Perryville Meet Recap

Our second meet in five days took us across town to the City Park for races hosted by our friends at Perryville High School.  This marked the 5th year for their meet but the first one with a new course with fewer turns and hills.

The meet was smaller than Fox, with just 8 schools in the boys race, and only 5 for the girls.  Meadow Heights was the only team with district ramifications on the boys side, whereas the girls didn't really have any schools of postseason interest.

Boys Race

Like at Fox, we didn't race our full team to give athletes a break.  On the boys side, we were still able to get a scoring team across the finish line.  The goal for our boys was to try to keep pace with Meadow Heights and Kelly, the other smaller school in the race.  Without our fastest runners the boys still held their own.  They ended up in 6th place, but they matched up fairly similarly positionally with these two teams.  That gives us some optimism looking forward, but it also leaves us some work to do in the coming races.

Jackson was our first runner across the finish line.  He stayed with Caden and Collin through the first two miles before starting to create some separation as he pushed the pace in the closing stretch.  He passed 11 athletes from the first mile on.  We didn't go into this meet expecting any PRs, but much like at Willow Springs, Jackson managed to find a way to run well in a tough setting.  He shaved an additional 7 seconds off his previous best and finished in 19th place.

Collin was next to finish.  He faced some pre-race nerves before the starting line, but when the race got underway he stepped up big.  Like Jackson he set a new PR by 10 seconds, but even more impressive is that he shaved nearly a minute off his Willow Springs time to dip under 22 minutes.  That was good enough for 23rd place.

Caden was less than two seconds behind.  Coming off of a massive PR at a fast Fox course, we knew this race was probably going to be a bit slower.  However, Caden held his own.  Like the two boys in front of him, he moved up in the second half of the race, pushing into 24th place and earning our 3rd medal of the race.

Bo was our fourth boy to finish. He dealt with some ankle discomfort during the race that slowed him down in the second half.  However, he fought through the pain to get to the finish line, his trademark closing sprint coming up just a little bit short of catching a runner.

Tristin was our final boy in the race.  He started out conservatively, but just like Fox he built momentum with each mile.  Even though his time didn't match that at Fox, he passed 5 boys in the final mile to put in another solid race.

Girls Race

Like at Fox, we only ran 4 girls, which once again left us short of a team score.  However, like the boys, the ladies matched up well positionally with the other schools, even ones significantly bigger than us.  We also ran some great individual races.

Jocelyn was our first girl to finish.  She and Adeline stayed together through the first two miles, slowly pushing up through the runners in front of them.  Despite a back that still isn't 100%, Jocelyn took off in the last mile.  While the three runners she passed during the second mile is impressive, it's the one she passed toward the end of the race that's the most impressive given the large lead that competitor had.  That finished pushed Jocelyn into 23rd place and possession of a medal.  While the course was significantly different this year, it's worth noting that her time was almost 8 minutes faster than at the meet in 2024.

Adeline was our second finisher.  She stayed with Jocelyn through the first 2.5 miles, and right around that point she passed a competitor to move into 25th place, what should have been the final medal spot.  Despite a strong race up until that point, Adeline couldn't hold that position and was repassed in the final quarter mile, leaving her in 26th place.  We're not sure exactly what happened, but somehow the places got off during the award ceremony and she ended up receiving a medal nonetheless.  That's fitting because her performance was still worthy of recognition.

Sybina followed next.  At the half mile she was at the very back of the race with Sybella.  But seeing how fast some of the girls went out, we knew they would eventually fall back to her.  Sybina capitalized on that big time, passing 7 girls in the second mile alone.  That was 20% of the field!  She looked strong, even in the final segment of the race.  Her time was just 30 seconds off of what she ran at our home meet and marked a 4-minute improvement over the last time she ran this meet as a sophomore.  

Sybella was our final girl.  She dealt with some respiratory issues during much of the race but continued to battle.  In the end she was able to move past 3 other girls over the course of the race.  Like her sister, Sybella last raced this meet as a sophomore.  Despite the struggles this race, she still managed to finish with nearly the same time as back in 2023.  

In total we saw two PRs and a lot of solid races on a challenging course.  As we move into the second half of the season, we want to continue building toward peak performance!

Find Full Results Here

Find Meet Photos Here