Since 2006, Big River Running Company has been providing the fans and athletes of cross country with a set of XC Rankings that are just for fun that we hope serve to give athletes a little additional motivation as the season moves along.
The rankings are based on a number a factors including the MoMileSplit database and Virtual Meet features. If you feel we missed someone please feel free to comment or email peverett@milesplit.com.
Now on to the rankings...
TEAM RANKINGS
Girls
Nerinx Hall
1 Lee’s Summit West - The Titans hold on to our #1 spot after a 9th place showing at Palatine against a number of nationally ranked teams. (Lee’s Summit was within 11 points of 7th). We’ve said it before but this is a deep team and contributions come from multiple places. The #1 spot has been held twice this season by Annika Sisson and once by Kennaddee Williams. Yesterday the teams 6-7 runners were within 10 seconds of the 4th and 5th girls to score for the team.
2. Ste. Genevieve – These girls just keep on winning. Proving Forest Park was no fluke, the Dragons won at Jefferson Barracks on Saturday over a number of teams on this list. It’s not all about places and numbers and these girls showed some tremendous heart yesterday as they competed after learning the news of a tragic loss of a member of their school.
3. Francis Howell – We project that if the Vikings had Arnica Zitting (college visit) and Danielle Berry, they would have finished much higher at Hancock, probably 2nd.
4. Rock Bridge – The Bruins finished 6th in a field of 50 in Minnesota at the Roy Griak Invitational over the weekend and can match up against any team in the state’s top 4 runners.
5. Nerinx Hall – The Markers were not in action this past week but turned in an impressive performance in Edwardsville the week before. We see the teams in the 3-5 spots as very close.
6. Eureka – The Wildcats move up a spot after a 2nd place showing at Hancock on Saturday, finshing 53 points ahead of Lafayette who raced without Anna West.
7. Lafayette (Wildwood) – The Lancers beat Eureka at Parkway Central on a day the Wildcats were without Hannah Long.
8. Festus - Another Class 3 team who raced “up” at Hancock and finished 5th, just 7 points back of Lafayette a week after cruising to victory at their home invitational.
9. St Teresa’s Academy – The Stars traveled east to win the Paul Enke at Sioux Passage last week and then crossed over into Kansas to finish as the top Missouri team at the Rim Rock Classic.
10 Liberty North – The Eagles make an appearance in our top 10 after an impressive showing at Rim Rock, winning the Crimson Division. Our combined results show them as the #2 Missouri team and 8th overall.
Boys
1. West Plains – The Zizzers appear to have proven themselves as the team to beat in Class 4 this year as they have looked very impressive in all their races. West Plains placed 5 runners in the top 8 and won easily over a tough team from Lafayette this weekend at Hancock.
2. Liberty - The BlueJays proved they were deserving over our #2 spot with a 3rd place finish and tops for Missouri at Rim Rock. Of course their margin over our # 3 team remains a 2 point victory on a two mile course head to head earlier this season.
3. Rock Bridge - 4th out of 51 teams in Minnesota this past weekend, the Bruins will be in the hunt for another state title.
4. Lafayette (Wildwood) – 2nd at Hancock, 3rd at Forest Park, these guys are close. With a Top 5 of all underclassmen, watch out for these guys.
5. Rockhurst – 7th at Rim Rock, helped by a huge 15:55 performance from William Thompson.
6. St. Louis University High - Up a spot to #6 after a 6th place finish in the stacked field at Palatine.
7. Festus – 1st at Festus, 3rd at Hancock, these guys appear to be the team to beat in Class 3.
8 Kickapoo – This part of the rankings gets really tough as the teams are harder to separate. The Chiefs move up a spot with a victory at the Hermitage Invitational.
9 Raymore-Peculiar - We think Ray-Pec is better than their 13th place showing in Minnesota and we are looking forward to seeing how they perform at the KC Metro Championships next weekend.
10. Potosi – The Trojans reappear in our top 10 after a 2nd place finish at Sioux Passage.
Top 15 Individuals
Girls
Jamie Kempfer
1. Taylor Werner, Ste Genevieve – So much has already been said about Taylor, but the fact remains, she just keeps getting better. Her time at Jeff Barracks was 17 seconds faster than last year.
2. Hannah Long, Eureka – It’s going to take more than 1 or 2 “off” races for the 10th place finisher at Foot Locker to fall in these rankings.
3.Sophia Racette , Nerinx Hall – Sophia was dominant in Edwardsville last weekend, winning by 56 seconds.
4. Jamie Kempfer, Festus - The list of girls who can say they beat Hannah Long during a XC race in Missouri is pretty short and Jamie added her name to that list on Saturday.
5. Jill Whitman, Cor Jesu -.Jill’s win at the Southern Stampede was something special. 242 girls, multiple states and a 28 second margin of victory.
