11/4 News and Notes

The Week in Review

We packed a lot into district week.  That started with our spirit themes for each day.  From one-color wonders all the way through to spooky sea monsters, we had some phenomenal participation.  

We started out the week hot with a race-pace workout.  From there we kept things moving with some additional opportunities to dial in our paces.  Our fun day featured a barter puzzle competition between our running groups.  Each team had some but not all of the pieces to their puzzle, but they did possess some of the other teams' pieces, allowing them to work out trades for the pieces they needed.  

We also had our final pasta party on Wednesday, complete with a glowing hayride.

District Meet Recap

The team had a great day at districts.  For the beginning of November, the weather at Arcadia Valley was perfect, maybe even a bit warm by the girls race.  And despite the rain earlier in the week, the course was soft but not squishy in most places.  That set the day up for some incredibly fast times, which was definitely confirmed when we watched the Class 3 races that started the day.

Our boys ran first in a jam-packed field with 139 finishers and 20 scoring teams.  With at least 10 of those teams having a realistic chance to qualify for state, we knew we had our work cut out for us in order to crack the top four.  Regardless of the outcome, our team was committed to giving a strong showing.

That performance was led by Carter.  The front end of the boys race didn't play out with the expected script of Woodland's Calvin Layton taking the early lead.  Instead he sat back with Carter, while Jayden Metzler of Pius took a sizeable lead through the first mile.  Carter and Calvin closed that gap in the second mile.  Calvin was able to overtake Jayden in the final mile.  Carter came up a little short, losing a sprint to the finish with Woodland's Hayden Vangennip to finish fourth.  Nonetheless, he ran more than 30 seconds faster than at last year's district meet and just 2 seconds off of a new PR.  He's determined to flip that script on Saturday.

Going into the race, we knew Ethan had a chance at a finish place in the low teens.  What we didn't know is the time that would come with that.  He ran another smart race, moving up throughout.  At the 1-mile he was in 29th place.  By the end of the race he had passed half the runners ahead of him to finish 12th, beating the top runner of 12 other schools.  His finish time of 17:35 shaved another 37 seconds off his PR and marked a nearly one-minute improvement off of his state-qualifying district time at Arcadia Valley as a sophomore.  It also moved him into 8th place on the all-time leader board for our team.  All 7 of the boys ahead of him earned all-state runners during their careers, and Ethan will look to join them when he runs on Saturday. 

We knew Luke would face tough odds to crack the top 30 and qualify for state individually.  While unfortunately he didn't quite get there, it wasn't for lack of a phenomenal race.  After North County, we knew a sub-20 5k was very likely.  But he didn't just break 20 minutes.  He broke 19 with it.  Perhaps the craziest thing of all is that his first mile was actually a second slower than at North County, but it shows the power of a smart race.  He passed 46 people after the one-mile mark and finished in 35th, the third fastest freshman in the race.  And speaking of freshmen, his finish time of 18:51 is the 7th fastest in team history and points to a bright future ahead.

The freshman success didn't stop there.  Cain crossed the line as our fourth runner.  Like Luke, he ran essentially the same mile time as he did at North County, but he ran more than a minute faster for the race.  He passed 17 runners over the last two miles, and his finish time of 21:12 was more than a minute faster than Ethan as a freshman.  That's a sign that a lot of progress awaits.

Noah W was our fifth and final scoring runner.  He got dealt a tough hand getting pneumonia just two weeks from districts.  But he fought to get back to form and managed to pass multiple runners down the stretch, and his finish time was good for a 6-second PR over his performance at State last year.  As he continues to build consistency, he'll be part of the core of our boys team trying to get back there next year.

It's been a long season for Bo, who's been running since June.  For a new runner, that's a long stretch.  Nonetheless, he continued to push through a tough field and still delivered one of his signature sprint finishes.  His finish time of 22:01 was a 17-second PR.  Given a year to get stronger, I'm excited for what lies ahead for him.  

