The park’s newest event forced the Jefferson County Activities Association cross country championships to be held on Friday afternoon.
If the league meet was held at midnight Wednesday, it might not help the schools that have been chasing the Festus boys in the team standings for more than a decade. The Tigers’ tales are becoming legendary on a local and state basis. The commonly-trodden ground of Festus history includes perfect scores in conference races and seven Class 3 state titles, including the last five.
The Festus boys were four points from a perfect score last season when they won the conference title with 19 points.
But this Tiger team is very different without their front-runner, Max McDaniel, who graduated in the spring and took his considerable talents to Bradley University.
Senior Jonathon Coffman and Herculaneum and an up-and-coming De Soto boys team will have a lot to say about whether or not Festus continues its conference dominance.
Coffman finished second last year, 13 seconds behind McDaniel. Coffman is a three-time state qualifier and was sixth last year at the Oak Hills Golf Course in Jefferson City. If his cross country and track medals are combined, he’ll graduate as one of the most decorated runners in county history.
Herculaneum head coach Kyle Davis said Coffman hasn’t decided where to attend college next year.
“I’d classify him as being early and there’s no front-runner quite yet,” Davis said of Coffman’s next stop. “He’s interested in running in college but it’s maybe not his biggest focus. He’s a great student. I don’t know who’s going to win the boys race (Friday). I wish I did. He has the goal to be conference champion. But the Festus runners have that same goal.”
Davis took his harriers to the Nike Twilight Invitational in Terre Haute, Ind., on Oct. 5 to compete with schools with enrollments in the thousands from all over the Midwest. The Blackcats finished 16th out of 29 teams and Coffman was 28th in 16:03.30.
“It was brutal,” Davis said of the Nike meet. “Coffman was at the Nike regionals last year after state and ran 16:19. So he ran 15 seconds faster this year. We were one of three Missouri programs to travel there. There were some giant schools from Indiana, Illinois and Ohio.”
It was the second Twilight race Herky competed in this season, having run at the Fort Zumwalt North meet in September. Davis said nighttime racing is gaining popularity.
“We wanted to get another nighttime race experience,” he said. “It was a flat course. It’s where the Division I NCAA championships are this year.
“Early in the season when temperatures are so hot in the Midwest, instead of killing kids in the morning, it’s more fun to run at night. We ran our best times at both of those races.”
Senior Kyle Vinyard was 12th in the JCAA finals for the Blackcats last year and he was 70th in 16:39.80 at Terre Haute. He was 34th at state in 2018 and Davis said he’s having an excellent season.
Two Herculaneum freshmen, Baden Costlow and Keith Vance, are running in the Nos. 5-6 spots and Davis said both runners will stick with the varsity from districts and beyond.
A big name missing from the girls side of the conference race is Nautica Stricklin, who won her fourth conference title last fall before graduating in the spring. With Stricklin and Jefferson 2019 graduate Jordan Heacock gone, that leaves Hillsboro junior Emma Wright and De Soto senior Lillie Kaempfe as the two top returning finishers from last year’s JCAA meet. Herculaneum junior Laura Maddox was 17th in the conference last season. Maddox replaced Stricklin as the Blackcats’ top runner.
“She’s due for a breakout,” Davis said. “She’s looking better than her races have shown. From a consistency standpoint, she has more in her.”
Davis said he’s made some adjustments in the Blackcats’ training for a race on Friday afternoon as opposed to Saturday morning. Luckily for all of the runners, the weather this week is trending toward comfortable temperatures.
“It’s not a concern,” he said. “You just have to take a different approach. Most of our track meets are after school. When it’s conference time, everyone’s ready to roll. We educate them on the nutrition part. One of the biggest things with their nerves is they don’t eat anything and that’s more detrimental in my view than eating something that’s not good. For the most part our team has used good judgment.”
Festus head coach Bryant Wright used a younger lineup when he took the boys and girls to the Chili Pepper Festival in Fayetteville, Ark., on Oct. 5 and the boys still finished ninth with 327 points. Freshman Ian Schram was the first Tiger to finish there in 16th in 17:36.
