More than miles: The partnerships powering Pomme de Terre’s cross-country invitational

For cross-country runners competing at Pomme de Terre Lake’s Outlet Park in central Missouri’s Ozark region, the mental and physical obstacles come in many forms: wooded trails, sharp turns, water, mud and perhaps most famously, a climb up a steep hill on the side of a dam.

“Everybody talks about the hill up the dam that they have to run,” said Becky Doherty, a middle and high school math teacher for the Hermitage R-IV School District who attends the race to cheer on local athletes and photograph the event. “That's the big draw to all the students to come to this race.”

From the competitor’s perspective, the 3.1-mile course’s terrain can be summed up in one word: grueling.

Two freshman runners from Walnut Grove High School near Springfield, Missouri — Dakota Sequera and Oscar Ashby — shared their candid thoughts on the course and how they felt after Ashby finished at 20:34 and Sequera in 21:14, both personal bests for the friends and classmates.

“My legs hurt, and the dam hill — it was insane,” Sequera and Ashby said almost in unison. Talking about the struggle for space running the iconic hill, Sequera added, “I got pushed over by a guy running the hill, but it was a fun race overall,” he said.

The challenging combination of the course difficulty and terrain has helped make the Mark Sabala Dam Cross-Country Invitational hosted at Pomme de Terre Lake, a prime destination for middle and high school runners across Missouri, according to organizer and race founder, Mark Sabala.

“We are very unique, as we run the majority of the race on trails through the woods,” he said. “When a lot of races are mainly flat, we offer a true cross-country experience.”

From a safety problem to a starting line

What began nearly 20 years ago as a small school event has grown into one of the area's largest annual gatherings — with its origins being traced to a simple need.

When former high school and collegiate athlete Mark Sabala began coaching the Hermitage High School cross-country program in 2005, his athletes trained primarily on roads in and around town. However, this training route quickly became a problem for all.

“This became an issue as drivers did not want to slow down around runners,” Sabala said.

So, in 2006, Sabala was asked to move the team away from the highway because of safety concerns. While pondering a solution, he reached out to the Pomme de Terre Lake project office, which is managed by the Kansas City District, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.

His request was simple: could his Hermitage Cross-Country team use a portion of the federal land for training? Ultimately, USACE was receptive and he soon realized his idea was also an opportunity to create something more.

“I inquired to see if we could also get a course built so we could not only train, but look at hosting an event for our program,” Sabala said.

Pomme de Terre Lake is about four miles from the school and offered what Sabala considered a true cross-country setting.

The budding partnership eventually expanded beyond a place for training Hermitage High School athletes themselves, and became a resource for the entire community, according to Shannon Henry, natural resource manager at Pomme de Terre Lake.

“On Jan. 7, 2007, the Hickory County Community Improvement Coalition, Hickory County Health Department, Hermitage R-4 Schools and USACE signed the Challenge Partnership Agreement to develop the 3.1-mile course called the ‘Running River Trail,’” she said.

All the parties involved contributed time and money to build the trail, with Hermitage School District athletes of that era volunteering time and effort to help clear the trails as they were first being developed.

When the school year began and cross-country season kicked-off, Sabala decided it was time to expand beyond his original idea.

“This event was not held anywhere before since I built the event from scratch and debuted the invitational during the 2007 season,” he said.

A course and race unlike any other in the state

The course's unique character quickly became part of the invitational’s identity, Sabala declared, because it’s different than most courses he had run during his athletic career and surveyed for his team as a coach.

“Many cross-country courses are held on school campuses, parks, golf courses or open fields,” he said. “But at Pomme de Terre [Lake], much of the race winds through a completely different atmosphere, while offering a more scenic setting.”

Depending on the weather conditions, Sabala also detailed runners may even encounter low-flowing water or even a makeshift mud pit, scenarios that added to the course’s difficulty. Based on feedback he received over the years, those features may be exciting but come in second to the dam hill.

“We are the only course in the State of Missouri that has a hill that goes up the side of a dam. So, the course is well-known by coaches and competitors across the state,” Sabala said.

These facts about the course — especially the steep incline created by Pomme de Terre Lake’s 7,240-foot-long and 155-foot-high embankment — have helped the invitational grow from around 12 schools in its early years, into an event that now attracts roughly 60 to 70 schools with more than 1,100 runners.