Noah H was the last of our runners across the finish line.  He fought through some discomfort to get there.  This time a year ago he wasn't able to run at all.  To think that he could come back to run the second fastest time of his career is quite remarkable.  Over the last four years he's been a key leader of our team, both on and off the course.

In the end we fell short of our goal to reach state, but our eighth place finish still put us ahead of teams like Saxony and Puxico that we sat behind most of the season.  Had our boys been in Class 1 as our true enrollment would suggest, they would be joining the ladies in Columbia.  As our team success from 2018 moves off the championship factor ledger, that will likely be the classification for our boys next year.  All things considered--especially the youth of our boys team--we had a successful season.  In the next few years, I expect this team to become a dangerously competitive one.

On the ladies side, we knew given only four scoring teams in our district that barring disqualification, we were guaranteed a trip to state.  Our girls wanted to show that we deserved to run in Columbia.  While first place was firmly in the grasp of Dora--the likely favorite to win state--our team had a realistic shot at the second-place plaque and decided to go for it.

That effort started up front, where we had three ladies finish in the top ten.  That has only happened once for our girls program, and that was well before 2021 when the state moved from an 8-district system to a 4-district one.  Reagan was the first of our girls across the finish line.  As she worked back to full strength, the plan was to keep her with Abby and Anna through the first half of the race before letting her go in the second loop.  Over that stretch she managed to pass 12 girls, including a last one at the finish line.  Her 3rd place finish time was the second fastest of her career.  

Abby and Anna stuck together throughout the race as they passed 15 girls after the one-mile.  That's a bit ironic.  Anna barely lost a footrace with a girl from Dora but finished in 8th place.  Not only was she the second fastest freshman in the district, but her new PR of 22:49 moved her into 3rd place on the all-time freshman list, right next to Abby.  That also earned her the last spot in the overall top-ten list for our program

Abby finished right behind her in the race in 9th place.  That was good enough for a nearly 45-second season best and a 20-second improvement on her district time last year.  Once again that puts her within striking distance of her personal best.  Abby's season bests over her four years all fall within a 10-second span.  She'll be hoping to make that no longer true after next Friday.

Audrey was our next runner across the line.  She's still been working her way back from illness, but with the coughs down to a seldom occurrence, she was able to turn in a strong performance.  Her 32nd place finish was just 4 seconds shy of all-district honors.  Her time of 25:44 was a new PR and a more than 2-minute improvement over her district time last year.  

Kennedy wasn't far behind her.  While she ran smart to keep her knee healthy for state, she still managed to pass 8 runners over the last two miles of the race.  She also ran a season best and the third fastest time of her career.  She'll look to shave even more off in her final race on Friday.

Thankfully the race didn't come down to tiebreaker, but Sybina left us in good place if it would have.  Not only did she run a season best, she improved on her PR from freshman year by an astonishing 78 seconds.  That's a strong testament to the hard work she's put in over the course of the season.

Reese was our final runner.  She was at the very back at the half-mile mark but managed to pass five runners by the end of the race, including edging two at the finish line.  That was good enough for a season best and marked the fourth fastest time of her career.  

Just 7 points separated 2nd, 3rd, and 4th place on the team front, but our ladies edged out Summersville and Van Buren to claim the runner-up plaque.  That's the seventh district plaque in team history, and just the second since the four-district structure made coming home with one twice as difficult.  They'll now look ahead to state, where they have a realistic chance to make an even bigger statement.  

The Week Ahead

This week we'll have just a few days in Perryville before we make the trip to Columbia.  That includes one last workout to dial in race paces.  

Our team sendoff will be Thursday morning.  The team will attend the 8AM Mass before the sendoff at 9:15 along Rosati Street.  If you are able, feel free to join us for either or both.

