Grant Fink doesn’t consider himself a front-runner.
After Fink won the Jefferson County Activities Association cross country championship by 30 seconds with a time of 15:40.59 at Larry G. Crites Memorial Park in Festus on Oct. 17, the Festus High junior thought about what it meant to be the No. 1 runner in a program that’s won 11 state championships and had the individual Class 4 state winner – Carson Driemeier – the last two seasons.
“I just want to go out there, run for my team, be humble,” said Fink after he and the Tigers captured the JCAA title. Festus finished first among the seven schools that posted team scores with 19 points. Fifteen points is a perfect score. Herculaneum will be a contender for the Class 3 state crown at Gans Creek in Columbia on Nov. 6. The Blackcats were second with 64 points.
“I think the performance speaks for itself,” said Wes Armbruster, who is the head coach for the Festus boys and girls teams. “When you race against so many good athletes, you don’t assume that’s going to happen. Our 1K split wasn’t what I wanted, but they committed to it, and it was a great performance.”
The 3.1-mile (5K) course was a bit muddy from the previous day’s rain, and temperatures hit the floor to the 40s, which is quite the departure from the 90-degree weather the runners trained in last week. Fink was third in the conference last year.
“It was a good run. We came out here today to win as a team,” Fink said. “Being the conference champion is something that comes along with it.”
“Every kid’s unique,” Armbruster said. “What makes Grant unique is what makes him special. He wants to know the answers to everything. He wants what’s best for the team, and I like him the way he is.”
Under Hall of Fame coach Bryant Wright, the Tigers won state from 2014-2021 before JCAA rival Hillsboro stopped their streak in 2022 with its first championship. Festus won again in 2023, but has finished second to West Plains the past two seasons. The Zizzers have won a state record 15 state titles, with Herculaneum (13) second and the Tigers third.
The top five times from each team are counted toward its JCAA score, and the top 15 times are all-conference. Festus had five of the top seven finishers. Junior Lucas DeClue ran at state last year for the Tigers, and DeClue was second in the conference in 16:10.67. He was 12th in 2025.
“Felt great. Course was amazing,” DeClue said. “Weather was a little colder than we’re used to, but all in all it was a great day. I wanted to go out and tackle the course as it comes. Obviously, I wanted to stay with (Fink) the whole time, but about 2K in he pulled ahead. I’m not upset about it. We both ran amazing. I focused more on place than times today because I didn’t start out the season too great, but today my plan was to take out the first mile fast, see how I’m feeling and find a good pace from there.
“We’re in a great spot. We’re feeling amazing. We have great team chemistry. We have a really good chance this year, and it’s all going to come down to our work over these next few weeks.”
Juniors Matthew Collier (fourth, 16:40.61), Hudson Bates (fifth, 16:46.20) and sophomore Riley Ross (seventh, 16:57.70) were the other scoring Tigers.
Herculaneum sophomore Noah Fitzgerald was the Blackcats’ top state finisher last year (12th), and he settled in among the Tigers at the conference race and finished third in 16:22.75.
“I went out conservative,” Fitzgerald said of the conference race. “I feel like I should have went out more with the front pack, but toward the end my legs were hurting pretty bad.
“My goal is to be around 15:40, be in the top five for state (individual) and come home with a state (team) title. It’s a mental sport. You have to be tough to do it. My teammates are always there for me.”
“Noah looked better than he has all year,” Herculaneum head coach Kyle Davis said. “It didn’t look like he was just trying to hang on to a place.”
The next four Blackcats to cross the finish line at conference were senior Allen Wallman (10th, 17:05.10), freshmen Victor White (16th, 17:39.99), junior Owen Davis (17th, 17:40.67) and freshman Samuel Laupp (18th, 17:44.31). Herky’s other two runners – junior Austin Baer (19th, 17:48.99), freshman Tristan White (20th, 17:54.52) – were packed in behind their teammates.
“(Wallman’s) starting to run like we knew he was capable of for years,” Davis said. “He’s enjoying it, and his teammates are too. The story all year has been our freshmen. They’re just consistently showing us what they’re capable of.”
De Soto head coach Bob Hyde said it’s been a long time since anyone other than Cruz Anders or 2026 graduate Carson Koerber had been the top Dragon at a race.
Senior Jacob Schuenemeyer broke that streak by finishing eighth in the JCAA with a PR of 16:57.80, a tenth of a second faster than Anders, who was ninth. Sixth in the state in Class 4 a year ago, Anders said he hadn’t been feeling well the day before conference.
“Yesterday, I woke up with a fever and I was throwing up, but I came here today and gave it my all,” Anders said. “It wasn’t what I wanted, but I finished the race. I don’t feel the best. I’m going to go home and go to sleep and try to regain my strength for districts.”
Senior Bryant Horn was Jefferson’s all-JCAA finisher. Horn was 11th in a PR of 17:06.37. He fell two spots in the conference standings from last year, but his time this year was 40 seconds faster.