News and Notes: End of Season Edition

The Week in Review

It was a short week for our team in Perryville.  We spent a lot of time in the classroom going over plans for state both on and off the course.  On Tuesday we hit our home course one last time for a very soggy race-pace workout.  That included a replica Mizzou Tiger from the finish of the state course.  Then on Thursday we were off to the races.

We started Thursday out with a team Mass before the city and school sent us off with roaring festivity.  Our trip to state included stops at St. Louis Premium Outlets, Firehouse Subs, and Ozarkland.  We then had the chance to preview the state course and hold practice on it.  Our trip included plenty of other great shopping and eating and concluded with a stop at Udderly Moolicious on the way homefor some ice cream and a sit on the "Cowch".​

State Meet Recap

The state meet was every bit as crazy as expected, maybe more since this was the first time our boys and girls have had to run on separate days.  The girls started things off on Friday, when Class 1 and 5 raced.  The day started out a little cool but really warmed up by midday.  The course was a bit squishy from rain earlier in the week, but otherwise the conditions were well above average in the short history of the state meet in Columbia.

Our ladies were ranked 8th in the pre-race virtual meet, but we knew we could perform better than that and had our hopes set on a fourth place finish.  As expected, the race went out insanely hot, with runners from most schools punching well above their weight in the first kilometer.  Our ladies held back and ran a smart and patient race.  At the 1000m mark, our girls were in 12th out of 13 teams, but that was exactly where we wanted to be as we went to work passing runners.  

That effort started with Reagan.  This was just her third race back, and her first without any hard pace restrictions.  Nonetheless, her aerobic fitness wasn't fully reloaded, and Reagan knew she needed to be conservative in the race before throwing whatever she had left into the last kilometer.  That put her in 75th place at the 1km, but in the next thousand meters alone she passed 33 of the girls in front of her.  By the 4000m mark she had fought all the way into the top 30.  She finished the last kilometer strong but smart, pushing past an additional 6 runners to finish the race in 23rd. 

While Reagan's time of 21:40 was slower than the expectations at the start of the season, her even getting to race at state exceeded our expectations a month ago.  She became just the fourth girl in team history to earn all-state honors and the first in six years, all of this despite going a month without any aerobic exercise in the middle of the season.  At full strength her times would have been better, but what couldn't have been better was her attitude through the entire season as she dealt with one challenge after another.

As expected, Anna and Abby stuck together through most of the race.  At the 1km they were in 117th and 119th respectively.  Like Reagan, they really moved up in the middle of the race, both passing more than 70 runners over the next 3 kilometers.  The push didn't stop there.  Over the last kilometer Anna passed 10 runners to finish in 35th place and as the fourth fastest freshman in the race (2nd and 3rd were the next two places in front of her).  Her new PR of 22:42 ended her season as the second fastest freshman in team history behind Genevieve Lipe.  She also climbed into 9th on the overall girls list by leapfrogging Abby.

But Abby met her own goals.  She passed 7 runners down the stretch to finish in 37th place, the highest finish of her career at state and with a new PR of 22:44, breaking the time she ran on the same course as a freshman.  That time will stand as the 10th fastest in program history.  Abby has easily been one of the most consistent runners to ever be part of our program.  Through that and her genuine kindness, she makes every runner around her better.  Her impact on our team over the last four years can't be overstated, and we will dearly miss her leadership.  ​

The pass attack didn't stop with our first three runners.  Kennedy and Audrey also stayed together most of the race.  At the 1km mark there were only 10 runners in the entire race behind them, and two of them were from our team.  With a much thinner field at that part of the race, they still managed to each pass 32 runners over the remainder of the race, including 9 and 10 respectively in the last 1000m.  They finished in 111th and 112th places.  Kennedy's time of 25:20 was the second fastest of her career and her best in over two years, all of this done on an ailing knee.  That's just one glimpse of the dedication she's shown in her four years on the team, giving her all to both cheer and cross country.  Many people only see one side or the other of that commitment, but combined she's given an incredible amount of time and energy toward making our team and the cheer squad better, and that will be hard if not impossible to replace.  ​

