Larry G. Crites Park in Festus might someday be the site of district cross country meets.
That would suit Tiger head coach Wes Armbruster just fine. The city’s Halloween lights display was taking up part of the 3.1-mile (5K) course, which is used annually for the Bowles-Wright Invitational in September and Jefferson County Activities Association championships in October.
Runners at this year’s Bowles meet Sept. 19 found a brand new course that’s been separated from the light display and has new start and finish lines. The new course won’t wind into the woods and back out. Instead, some of a new part of the course is a field.
“The light show was bigger, and we didn’t want it to be a disruption,” Armbruster said. “I’ve been working on the (new) course with hosting districts in mind.”
This will be the third year in a row that Festus, along with several other county schools, will travel to Cape Girardeau to compete in districts at the Osage Centre.
“I want to get it ready to be a district course, but first, I want to host some races on it,” Armbruster said. “It’s not my decision alone. A lot of St. Louis schools are tired of driving to Cape every year. If it makes sense and the administration approves, we could be hosts.”
Like all of the outside fall sports, cross country runners have had to endure much hotter temperatures than are normal for this time of year. That was again the case at Bowles, where varsity start times were moved up an hour for both races to beat the heat.
The only runner faster in Class 4 last year than Cape Girardeau Notre Dame junior Aidan Morris was 2026 Festus graduate Carson Driemeier, the two-time state champion. With Driemeier removed from the equation, Morris won the Bowles in 15:44.13. Lafayette junior Ezekiel Hagen was second in 15:47.70 and Festus senior Grant Fink was third in 15:55.09. Fink was ninth in the state last year for the Tigers, who’ve finished second in 2024 and 2025 to West Plains.
With five scoring runners in the top 30, Kirkwood won the boys meet with 84 points. Festus (second, 86) and Fox (seventh, 188) posted team scores from the county.
Fink said the changes to the course were noticeable to experienced runners there.
“It ran a lot faster than it has in the past,” Fink said. “We cut out the hills. Made it a lot flatter. A more direct path, instead of going in and out of the woods. I’m hoping to improve my time today, that’s all I can say. I hoped to surge toward the end. I hope to move forward from this and finish first.”
“Time-wise he may not be satisfied,” Armbruster said. “When you get on your home course, you want to win. Grant has his eyes set on some big goals, and he wanted to compare himself with (Morris). Grant led until the last 1K. That’s racing.”
Lafayette senior Kelly Archambeault was a Class 5 state medalist (20th) at Gans Creek in Columbia last November. Archambeault won the girls Bowles race in 18:53.55, 33 seconds faster than Nixa freshman Chaseley Guyear’s second-place 19:26.66. The Lancers had five of the top 12 runners and won with 40 points. Nixa was second with 42 points, and Festus was third with 84.
Ninth in the state for the two-time defending champion Tigers, Festus senior Lucy Boyer was third in 19:36.46. They were the only three runners under 20:18.
“I liked it,” Boyer said of the new layout. “There’s a lot less hills. That makes it easier and faster. They (Archambeault, Guyear) were fast. I was trying to stay next to them for as long as possible. After the first top loop, I was in third going down the hill. I tried to stay there the best I could.”
“Lucy did what we thought,” Armbruster said. “The two girls who beat her are likely all state in Class 5. Marisa Peter has been No. 2 this year and was No. 5 today. She went out fast and sometimes it works for you.”
The Festus girls are deep enough that Armbruster was able to field two varsity teams at Bowles.
“I feel like there’s more we can get from a few people,” Armbruster said of his girls team. “It was good for us to get some freshmen in varsity races. There’s been two freshmen (Caroline Beard, Nora Madden) in our top seven all year. We’re losing five seniors after this year.”
According to athletic.net, the fastest times in Missouri this year are by Rockhurst junior Jack McGovern (14:56.5) and Liberty senior Lily Hurt (17:49.5).
Bowles results (top 5 times)
Festus: 3. Lucy Boyer, 19:36.46; 6. Kyndall Gildea, 20:31.22; 11. Caroline Beard, 20:47.64; 13. Marisa Peter, 21:00.39; 15. Nora Madden, 21:09.63
Fox: 21. Sienna Harger, 21:40.16; 29. Shaylynn Mills, 22:16.09; 43. Audrey Freeman, 23:47.85; 44. Gracie Watkins, 23:47.93; 47. Mackenzie McKee, 25:31.60
Festus: 3. Grant Fink, 15:55.09; 12. Matthew Collier, 17:08.19; 15. Lucas DeClue, 17:25.11; 18. Riley Ross, 17:40.44; 50. Lucas Collins, 18:48.75
Fox: 19. Jordan Glass, 17:41.82; 39. Jackson McCutchen, 18:23.42; 43. Sterling Roe, 18:36.38; 48. Josue Rios Lobo, 18:42.16; 61. Rogan Shoemaker, 19:30.68
Nicholls wins meet in Cape Girardeau
The cross country postseason begins on Halloween when the five classes will hold district meets across the state. The state championships are Nov. 6-7 at Gans Creek in Columbia.
