Five Jefferson County cross country teams returned home with state plaques from Jefferson City.
If any more proof was needed of the quality of runners from this area, it was supplied on Saturday at the Oak Hills Golf Course, when the Festus boys won their fifth consecutive Class 3 state championship and the Herculaneum boys came in fourth in Class 3.
The Festus girls didn’t defend their Class 3 title, but were second, and the De Soto girls captured the first trophy in the sport in school history by coming in fourth in Class 3. The last race of the day saw the Jefferson girls bring home the school’s first cross country top-four finish in third place with 129 points.
The vast amount of talent the county has sent to Jefferson City over the years isn’t lost on De Soto head coach Aaron Young.
“It’s extremely deep and rich and the history just continues today and hopefully we can continue to add chapters to it,” Young said after his Dragons scored 133 points. Bolivar’s girls won Class 3 with 77 points and the Tigers were second with 94.
The 43 points by which the Festus boys won the title this year was their lowest score since recording 47 in 2015. The Tigers’ benchmark season of 2014 saw them win state with 24 points.
“I’m proud of these guys,” said Festus head coach Bryant Wright, who now has won nine state titles with the boys (2009, 2012, 2014-2018) and girls (2014, 2017). “It’s a tribute to all of their hard work and what they wanted to do for each other and those who ran before them. It’s a great feeling.”
Senior Max McDaniel became the first Festus boy to win the individual championship since Michael Karls set the course record in 2014 in 15:23.80. McDaniel was fourth his first two seasons, second last year and won this year’s race in 16:12.10. In his four runs at state, McDaniel’s best time was as a junior in 15:46.57.
Wright was asked if anything could have detracted from winning a fifth straight state title, like McDaniel not winning his last race.
“It’s been the plan since he was a freshman,” Wright said. “He was fourth for two years and second last year. I told him it’s simple: ‘Four divided by two is two and two divided by two is one. That’s how easy it is.’ But you never know. I am so proud of watching him grow for four years.”
While McDaniel has led the way for the Tigers at state since he was a freshman, what sets Festus apart is his supporting cast. Four Tigers finished in the top 25 and junior Dominik Kayser, whom Wright praised all season, just missed the state medal cut in 26th in 17:21.38. Junior Simon Ogle (seventh, 16:47.94), senior Alec Whitener (10th, 17:02.19), junior Jonah Krieg (21st, 17:17.28) and junior Garrett Rhine (25th, 17:20.74) were all-state for Festus. Ogle was 19th last year. Rhine made the state cut after coming in 55th in 2017.
“Simon’s probably got the most talent of any athlete I have right now,” Wright said. “He’s a tough runner and we knew he’d do well today.
“The last two years (Whitener) turned into an impressive athlete. He told me when he was a freshman, he was going to do everything he was told and do it right.”
Wright said he understands the rest of the teams in Class 3 will view the loss of McDaniel as a glimmer of hope to break the Tigers’ state title run, which is only exceeded in state history by Herculaneum’s boys, who won seven in a row between 1977 and 1983.
“I see Garrett Rhine, Jonah Krieg, Dominik Kayser and Simon Ogle and a few more surprises,” Wright said with a sly grin. “Max won’t be there, but if we have three guys in the top 10 next year, we’ll be right back up there.”
The Festus girls will look to extend their appearances on the medal stand to three in a row next fall after finishing second on Saturday and a pair of underclassmen could lead the way.
Sophomore Emma Kettler (20th, 20:40.09) and freshman Allison Faerber (21st, 20:40.25) were the Tigers’ two all-state runners this year. Senior Maddie Welsh (28th, 21:03.58), junior Erika McIntyre (33rd, 21:21.96), junior Sophia Leftwich (50th, 21:38.64) and seniors Bailey Moore (55th, 21:42.08) and Melissa Wolk (70th, 22:05.92) all helped the Tigers win another state trophy.
Kettler, Faerber, Leftwich and Moore didn’t compete at state last year, so Festus was able to re-invent itself and challenge Bolivar, which won Class 3 with 77 points.
“You always want to win. We gave Bolivar all we could today,” Wright said. “We had a couple of girls not do what we wanted, but would it have made a difference? I don’t know.”
Black Cats’ Stricklin claims fourth state medal
Herculaneum senior Nautica Stricklin made a difference for the Blackcats for four years, and the lessons she’s passed on to the team’s younger runners won’t be forgotten.
The Blackcats set a state record last year when they finished in the top four for the 14th season in a row. The streak was broken this year when Herky as a team didn’t advance out of its district.
Stricklin, a four-time Jefferson County Activities Association champion, capped a dynamic four-year career on Saturday by winning her fourth state medal. After coming in fifth as a freshman in Class 2, Stricklin came in fifth the next year in Class 3, was third last season in 19:34.84, and ran to 10th place on Saturday in 20:21.02.
