Photo by Chris Auckley http://motrackfanatic.com/
ST. LOUIS – Nerinx Hall proved why it has been highly ranked on MoMileSplit all year.
The Markers nearly racked up a perfect score at the Class 4 District 3 meet Saturday at Forest Park. Only Webster Groves’ Emma Johnson broke up the scoring five for the Markers, who claimed the district title with 16 points.
Led by Sophia Racette’s wire-to-wire victory in 18:15, the rest of the Markers grouped up behind her in a gaggle of green.
“Sophia is the only girl that didn’t have a PR,” Nerinx Hall coach Gaylerd Quigley said. “It went anywhere from a 10 second PR to a 45-50 second PR, so it’s just what we want. Conditions are almost ideal except for a little bit of wind.
“I think it gives us a lot of confidence to go run our race and run the best we can do. We potentially have five girls that can run at or under 20 minutes at state. If we can do that, we’ll take our chances at state and hopefully get a trophy.”
Nerinx Hall is in search of its third state trophy and first since 1998 when the Markers finished runner-up in Class 3. The Markers were on the doorstep in 2010 when Colleen Quigley’s third-place finish helped Nerinx to a fifth-place showing, and they took seventh last year.
Racette said she anticipates that she’ll be racing for second place in two weeks. Eureka junior Hannah Long is the defending champion, and Racette respects the quality season she’s seen Long put together again this year. But Racette added that she doesn’t feel any extra pressure from her teammates to post a low score at meets.
“I’m anticipating Hannah to have a very fantastic day, so it will be a race for second place because she’s on a whole different level,” Racette said. “The goal is to win a team trophy. That has been our goal ever since my freshman year. They know I put a lot of pressure on myself, so it’s not like they’re expecting me to have a fantastic day. I think if we all run well we’ll have a really good chance. I think if I have a really good race then I’ll be toward the top end of All-State.”
Closely trailing Racette was Katie Anderson, who ran a 15-second PR with her 18:25 runner-up finish.
Anderson, a senior, said the excitement has been building every week, and she’s continually amazed by how far the Markers have come during her four-year career.
“It’s crazy to think how far we’ve come, particularly the three seniors, from our freshmen year to here. It’s just incredible,” said Anderson, who was 22nd at state last year. “I think we did amazing today. I think we’ve got good vibes going into state for sure. We’ve got a very good team this year, and I’m hoping we’ll have a good state performance.”
Following Anderson was Maddie Hetlage in third (19:04), Erin Smith in fourth (19:07) and Madeline Nathe in sixth (19:21).
Quigley said he’s not concerned with the team feeling overly anxious or putting too much pressure on itself.
“We’ve got the senior and junior leadership that I think the experience they have puts them over the top, and they’re not afraid to go out and run their race,” Quigley said.
Webster Groves finished second with 55 points, Ladue took third with 60, and Hazelwood West grabbed the final qualifying spot with 104 points.