State Meet Preview

Given this year's state schedule and the fact that our boys and girls are in different classes, our trip to state will be a bit longer than usual.  The girls will run Friday morning, while the boys will have to wait until Saturday

Since 2019, the state meet has been run at the Gans Creek Recreation Area in Columbia.  This also serves as the home course for the University of MIssouri, who will host the NCAA Championships there next year.  To be able to accommodate the various distances of high school and college, the course is made of two loops, one two kilometers in length and the other three kilometers.  Both loops overlap for just more than a kilometer and essentially end back at the start line, which is adjacent to the finish line. 

To get a 5k, runners make one pass around each loop, the shorter one followed by the longer one. There are chip reader pads at every kilometer to record splits, though given this setup I've found the 2km pad to be a little too early, which does affect splits for the 2k and 3k.  

Built for races with 300 runners, the course is immensely wide at the starting line with roughly 10m of space across the rest of the way.  The course is groomed like a golf course with meandering turns through what were once meadows.  It also drains incredibly well, which has come in handy in recent years.  With no major hills and just a few gradual climbs, the course tends to produce some fast times, especially at the adrenaline-packed and reasonably cool state meet.  

The course isn't the most spectator friendly.  The starting line is only accessible to coaches, managers, and runners in the race.  The second loop goes back quite a ways, which makes it hard for spectators to make it to the finish line for the end.  The course is also heavily policed by over a dozen MSHSAA officials who do their best (some quite forcefully) to keep the crowds to restricted areas for viewing.  The finish is along a big open stretch.  It will be packed with people, but you can pretty much see runners for the last 250m or so.  The finish stretch is fenced off to spectators, and the finish line empties into a pavilion that only runners can access before emerging out into tent city on the back end. 

We'll start with the boys race.  Class 2 has a decent amount of talent across the state, but our district probably boasts a disproportionate share.  We won't spend much time looking at team scores, but I will say that Woodland is the HEAVY favorite to repeat as state champions, and I wouldn't be surprised to see one if not two more teams from our district on the podium.  

In terms of the individual competition, which will be our focus, my pick to win would be Lexington's Chael Lichte.  While the fastest seed time belongs to New Height Christian Academy's Colton McMillan, Lichte has been the more consistently fast runner throughout the season, including a 16:00 he dropped on the state course back in September.

As for our runners, Carter brings in the 7th fastest district time but could easily push into the top 5 if he gets revenge against a few district foes.  Besides them, expect Hermann's Nolan Kopp, Butler's Brandon Hammett, and Clark County's Mason McDaniel to be in the mix.  

Ethan brings in the 25th fastest district time, which gives him a reasonable shot at becoming the ninth all-state boy in team history.  He'll certainly improve on his finish times at the state course the last two years, but just how much faster remains to be seen. 

As for the Class 1 girls race, only 14 teams will be in the running.  The state has yet to master the art of evenly distributing scoring teams.  While our district had four, the other districts had 9, 6, and 2 respectively, and so those other two slots from District 4 will go unfilled.  The same thing happened last year.

Of the teams that will get to Columbia, I expect district foe Dora to duke it out with Chadwick for the championship.  After that, things look a lot like the district race for the boys, with as many as 6 schools with a legitimate shot at the remaining two podium slots.  Our ladies are one of them, but it will take some impressive races across the board.

Individually, I anticipate the race to be a battle between Calvary Lutheran's Sonya Brunner and defending champion Mya Wray.  Bernie's Ella Harris showed up big in our district race and could be a dark horse, while 2022 champion Mallory Shaw could also end up in the mix.  

Regarding our runners, Reagan can definitely crack the top 10, and if she can run at full strength for the entire race, a top 5 finish is well within reach.  Abby and Anna both sit on the cusp of all-state honors.  They will likely need to shave even more off their impressive district times to make that happen.  But that could be something special.  Our girls team has never had two all-state runners in the same season, let alone three.

All in all, it will be neat to experience both days of the state meet.  If you plan to attend, remember that tickets are $12 per day and must be purchased digitally on the MSHSAA website.  We're excited to see what our team can do on the state's biggest stage!