The Festus girls cross country team blazed a trail to the championship of the Bowles Invitational on Saturday morning at West City Park.
The defending Class 3 state champion Tigers scored 30 points, 16 points better than second-place Washington. Claire Ayers, a senior for the Blue Jays, was the top runner with a time of 20:46.42. Junior Erika McIntyre paced the Tigers with a third-place time of 21:39.60.
The rest of the Festus runners – sophomore Emma Kettler (6th, 22:08.71), senior Maddie Welsh (7th, 22:28.21), senior Melissa Wolk (9th, 22:28.34), junior Sophia Leftwich (14th, 22:41.10), senior Bailey Moore (22:42.52) and junior Paige Treon (18th, 22:44.51) – finished among the top 18 placers.
In the boys race, Webster Groves junior Charles Teeter won in 17:24.17 and teammate Sam Getz, a senior, was second in 17:28.78 to lead the Statesmen to the title with 32 points. Festus came in second with 46 points and junior Dominik Kayser continued to climb the Tigers’ ladder with a top team finish of third place in 17:35.26.
Three-time state medal winning senior Max McDaniel did not run for Festus on Saturday.