1) JEFFERSON CITY - A 31 point performance at the Missouri XC Challenge vaults this squad to #1. Their 1-5 spread was an amazing 11 seconds! Plus, they topped #4 West Plains at their own Capital City Classic in week one.
#2) STE GENEVIEVE - This team has been good for a number of years, but this 2007 squad might be their best ever. They put all five girls in the top 50 at the Forest Park Cross Country Festival and upset pre-season #1 Rockwood Summit by three points.
#3) ROCKWOOD SUMMIT - A three-point loss to Ste Gen at the Forest Park Cross Country Festival knocks them out of the top spot but look for a possible return to the throne when they get last year's State 12th placer Kelsey Rich back from injury.
#4) WEST PLAINS - The Zizzers finished a close second to #1 Jefferson City at the Capital City Classic. They could certainly move up when two-time State cross country champ Brittani Johnson returns.
#5) OAK PARK - Kicked off the year with a big win over #6 St. Teresa's Academy at the Liberty Invitational.
#6) ST. TERESA'S ACADEMY - Bested the field at the Blue Springs Invitational to move up to the #5 spot after a narrow defeat to #5 Oak Park at Liberty in week one.
#7) LAFAYETTE - The surprise of this week's poll for sure. The Lady Lancers topped #8 Eureka at the Stan Nelson Invite to move into the rankings at #7.
#8) EUREKA - Their second place finish at the Stan Nelson is decieving because they ran top freshman Melissa Menchella in the freshman division and held out Katie Leinert. Hard to say exactly what would have happened but this team will look much better at full strength.
#9) KICKAPOO - A third place finish at the Forest Park Cross Country Festival moves this bunch up one spot to #9.
#10) CAPE CENTRAL - Only nine points back of #9 Kickapoo at Forest Park. This team is dangerous as they easily has the best team score through four runners.
TOP 10 BOYS TEAMS
#1) SLUH - The Junior Bills move to the top of the rankings after a big win at the Forest Park Cross Country Festival. They bested powerful Marquette University High School out of Milwaukee for the win. They were also victorious at the First Capitol Invitational in week one.
#2) POTOSI - Won the Lutheran South Invite in week one, but did not field a full squad at Forest Park. A healthy Evan Kelly could have possibly given them the win, but SLUH didn't have their #1 man John Clohisy either so for now we give the #1 spot to the Junior Bills.
#3) KICKAPOO - First at their home meet in week one and third at the Forest Park Cross Country Festival. They now have a great #2 runner in Danny Thater to go along with Rick Elliot at #1. Great one-two punches lead to great finishes at big meets.
#4) OAK PARK - We took some heat for leaving these guys off the rankings in the pre-season and they showed they belong with an impressive 27 point outing at the Blue Springs Invite. A 1-5 spread of only 30 seconds when your #1 man wins the meet is very solid.
#5) WEST PLAINS - The Zizzers move up from a pre-season #9 with a big-time showing at the Capital City Classic. Their 36 point total and 59 second spread shows that the striped-shorts will once again be at the front of the pack.
#6) LEE'S SUMMIT WEST - Kicked off the year with a win at the Bob Craddock over #7 Lee's Summit North and then scored big with a win at the MIssouri XC Challenge in week two.
#7) LEE'S SUMMIT NORTH - A big win at the Central Missouri State Mule Run moves this bunch up one spot to #6. Granted it was only 4k, but their 31 second spread was mighty impressive. Second to #6 Lee's Summit West in week one.
#8) PARKWAY WEST - The Longhorns won big at the Stan Nelson Invite. Their 1-2-3-5-10 performance was nothing short of dominating and the fact that sophomore Jake Lamke finished on the heels of 4:15 1600 man Ross Larimer could spell big trouble for the teams still ranked ahead of these guys.
#9) FRANCIS HOWELL NORTH - The Knights drop a few spots but that is just a testament to the teams in front of them. These guys are still very dangerous with a great 1-2-3 and they finished a very tough fourth at the Forest Park Cross Country Festival.
#10 TIE) CAPE GIRARDEAU NOTRE DAME - We put this team in our pre-season top ten and that might have surprised some people but they validated that ranking and then some with a fifth place showing at the Forest Park Cross Country Festival.
#10 TIE) COLUMBIA HICKMAN - This team was second at the First Capitol Invite in week one, behind only #1 SLUH, but finished third at the Missouri XC Challenge in week two. Of course, their #1 man Sam Masters was forced to DNF at Mizzou so their score would have been much better. They'll likely move up next time out.
INDIVIDUAL RANKINGS
All season long (though maybe not as often as the team rankings) we will try to keep an eye out for the top 15 runners in the State. Again, these are the top 15 regardless of Class. It is a lot easier to miss a runner or two so we apologize if we shorted you or your teammate. Feel free to email us at info@bigriverrunning.com if you know someone who should be on the Big River Top 15. Enjoy!!
TOP 15 GIRLS
#1) Natalie Todd, JR, Ladue - What a story! This young lady has burst onto the scene with big wins at the First Capitol Invitational and then a national-level performance at the Forest Park Cross Country Festival where her 18:41 bested defending State 3200 Champ Aimee Bonte by 19 seconds.