6. Nicole Lee, Clinton – It says something about the quality of girls we have in Missouri when a runner who has won 3 times this year like Nicole Lee finds herself at #6
7. Ann Campbell, St. Teresa’s Academy – A win at Paul Enke and a 2nd at Rim Rock, Ann has found herself at the front of the pack all year.
8.. Maddy Brown, Parkway West – Maddy’s 4th place finish at Hancock moves her up a spot from our previous rankings.
9. Maddi Leigh , Francis Howell – 6th at Hancock and 1st at Parkway Central over the last two weeks.
10. Mia Jerman, Ste Genevieve - Mia was 5th at Jefferson Barracks, 1:22 faster than she was there last year.
11. Tabitha Griffith, Farmington – Tabitha’s consistent, 18:35’s at both Forest Park and the Southern Stampede; not a bad # to be consistent with.
12. Courtney Rogers, Lutheran St. Charles – Rogers followed up her Forest Park Green Division victory with a 3rd place finish at the Southern Stampede. She already owns a Class 2 XC Championship medal and appears on course to claim another.
13. Annika Sisson, Lee’s Summit West – Annika showed signs of a big season opening the year with a win over Ann Campbell. After a 5th place finish at Ray-Pec, Annika ran a huge PR at Palatine running 18:06 for 3 miles.
14. Arnica Zitting, Francis Howell – Arnica missed her last race but still hangs on to a spot in our top 15 and pairs wth Leigh to join Werner/Jerman as teams with two in the top 15.
15 Sam Farmer, Rock Bridge – 25th in a field of 494, that’s right 494 in Minnesota, she’s the #1 runner on a strong group from Rock Bridge.
Honorable Mention: – Katie Anderson (Nerinx Hall), Chandler Carreon (Holt), Grace Klausen (Blue Spings South), Kayla Funkenbush (Rock Bridge), Sammy Laurenzo (Liberty North), Anna West (Lafayette)
Top 15 Individuals
Boys
Dylan Quisenberry
1. Noah Kauppila, Marquette- With a 15:26, Noah added the title of Rim Rock Farms High School Champion to his already impressive XC resume. We know there is at least one more entry the Marquette senior hopes to make come November.
2. Spencer Haik, Glendale - A few hours after Noah won in Kansas, Spencer claimed top honors down in Oklahoma proving it’s not just the Missouri girls deserving of national attention.
3. Stephen Mugeche, Blue Springs – The next batch of runners have showed us they can be in any order on any given day. I suspect it may change a few times before November but the #3 spot goes to Mugeche on the strength of his 15:40 yesterday at Rim Rock Farms.
4 Evan Schulte, Rock Bridge – Evan clocked a 15:57 in Minnesota on Saturday to go along with his 15:33 at Forest Park.
5. Cole Rockhold, Truman – 10th at Rim Rock was beaten by #7 on this list but his performance at Forest Park gives him the #5 spot.
6. Dylan Quinsnberry, Lafayette (Wildwood) – A huge jump in the rankings for Dylan after victories at Paul Enke and Hancock. This guy is just a sophomore.
7. William Thompson , Rockhurst – A huge race with a 6th place finish at Rim Rock for the Junior from Rockhurst.
8. Camden Barrett, West Plains – The leader of the #1 ranked Zizzers was 2nd at Hancock to Quisenberry.
9. Michael Karls, Festus Another underclassmen, this makes 5 of the top 9 (Mugeche, Quisenberry, Thompson, Barrett & Karls), Michael was 3rd at Hancock after winning at Festus last week.
10. Ryan Way, Republic – Ryan was the top Missouri finisher at the Southern Stampede and won at East Newton this past Saturday.
11. Tyler Gilliam Festus – We finally found a few guys to fit in between Tyler and his teammate Michael Karls from Festus. Tyler is the currently the #2 ranked runner in Class 3 giving the rest of Class 3 a real challenge to overcome if they want to take home a team championship.
12. Austin Del Rosso, Desmet – 11th at Rim Rock he was 11 seconds back of Rockhold. (I know we should have ranked him #11)
13. Cameron Byrley, Parkview – A busy couple of weeks for Cameron. He won at Lebanon and Nixaand then was 10th at the OSU Jamboree. And for you trivia buffs Cameron has won at Forest Park 3 times in his high school career. How many others can make that claim?
14. Jason Fambrough, Raymore - Peculiar Jason ran against some tough competition over the last few weeks at the Heartland Classic and Roy Griak but returns to his home course this upcoming weekend.
15. Zac Miller Central, St Joseph – Miller finished 4th in the Crimson race at Rim Rock on Saturday. He previously was 14th at Forest Park after winning the Greg Wilson Classic in Kansas.
Honorable Mention: Clayton Adams (Kearney) Ty Hughes (Liberty North), Austin King, (Potosi) Matt Reichman-Bennett (Joplin) Ryan Parson (Farmington)
