(Photo: Greg Hall)
Varsity Girls Green
Teams: Blue Springs Blue Springs South Branson Columbia Hickman Eureka Fatima Fayetteville (AR) Festus Francis Howell Herculaneum Holt Jackson Jefferson City Kickapoo Ladue Lafayette Liberty North Lindbergh Nerinx Hall Norman North (OK) Notre Dame (Cape Girardeau) O'Fallon (IL) Owasso (OK) Park Hill South Rock Bridge Rockwood Summit St. Joseph's Academy St. Thomas Aquinas (KS) St. Teresa's Academy Timberland Truman Washington Webster Groves
Individual Racers
Mikayla Reed, SR, Washington - In last year's muddy race, Reed lost her shoe, but was still able to finish 6th overall in the star-studded field. She then went on to win the Class 4 State Championship in an impressive 18:02 before finishing 16th in 17:59 at NXN Midwest Regionals. Reed added two more state titles on the track and comes into FPXC with a 19:55 at First Capital. She is wont to dictate the pace from the front so expect to see her up there as one of the top girls to watch in 2017.
Victoria Findley, SR, Blue Springs South - The saga continues as Reed and Blue Springs South Senior Tori Findley will meet once again to add another epic showdown to their friendly rivalry. Findley is your returning champion, running away from the field late for a 13 second victory. She finished 2nd to Reed at the Class 4 State Meet, but comes in with a 17:33 personal best, a narrow victory over her at NXN Regional, and has already put down an eye-popping 18:16 just last week at Greg Wilson Classic, a solo effort that saw her win by almost 1:00. Findley will make the trek across Missouri in hopes of pulling off the repeat at this year's race.
Olivia Sovereign, JR, St. Thomas Aquinas (KS) - After an 18:55 during the season, Sovereign threw down another low-18 at the Nike Heartland Regional, this time running 18:00. She ran 19:19 for 4th at the Greg Wilson Classic, but comes in with an impressive personal best. She has had success in St. Louis, too, having taken 11th and 16th at this race in the past (18:34 in 2015) and ran 5:06 at the 2017 Festival of Miles. She will be leading an always strong St. Thomas Aquinas team who were the team champs in 2015.
Danielle Hotalling, SR, Blue Springs South - Last week, Hotalling ran 19:10 for 2nd behind her teammate Tori Findley at the Greg Wilson Classic. She boasts a 5K personal best of 18:43 from last year's NXN Midwest Regional and turned in an 11:17 3200 on the track this spring after finishing 8th at last year's state cross country meet. She has already shown us this year that she is one of the Top 10, possibly Top 5, girls in the entire state and will be a major contender this weekend in the Green division.
Tessa Valdivia, JR, Blue Springs - A lot of this year's competition is coming down from the Kansas City area, but that shows just how strong it is out west. Valdivia was 3rd at last week's Greg Wilson Classic and has already ran 2 strong races this season. Her 19:18 was 17 seconds off last year's 19:01 (which earned her 11th in Class 4) which means she's ready to roll in 2017, too. Valdivia was 14th last year, but that was after taking 55th as a freshman. Expect Valdivia to be at least Top 10 this season.
Gabi Kohring, SR, Webster Groves - Kohring came out of nowhere in 2016 to take 2nd in a star-studded Forest Park Green Division field. She has ran well already this season, posting a 12:08 2 Mile at Parkway Central and 20:50 at her home meet. 19:43 in last year's conditions here is no small feat and we expect to see Kohring challenging for the victory this year based on how she ran last year.
Team Race
Blue Springs - After a big win at the Greg Wilson Classic, Blue Springs looks like the top Class 4 team in the state at the moment. Tessa Valdivia and Elaina Hubner headline a stellar squad with 2 girls who have sub-19 personal bests and 2 more high-19 girls right behind. Annemarie Rehbein, a freshman, and Kyleigh Ingalls, a sophomore, provide quality compliments to Valdivia and Hubner up front and we see the Wildcats as the favorite in 2017.
Washington - It wasn't a great showing for the Blue Jays at last year's FPXC Festival, but after taking 3rd in Class 4 in 2016, returning that entire team, and adding freshman phenom Mia Reed, Washington looks very good heading into this year's race. Mikayla Reed has her eyes on the individual prize, but with Claire Ayers and Morgan Holdmeyer, two Class 4 all-state athletes in their own right, just behind and alongside the aforementioned Mia Reed, we wouldn't put it past Washington to take home the team title this year.
Blue Springs South - With a strong 1-2 punch look for Blue Springs South to be in the mix for this year's team title. Front running senior Victoria Findley will look to repeat her individual championship last year, but with senior Danielle Hotalling close behind her this year. They were the team champions here last year, but fell to Blue Springs at Greg Wilson Classic this weekend. Even with minor improvements from their 3-4-5 bunch, the Jaguars could repeat as team champs this season.
Fatima - They may be Class 2, but Fatima moved up to Green Division last year and almost came away with the team victory, finishing 2nd, a mere 13 points behind Blue Springs South. They only lost their #5 from last year's runner-ups and have already replaced her. Fatima will be a sneaky pick to make some noise in this year's race as well.