“It’s a great atmosphere for running and in those situations, you want to put the younger guys in so they’re ready for the state meet,” said Wright, a new member of the state’s cross country and track hall of fame. “We didn’t have a bad race. We had an average race. We didn’t feel like we ran poorly. On the girls side, we were happy with their day (14th, 410 points). We felt like we got good responses as a team overall and they’re going in the direction we’re looking for.”
Senior Simon Ogle was seventh in the state last year and has taken the mantle as the Tigers’ lead runner. Ogle was third in the conference last year, 16 seconds behind Coffman. Seniors Jonah Krieg, Garrett Rhine and Dominik Kayser all finished in the top 10 in last year’s conference meet. The Tigers dominated the Bowles Invitational last month with their famous pack attack.
Wright said the boys individual league title is up for grabs.
“Coffman has the upper hand when it comes to his training,” Wright said. “That’s not to say he can’t be beat but he’s a heavy favorite. And we hope to challenge that and see what happens.”
Sophomore Allison Faerber has been Wright’s top girls runner this year. Faerber was 21st at state as a freshman and helped the Tigers come in second in the state. She did not compete at the Chili Pepper Festival. She was seventh in the conference last year when Festus held off De Soto for the team title, 42-51.
“This is one of those races we put a lot of emphasis on and there’s a lot of history involved,” Wright said. “The girls are the same way. We might not have the same streak as the boys, but they’ve been really successful.”
Coming off their first top-four finish at state, the De Soto girls are among the favorites to win the conference Friday. The Dragons won their latest meet when they scored 50 points at the Notre Dame Bulldog Invitational in Cape Girardeau on Oct. 5. The boys team also had a strong showing there with a second-place finish. It was the first plaque the boys have won in five years.
Like Davis, De Soto boys and girls head coach Aaron Young isn’t worried about the JCAAs being run on Friday.
“We race the Clayton meet every year and it’s always in the afternoon,” Young said. “Is it out of our routine for conference? Yes. As long as the kids know it’s coming, we’ll be fine. Is it our year to win? I don’t know, but we will work hard to knock Festus off its throne.”
At Notre Dame, the Dragons won with three runners – Kaempfe, sophomore Kayla Vogelsang and junior Erika Mellor – finishing in the top 13. Kaempfe (19:52.47), Vogelsang (21:07.35) and Mellor (21:11.30) all set personal-best times at Cape Girardeau. It was Kaempfe’s first sub-20-minute run of the season.
“We have a month to go in the season and she’s right where she needs to be,” Young said of Kaempfe. “She’s been on several college visits. She’s been determined and had a fire lit under her after talking to college coaches and being told what their expectations are. She’s been told where she needs to be. That definitely has given her a sense of determination.”
A wildcard for the Dragons is senior Jacqueline O’Harver, who was home schooled until this school year. Young said when O’Harver registered for classes at De Soto she told counselors she was interested in playing basketball. A little nudge from Young led to her becoming a runner.
“She has been a blessing,” Young said. “She’s stepped right in and she’s a fantastic young lady.
“I hope she can break 21 minutes or get into the mid 21s. That’s where our fifth runner was last year.”
Sophomore William Kaempfe has watched his sister, Lillie, have state success and that’s prompted him to become the Dragons’ top runner on the boys team. William set a personal-best time at Notre Dame by two seconds when he finished in seventh in 17:24.52.
Like the Blackcats and Tigers,
De Soto traveled out of state for a test of skill against teams they don’t usually compete against when it ran in the Rim Rock Farm Classic in Lawrence, Kan., on Sept. 28. William was 52nd in 17:27.50. He was 20th in the conference last year.
“He put in a great summer and has worked hard to get to where he’s at,” Young said. “He sees the success of his sister and that has helped him learn the errors of his ways. He had a great junior high career and wanted to take that talent and be good in high school. (Lillie) showed him that’s not how it works.”
Freshman Jimmy Mann looks to be De Soto’s No. 2 runner as the season winds down. At the Stan Nelson Invitational, Mann had a time of 2:15 in the first half mile before finishing 29th in 17:22.56.
“He’s learning race by race,” Young said. “He sometimes lets the adrenaline get to him at the beginning of the race but he and Will the next couple of years will be the Nos. 1-2 and can compete with area teams.”