A local teenager tops Higbee’s bid in a $50,000 school sports competition

HIGBEE – The town of Higbee, Missouri in Randolph County is a finalist in the national SO-FI Changers Challenge, a statewide campaign to provide funding for needy public high school sports programs.

Higbee is one of ten schools across the country that will be selected as finalists in the competition, and the grand prize winner will receive $50,000 for improvements.

Higbee track and field coach Adam McCauley said he got the idea to participate in the campaign when he saw Chargers quarterback Justin Herbert in an advertisement for the challenge on his television.

“We went into it because I thought, hey, that’s a cool idea,” McCauley explained.

To take part in the competition, schools are required to send a video explaining why they should be selected and what the prize will be used for.

Higbee promotes the selection of winners for his track and field teams. Currently, the school’s track team does not have a track or area on which to practice the triple jump and long jump.

Joey Westfall, a Higbee senior and member of the track team, commissioned her to create and submit a school video for entry.

He says it took about two weeks to prepare the project, and he is currently a finalist in a national competition.

“What should I do? I don’t have much experience with this, but then I hunkered down, downloaded a free video editing app, gathered all the clips, put different audio in there, and it turned out pretty good. Westfall said.

Higbee’s track and field team is currently practicing the triple jump and long jump in the school yard, hopping onto a playground surfaced with shredded tire material.

And while $50,000 isn’t enough to build a track for the school, McCauley says the proceeds would cover much-needed improvements for the team.

“So $50,000 or $10,000 won’t pay for the whole song. But what we can do is spend that money on field events, long jump, triple jump runs, sand pits. We would like to be one of the few first-class schools to have pole vault.”

The winner of the SO-FI Changers Challenge will be selected on November 27.

The program with the most votes at the end of the challenge will be the winner. If you would like to vote for the Higbee track and field team, you can do so by visiting the website SO-FI Game Changers website.