When the Suburban Conference changed its division format to pool play in 2018, cross country was the only sport that wasn’t divided.
Yellow is the top tier of talent in the pool system and Blue is the lowest. The cross country teams were all considered to be in the Yellow pool, but that was changed last week a few days before the conference championships were held at McNair Park in St. Charles on Saturday.
“I thought we were all in one pool,” Northwest boys coach Ken Campbell said. “Parkway Central sent out a list of pools I’ve never seen. It takes away from rivalries.”
Despite the change, the boys and girls varsity races were run collectively and the times and finishes were separated into three pools afterward.
The Lions were in the Yellow pool and since they didn’t bring a full squad, didn’t factor into the team points. Kirkwood won with 36 points. Campbell used the junior varsity race later in the day to determine who would fill in the varsity ranks for the Class 4 District 4 meet at Brookdale Farms in Eureka on Oct. 26.
“Our district’s going to be as tough as it’s ever been,” Campbell said. “A lot of these teams are going to be there. From week to week, you never know who’s going to win.”
Senior Cody Poskin is aiming for his first trip to the Class 4 state meet. Northwest’s top runner finished 16th in the Yellow pool Saturday in 17:02.68, one place from a medal. After finishing 10th at the Fort Zumwalt North Twilight Invitational on Sept. 7 and fourth at the Stan Nelson Invitational a week later, Poskin has fallen back in the pack. That’s not a good place for him to be, he said.
“It’s been more of an anti-progression, if we’re being honest,” Poskin said of his recent runs. “I haven’t figured it out since that first race. It’s kind of tapered off and hopefully I’ll be faster for districts and sectionals.
“I feel good for the first mile or so then I start dropping back and it gets into my head and I fall back farther.”
Campbell said Poskin has been working his way through some things as far as his race strategy and the way he’s approaching races.
“He started the season super strong,” Campbell said. “We’re trying to get back there. He does not like running back in the pack. He likes to be up front. It’s almost like he loses faith in himself when other people are ahead of him, and he shouldn’t. He’s an awesome runner and has amazing ability and for the first time in years, he’s completely healthy.”
Poskin said he likes running at McNair because it’s a fast course. The varsity boys ran first and it was a chilly morning and the grass was wet with dew.
“I felt good the first mile then my hamstrings started getting tight,” he said. “I lost a couple of spots and kept falling off. I ran 10 seconds faster than I did last year and dropped a lot of spots.”
The next three Northwest runners to finish were senior Jordan Walters in 36th in 17:39.19, junior David Nicholls in 54th in 19:00.49 and senior Cyrus Phillip in 19:58.31.
“Jordan had a great race today,” Campbell said. “He’s been coming along. His last couple of races were right at 18:00. He ran 17:16 his first meet, but everybody ran fast and that messed with kids’ heads a little bit.
“David missed a month with a foot problem and he was running in the 17:50s last year. He had big plans this year and trained really hard and we got him healthy and he’s trying to play catchup.”
The Lions ran at the state’s new site for the championships at Gans Creek in Columbia last month. After competing at the Oak Hills Golf Course in Jefferson City for decades, the state’s harriers have a course that was built for cross country.
“The course was amazing,” Campbell said. “The problem is it’s so wide if you’re not running the tangents properly, you’re going to run a lot farther than 5K because there are a lot of big turns. But it’s marked beautifully. Oak Hills has hurt runners in the past because it’s so difficult. When a guy runs low 15s at Jefferson City, it’s a serious time.”
Poskin said he wasn’t a big fan of Gans Creek.
“I don’t like doing two laps, literally running to the finish line, and then turning away from it,” he said about the layout.
The Northwest girls fielded a full team and clocked in sixth place in the Yellow pool with 120 points. Eureka won the pool with 45 points.
Three-time state qualifier Claire Meisch wasn’t the Lions’ top runner Saturday. That honor went to freshman Ryley Posey, who captured a medal after finishing 14th in 20:23.11. Sophomore Samantha Brown missed qualifying for state last year by one spot and was Northwest’s next finisher at conference in 32nd in 20:44.31. Sophomore Karley Wheeler (26th, 20:52.15), Meisch (28th, 20:58.55) and Emily Oleson (30th, 21:02.34) were next in line for the Lions.
“We had a couple of freshmen really step up for us and the rest of the girls make us a really strong team,” Northwest girls head coach C.J. Guilford said.
“Claire didn’t have her best day because she’s been pushing through some pain. A few of our girls didn’t run great today and that’s what makes finishing fifth overall exciting. It tells me that if we get healthy and we all run good races, we’re going to have a strong team.”
Guilford said his plan for districts is to throw his underclassmen in and see what happens.
“It’s going to be tough,” he said. “With the way the freshmen performed today, I don’t have a doubt if we run well, we’ll get to sectionals as a team.”
If any of the Lions reach state, Guilford said it’s going to be a great experience.
“Gans Creeks flows a little better, but we have to be prepared to get out fast and be positioned well for turns,” he said. “We’re going to have to be ready to run fast that day.”