Audrey's finish time of 25:25 shaved nearly 20 more seconds off of her PR.  Her season ended just shy of 3 minutes faster than where it did last year, which is an insane improvement.  Her constant pursuit to improve is a strong quality to have in our third fastest returning runner looking to next year.  ​

Sybina was hot off of a blistering performance at districts.  While she didn't quite match that time at state, she still ran the second fastest race of her career in her first taste of the state course.  She also passed eight runners over the course of the race.  She ended her season with some strong performances that can hopefully serve as a solid launching point into her senior season.

Reese came into her last race with the goal of running sub 30 for just the second time in her career.  That was going to mean shaving over a minute off of her already strong race at districts.  But she ran a consistent race and managed to come out fast over the last kilometer, especially once she saw that her goal was in reach.  Her time of 29:43 was the second fastest of her career and the best in more than two years.  Since she joined the team her sophomore year, Reese has grown both as a leader and competitor, becoming a powerful motivator for her teammates who will be greatly missed.

Even after 2km, our team was still in 12th place, but over the last 3000m of the race our team nearly cut its point total in half.  By the finish we had climbed all the way to 5th place, just 2 points shy of 4th place and a spot on the podium.  That tied the 2020 squad for the second best finish at state in program history.  For our team's first trip to state since 2021, that was pretty impressive!

If there's any consolation, by missing the podium our girls team should remain in Class 1 next year, where they will be joined by the boys.  However, they will do so without three seniors that ran at state and will need to replenish that loss of talent and leadership.

If the girls race offered near-perfect conditions, the boys race on Saturday went just as far in the opposite direction.  The rain started around the time our athletes woke up, and when we reached the course, things were definitely squishy.  The rain continued during the two races before ours and really picked up as Ethan and Carter were warming up.  That left puddles and mud everywhere on the course.  

Our runners did their best to stay warm and dry as long as possible, but at the starting line they just had to embrace the mess a bit.  We knew times were going to be considerably slower than the previous day, and so the boys pivoted to running by feel.  We also knew there would be some insane first kilometers, so a conservative start was once again the plan.

The course was a slop-fest.  On some of the turns the officials actually closed off the inner half of the course width to keep runners out of the mud.  This obviously added distance to everyone's run and made it harder to pass. After 1000m, Carter was back in 42nd place.  However, he continued to climb over the next two kilometers.  By the 3km mark he was well into all-state territory at 16th.  And in the final 2000m he passed another 5 athletes to finish in 11th.  The last of those runners was Woodland's Calvin Layton.  One of Carter's goals was to even the score with those ahead of him at districts.  He had already passed Jayden Metzler of Pius, and so that made him the fastest runner from our district. In a field dominated by juniors (the first 9 finishers were all 11th graders), Carter was the fastest sophomore in all of Class 2.  ​

Ethan also started out smart and was back in 86th place at the 1km mark.  Over the next kilometer he passed an impressive 26 runners.  At that point he had to battle some fatigue in his legs.  He continued to move up through the finish and ended in 53rd place.  We knew given the weather that he wasn't going to go out with a PR, but his time was still only 10 seconds slower than on the much firmer and faster course at state last year.  He stepped into some big shoes to be a leader on our team this year.  We might not need as much salad at pasta dinners next year, but we will miss his commitment and willingness to always do what was asked of him.

The Season in Review

Of our 17 runners, we had 13 PRs this season, with 3 more running the second fastest times of their career.  Every freshman shaved at least 90 seconds off their first 5k time by the end of the season.  Of our returning runners, EVERY SINGLE ONE ran a faster season best this year than last year, including 5 that shaved off more than a minute.  More impressive to me, our team rallied together and supported each other toward success.  Not only our runners but our team took big steps forward from start to finish, and I think that has real potential to carry forward into next year.  All in all it's been a fantastic season!