#2) Aimee Bonte, SR, Rockwood Summit - Bonte was second to Todd at each of the first two meets but her 19:00 at the Forest Park Cross Country Festival still broke the course record set by defendinf Class 4 State Champ Hilary Orf a year ago.
#3) Brittani Johnson, SR, West Plains - Johnson has not raced yet so to move her from number one was a tough call, but with how Todd and Bonte are running it is only fair to them to do so. When Johnson returns, and we hope it is soon, she will surely be vying for her old spot back.
#4) Alyssa Allison, JR, Festus - Allison went to the front at the First Capitol Invite in week one only to be run down by Todd and Bonte late in the race. At Forest Park she let Todd go to the front and spent much of the race in second before a great performance by Bonte bested her by six seconds at the finish.
#5) Halle Musfeldt, Park Hill - Musfeldt won the Blue Srings Invite by 14 seconds over the always-tough Elizabeth Keaveny. That performance was enough to vault her all the way to #5.
#6) Sarah White, FR, Potosi - Our third newcomer to the list out of the top six, White ran to an impressive 4th place at the Forest Park Cross Country Festival and an outstanding time of 19:12.
#7) Elizabeth Keaveny, SR, St. Teresa's Academy - Keaveny did not fare so well in week one but rebounded with a second place showing at Blue Springs, finishing second to #5 Musfeldt.
#8) Chelsea Chrisman, JR, Eureka - Chrisman scored the fastest run of the day at the Eureka Ekiden and then bested a strong field at the Stan Nelson invite a week later.
#9) Natalie Becker, JR, Parkway West - Becker won the Parkway Quad Meet in week one and then finished a close second to Chrisman at the Stan Nelson Invite.
#10) Lauren Borduin, SR, Rock Bridge - Borduin finished 5th at the Forest Park Cross Country Festival in a ridiculously strong field.
#11) Brittany Tate, JR, Lee's Summit West - Tate got a big win in week one at the Bob Craddock Inivational over Kelsey Varnarsdall from Fort Osage.
#12) Ashley Scott, JR, St. Clair- Scott is coming back from an injury but was still able to finish 4th at First Capitol and 6th at Forest Park. Look for her to improve steadily as the weeks go by.
#13) Dacey Mitchell, West Plains - Mitchell won the Capital City Classic in week one and ran 19:54 to do it.
#14) Michelle Hicks, JR, Lebanon - Dipped under 20:00 at Forest Park with a 19:53, good for 7th place.
#15) Hilary Orf, SR, Marquette - This ranking is deceiving as Orf is coming off of a broken leg that she suffered last spring. Still only a few weeks into training, Orf was able to finish 8th at Forest Park and go under 20:00 in the process. She will surely move up the rankings all year long.
TOP 15 BOYS
#1) Jacob Swearingen, JR, Potosi – Won the Lutheran South Invite in 16:00 at Jefferson Barracks in week one. Then, at the Forest Park Cross Country Festival, he beat what will likely be the strongest field he'll see all year long in 15:39.
#2) Eric Fernandez, SR, Parkway West – Fernandez is undefeated after wins at the Parkway Quad and at the Stan Nelson Invite. We'll see what he does at Hancock in two weeks to get a better comparison against Swearingen.
#3) Rick Elliot, SR, Kickapoo – Won at home in week one. At Forest Park he pushed the pace from the gun, stringing out an incredibly strong field after only a half mile en route to an eventual second place finish in 15:45 .
#4) Nick Niggeman, JR, Potosi – Finished third at Forest Park in 15:48 , only three ticks back of Elliot. Swearingen and Niggeman are definitely the new Thebeau and Mathis.
#5) Adam Behnke, SR, Lutheran South - Finished fourth at Forest Park , going under 16:00 . Ran second for a while to the fast-starting Elliot.
#6) Matt Scwhab, SR, Francis Howell North – Schwab won the First Capitol Invitational in a sprint finish over #7 Sam Masters and then finished fifth at Forest Park in week 2, dipping under 16:00 in the process.
#7) Sam Masters, SR, Columbia Hickman – Barely out-dueled in week one by #6 Matt Schwab at the First Capitol Invitational.
#8) Stanton Ragland, SR, Liberty – Topped the next two guys on the list at his home meet in week one over 2 miles.
#9) Jeff Kaiser, SR, Rock Bridge – Second at Liberty in week one and sixth at Forest Park in week 2.
#10) Will Hansen, SR, Oak Park – Scored a nine-second win at the Blue Springs Invite over a tough field that included #12 Phillip Hickman. In week one he was third behind Ragland and Kaiser at Liberty .
#11) Nick Happe, JR, Francis Howell North – Third place at First Capitol and seventh at Forest Park puts him #11 here.
#12) Phillip Hickman, SR, Blue Springs – He was a strong second at Blue Springs, besting third place by 17 seconds.
#13) Stephen Saylor, JR, Raytown South – A very solid eighth place finish at Forest Park puts Saylor in the top 15 this week. He also easily won the Bob Craddock Invite in week one.
#14) Darwin Price, SR, Normandy – The speedster Price remains in the top 15, though we could not find any results over the first two weeks.
#15) Phil Bascio, SR, CBC – Bascio was 13th at Forest Park, but he had been sick all week. He will likely be much higher after he races again at full strength.