But according to Henry, who is on the annual planning committee for the invitational, the event organizers predicted a larger turnout than usual in 2026.

“The event organizers do all of the registration and have estimated roughly 1,200 participants and 2,000 spectators at this year’s cross-country race,” she said.

Schools ranging from Class 1 through Class 5 participate, bringing athletes from across Missouri to a course that has developed a reputation of its own.

The invitational has also hosted more than 10 district championships since 2007. Jim Wheeler, a first-year cross-country head coach with Hermitage High School, said the course at Pomme de Terre Lake has become a popular destination for his athletes to practice and compete.

“I think this area is probably the premiere place to have your practices throughout the season,” he said. “The course here also brings so much exposure to the area.”

The makings of a regional event

The scale of the Dam Cross-Country Invitational means the race requires much more than runners showing up on race day.

“Coordination always starts at the after-action review meeting following the previous year's event,” Henry said. “Prep meetings occurred in June to start the Special Use Permit Application for the use of government facilities and day use areas. As the event date gets closer, communication by phone, email and in person to finalize details.”

In the weeks leading up to the race, USACE volunteers mow the course, remove leaves and downed trees, identify safety concerns and coordinate repairs. USACE also provides picnic tables, barricades, cones, trash cans and helps establish parking areas.

On race day, Henry stated the Pomme de Terre Lake project office also provides park rangers to assist with public accommodation and help maintain competitor safety in case of a medical emergency.

“Rangers operate a UTV that allows them to reach injured competitors in remote sections of the course and transport them to first responders or the staging area,” Henry said.

But USACE is only one part of the effort.

Citizens Memorial Hospital, Central Hickory County Fire & Rescue, Oak Star Bank, local food trucks, the Polk County Amateur Radio Club, Rains Ice, Hermitage R-IV Schools and Southwest Baptist University cross-country and track teams are among those who have helped support the event in previous years.

“It is truly a team effort,” Sabala said.

Sabala also added that many of the vendors are local, so the event contributes to the bottom lines to nearby businesses and generates economic activity toward the end of the recreation season.

So, the event has become an annual gathering not only for athletes, but also for the community surrounding the lake.

“All the members of The Hickory Pit food truck ran cross country for me when they were in school,” he said.

A tradition that keeps running

The steady growth of the invitational mirrors the growth in popularity of the trail itself. Sabala said it also reflects the broader use of Pomme de Terre Lake and its many amenities as a recreation resource.

“The Running River Trail is used by the community daily and has hosted 5Ks, mountain bike races and other events,” he said. “Hermitage, along with Skyline, Weaubleau and Wheatland, uses the facility for training. The lake also provides opportunities for swimming, boating, fishing, field trips and other community activities.”

The appeal goes far beyond the race since the federal infrastructure continues to be a sound investment for the rural communities of Hickory and Polk counties. Especially for someone like Doherty, who returned to teaching at Hermitage middle and high schools after beginning her career at Wheatland.

“It's amazing to have all the lakes, the people and just the small community feel,” she said, describing the surrounding restaurants, ice cream shops and family-owned businesses as part of the area's appeal.

Sabala, who coached at Hermitage for 20 years before leaving after the 2024-25 school year to join Waynesville High School, has watched the event grow from its original roster of a dozen schools to the hallowed statewide event it is today.

Now two decades later and after his departure from his alma mater, his legacy was memorialized in the event itself, when Hermitage decided to honor their former coach by renaming the event “The Mark Sabala Cross-Country Dam Invitational.”

Wheeler said the school has and will continue building on what Sabala started as a solution to a simple problem.

“Mark has done a great job with building it up, so we’re very grateful for that. Even though he's left, the school continues building the event up,” he said.

The evidence of Sabala’s impact can be seen by looking at the results of Hermitage High School’s performance during the 2026 invitational. Wheeler said the girl’s team finished second overall, while the boys’ team took third place despite an injury to one of the team’s most consistent runners.

For Sabala, the legacy is less about the name and more about what the relationship with USACE has created for athletes and the community.

Twenty years after a coach took a chance and first approached USACE looking for a safer place for his runners to train, the trail remains busy and the race continues to grow.

Today thousands of people still come to Pomme de Terre Lake to run, watch, volunteer, eat and enjoy the lake. And every year, runners still face “the hill” with bravery and determination.

“It feels great that we can have a partnership that is truly a win-win for everyone involved,” Sabala said.

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