentation to be shown in class. Beyond being shown to their classmates, Wade would also send them to a select group of her marketing friends to judge which team Odessa should send in for the district level of the challenge. The team that was chosen was a group of five students in Wade's first hour, advanced marketing class. 

The team was made up of three juniors; Lola Walter, Rex Gust, and Hallie Brice. One senior; Sadie Booth, and a sophomore; Sarah Booth. Two of the team members (Walter and Sarah Booth) hold officer positions for Odessa DECA. Walter, being DECA president, naturally fell into the team's leader position. 

Walter gave us a brief rundown of the team's creative strategy they presented. 

“Our team proposed a promotion strategy for a dehydrated foods company, Backpacker's Pantry. We provided strategies and tactics for promoting the products to our target market, college students, such as vending machines on college campuses, and partnering with college athletes,” said Walter. 

Her Team member Sarah Booth describes the reasoning behind marketing to college students being their focus on convenience. 

Seeing as the company was already marketing that towards outdoor athletes, it made sense that college athletes, and scholars would benefit from the same thing. By using Backpackers pantry, they would be able to get a full, nutritional meal in the comfort of their own dorm room without needing to take time to venture out to their university's food hall. 

The team also believed that making these meals accessible to students in the dorm buildings at all hours through a vending machine would allow the students to get the nutrients and energy they need without having to work their studies around kitchen and campus hours. 

A couple weeks after their recorded presentation was submitted, the team learned that they had made it through the district level and were moving on to present on campus in Columbia. 

It was here that they ran into a problem. DECA’s New York experience trip had been scheduled for the week that the team was meant to present at Mizzou. This would mean that three out of five of their team members would be unable to attend. 

Wade would also be unable to go with the remaining team members as she would be over the New York trip. However, Wade still found it important that the students who could go got to experience the challenge. As a solution she selected a new set of students to compete in person at the Mizzou campus.

The final team of students that were able to attend and compete were Gust, Brice, Rebekah Thurston, senior, and Lazett Aviles, junior. The challenge took place on December 8th and the team is now awaiting their results. Either way it was another success for Odessa DECA. 

“I like competing in the Adzou challenge because I was able to work with my friends on a fun project and produce a successful outcome.” says Walter. 

That is what OHS DECA is all about, teamwork and rising up to the challenge.

By: Alyssa Marten and Sydney Johns 

Photo credits: Julie Whitaker 

The Odessa High School came together this Thanksgiving to help families in need, collecting 67 bags of food to ensure no one goes without during the holiday.

 The classes that blew this donation out of the park are both Ethan Sickles, math teacher, and Ann Skelton, FACS teacher. The top donor was Blaine Wallace, junior,  who donated a great amount of 6 whole bags of food. Honorable mentions go to Zach and Heather Meler, science teachers, as well as the Special Education department for donating 4 bags. 

Odessa High School strives to make everyone in the community feel happy, so every Thanksgiving, the school hosts a Thanksgiving food drive to help those in need. 

Julie Whitaker, OHS counselor, has been driving towards organizing a successful food drive. Odessa's Community Center helps OHS with a donation of turkeys to the food drive, while the canned goods depend on donations from Odessa High School students. “That’s why it’s so important for people to donate” is their school’s main goal. “We are hoping to reach 70 bags of donations,” Whitaker said, while spreading the message that as a whole the school “Whitaker said, can help bring the community together and make a difference.”

Annie Creason, math teacher, said  Odessa High School’s main goal is always to  feed as many people as possible. “I would hope we at least help 40-45 people and above, hopefully" . Creason said Odessa High School does “a lot of things to help the community, like the Paw Shop, its free clothes, unified prom, and many other clubs” do things to help the community.   

Lexi Crowley, math teacher, has a very thoughtful insight into how the students are trying to be involved.  “There are actual classmates we are helping, not just the town's community.” Crowley's class was able to bring in 2 or more bags of items despite Crowley saying, “I feel like my bulldog block doesn’t have access to those things, being so young, or doesn't want to ask for them.