Class 5 District 1 will be Oct. 31 at the Osage Centre in Cape Girardeau. The day before, Southeast Missouri State University’s cross country teams will compete there as part of the Ohio Valley Conference Championships.
The Northwest boys and girls teams were able to test themselves on the 3.1-mile (5K) course at the Cape Central Invitational on Sept. 19 against some of the teams they’ll see again in districts. Fox and Seckman are also in District 1, but they ran at the Bowles Invitational in Festus on Sept. 19.
On another scorching day, the host Indians won the boys meet at Cape with 34 points, while the Lions were second with 67. Anna-Jonesboro, Ark., won the girls competition (39 points), and paced by senior winner Rose Nicholls, Northwest finished second (47).
“I felt good about it,” Northwest boys head coach Ken Campbell said about his team’s finish. “We know Jackson’s tough. The girls beat them. That’s impressive for them. CJ’s (Northwest girls head coach CJ Guilford) got something cooking over there. It’s a smaller meet, but it’s the district course. We train through this meet. It (temperature) was starting to cook. The boys were visibly sweating.”
The Class 4 District 1 race has Cape Central, Rockwood Summit and county teams De Soto, Festus, Hillsboro and Windsor, also at the Osage Centre. Summit freshman Charles Head won the race at the Cape invitational in 17:22.46. The next three runners were from Jackson and the Falcons.
“I felt like teams came down here to see the course. Summit has a nice team,” Campbell said. “It’s not Sioux Passage, but it’s not a super-fast course.”
The fifth boys runner across at the Cape meet was Northwest sophomore Jacob Judge, who finished in 17:45.63. Campbell said Judge suffered with cramping on the course. Judge has been running under 17 minutes in practice.
“He was in second and working on the Summit guy then got a cramp in his side,” Campbell said, “He had a chance to win today. He had a great week of practice.
“We’re training hard and race as hard as we can every time we toe the line. We’re entering meets to win them. On race day, be ready to go.”
Nicholls won the girls race in 19:24.28, 10 seconds faster than Anna-Jonesboro senior Jadyn Gerardi.
The Northwest girls have never qualified for the state meet as a team.
Blue Jays win individual, team titles at Bismarck
The Jefferson boys and girls cross country teams competed in the Bismarck Invitational on Sept. 19, and the Blue Jays came home with the boys championship, and freshman Mallory Selsor won the girls race by a full 40 seconds in 21:22.1.
All-state last season in Class 2, senior Bryant Horn’s third-place time of 18:17.7 was Jefferson’s boys top finish.
Top Jefferson finishes
1. Mallory Selsor, 21:22.1; 5. Avery Humphrey, 23;13.5; 16. Emily Meyer, 24:57.4; 22. Miley Reed, 26:42.8
3. Bryant Horn, 18:17.7; 8. Blaine Bennett, 19:21.9; 9. Tyson Jefferson, 19 :24.6 ; 19. Braxton Caldwell, 19 :45.4 ; 33. Jaxon McCoy, 20:48.8
Blackcats sweep St. Charles meet on scorching day
Coming off a pair of third-place state finishes in Class 3, the Herculaneum boys and girls won the First Capital Invitational at McNair Park in St, Charles on Sept. 4. The Blackcat girls were one point better (58-59) than Eureka, Class 5 state champions in 2024 and third last year.
Herculaneum head coach Kyle Davis said the races were delayed because of the intense heat that gripped the area most of this month. Davis said it was 104 degrees with the heat index when the boys race started at 6 p.m.
“Both teams ran well, and we had a positive week of practice,” said Davis, who’s led both Blackcat teams to state championships and to third place last year. “We faded a little here and there but held on. And everyone escaped it without any issues.
“St. Charles High did a great job of running it with multiple water stations and inflatable pools for people to cool off. The wet bulb is more than just the heat index. It has to be below 90 degrees to run. It takes in wind, humidity. We were within that limit but butting up right against. The physical aspect of running when it’s that hot is always there. You want to be on electrolyte intake beforehand. The boys did their warmup without their shirts. I told them to stay in the shade.”
Both Blackcat teams will be in Columbia on Saturday for the Gans Creek Classic. It’s the course where the state meets will be held in November. And if the weather forecast holds, runners will be greeted with much cooler temperatures.
“The plan is to run fast and mix it up with the big boys,” Davis said. “We’ve had some solid races as a team but the conditions haven’t been set up.”
Top five Herculaneum finishes
5. Emerson Reeves, 21:01.17; 8. Adysynn Gonzalez, 21:22.13; 11. Brylee Wishard, 21:28.06; 18. Amaya Ferguson, 21:44.87; 26. Kate Kasten, 22:17.15
3. Noah Fitzgerald, 17:05.44; 17. Allen Wallman, 18:23.06; 20. Owen Davis, 18:27.87; 27. Samuel Laupp, 18:42.37; 34. Brendon Ivie, 18:57.10