“The No. 1 thing we know about Nautica is she’s a competitor and you will always get her best,” Herculaneum head coach Kyle Davis said. “This might not be the finish she wanted, but it was a top-10 finish in a loaded field and she’s the fifth girl in Herky history to get a medal all four years.
“She has become a leader. The team goals didn’t work out like we wanted, but we brought the other girls here to see what it’s like. Nautica passed on a lot. I told the other girls (Friday night) that if there’s one thing you learn from Nautica, it’s to lay it on the line every time.”
The Herky girls’ state streak might be over, but the Blackcat boys are working on two state plaques in a row after they came in third in 2017 and fourth on Saturday with 134 points.
For the third season in a row, junior Jonathon Coffman brought home a state medal for the Blackcats. Coffman came in 15th as a freshman and 21st after an injury-plagued sophomore year. He finished sixth this year in 16:40.92. Coffman was the only Herculaneum runner in the top 25. Junior Kyle Vinyard was 34th in 17:49.12.
“It was decent,” Coffman said about his race. “It wasn’t what I expected as far as place and time, but I ran as hard as I could. I’m excited to see the results for the team because we’ve worked all year for this.”
Davis said Coffman ran his toughest race of the year.
“One guy got him in the last 50 meters, but the bottom line is he ran a very tough mile and didn’t fall off. I was very pleased,” Davis said.
De Soto girls finish strong
After Stricklin crossed the finish line, the next runner from the county to medal was De Soto freshman Kayla Vogelsang, who was 16th in 20:34.14. Junior Lillie Kaempfe was next for the Dragons with a 22nd-place time of 20:40.98.
“Everyone was shaking my hand at the finish line, but I wanted to see the results,” Young said. “I haven’t coached an all-state runner before, so that was awesome. I was 200 meters short of the three-mile mark and saw Kayla and Lillie come over the hill and I knew we had a shot to do something.”
By the end of the season, Vogelsang said the Dragons had a feeling they could do well at state.
“There were a couple of hills that were difficult to recover from,” Vogelsang said. “My goal was to stay with Lillie.”
Freshman Riley Petsch (30th, 21:08.09), sophomore Erika Mellor (45th, 21:32.73), senior Jewell Kohler (98th, 22:44.85), senior Kaitlyn McGinnitey (114th, 23:05.86) and sophomore Hannah Kamp (117th, 23:09.52) are part of
De Soto’s history-making squad.
“If you would have told me in August we’d be in the top four here, I would have laughed at you,” Young said. “We got stronger as the season progressed and we peaked at the right time.
“Kayla and Riley have injected a we-believe mentality and that bled over to the rest of the team. It’s been great to watch them grow as the season progressed.”
Blue Jay girls take third
Jefferson’s trophy case has been adding hardware the last two years thanks to the girls track and field team coming in second in Class 2 the previous two springs, and now the cross country team’s third-place finish. Since 2016, girls sports (third place in the state in softball that year) are on quite a roll at Jefferson.
A big part of that success has come from the legs of senior twins Anna and Jordan Heacock. Anna is a state champion hurdler, while Jordan is a true distance runner. Anna recently made an oral commitment to run track at Wichita State University in Kansas, while Jordan has committed to Missouri Southern State University in Joplin.
Jordan won a state medal all four years at Jefferson City. She was ninth her freshman year, 22nd in 2016, eighth last year and was 11th in 21:20.10 on Saturday. She was the only girls runner in Class 2 from the county to be all-state. St. Pius X sophomore Rita Eimer came in 27th in 22:06.27.
“She’s been really consistent this season. I know she wishes her time was a little down after her race today, but she’s happy with her place,” Jefferson head coach Mollie Rhodes said about Jordan.
Anna finished 30th in 22:15.61, and was followed by teammates Cheney Ervin (38th, 22:28.95), Chelsea Badger (48th, 22:50.34), Josephine Mijarez (120th, 24:31.82), Hannah Wigger (138th, 25:10.60) and Katie Deevers (144th, 25:44.16).
“When we started the season, the girls were unsure of where we would be, but they worked hard and as the season went along, it looked like they could win a plaque,” Rhodes said. “They ran decent races today and we’re walking away with a plaque in only our second year with a full team.”
Seckman seniors finish strong
In Class 4, Seckman seniors Nathan Key and Zach Reed both made their second straight state appearance for the Jaguars. Both moved ahead in the standings by almost half on Saturday.
Reed was 50th a year ago, and he just missed being all-state after coming in 26th in 16:45.78, two seconds behind St. Louis University High senior Patrick Hetlage.
“Last year, I went out too fast and lost it,” Reed said as he stood outside of the finish line area wondering if he’d made the state cut. “I wanted to go out more conservatively and slower and work my way up after the first mile.”
Key didn’t finish in the top 100 in 2017, but came in 62nd in 17:15.70 this fall.
“I knew the course was going to be muddy, so I knew the times would be slower,” he said. “I just wanted to run my last race and give it everything I had. Firehouse Hill is a killer, but I pushed up it and kept going.”