(Noah Kauppila en route to a 14th place finish as a sophomore in 2011.)
Kenosha hasn’t been so friendly for the Missouri Guys in recent years. Kenosha hasn’t been so friendly for the Missouri Guys in recent years. It’s been a while since Missouri has qualified a guy for Foot Locker Nationals in San Diego, 13 years to be exact (Jason Sandfort who qualified in 2000). As perspective, that year the “Big 3” of Dathan Ritzenhein, Alan Webb, and Ryan Hall were the top preps in the country. However, this year looks promising for the Show-Me State.
Since then the best finish we have seen was 14th by none other than Noah Kauppila. He did this back in 2011 as a sophomore (he was 30th as a junior). This is one place higher than Maksim Korolev of Harrisonville who recently finished third at the NCAA Championship. Kauppila looks to qualify for Nationals after his race at NXN Midwest. He positioned himself well but faded late in the race to 14th. Despite the tough finish, he remains ranked 22nd in the Saucony Elite 50 Rankings.
As of right now two other All-State finishers are signed up to compete in Kenosha on Saturday. Seth Brown, the LaPlata senior who won the State Title in Class 2 is slated to compete as well as Malik Holman, 11th in Class 3.