9/19 Boonville Invitational Boonvile, MO
9/19 Duane Kimble Invitational Saint Joseph, MO
9/19 Nixa Invitational Nixa, MO
Nixa is notorious for being a flat, fast course and is often the host of the COC/District 5/Sectional 3 meets. This year, the Inman Intermediate School is hosting Class 4 District 5 again so it should invite some stellar teams to preview the course (if they haven't already seen it before). Last year, Class 3 titan Stephen Kielhofner from Springfield Catholic torched the field, winning by 33 seconds in 16:15 in a slower year. In the Division 2 race, Lamar ran away with the team title as Mark Veneable took home the victory in 17:01. Lamar and Veneable will probably run away with the Division 2 title again, but Kielhofner will probably have a bit of competition from Nixa's Christian Blake Procell who has had a solid junior campaign so far. Clayton Whitehead (Carthage) is also coming off of a 15:59 at the Stampede so he will be looking to continue his run of success as well. Brianna Marquez of Carthage and Madeline Carruthers from Branson were the two fastest non-seniors last year and they will both be back in 2017. Jenari Lopez of Carthage will be competitive as well. Branson were big winners last year in the Girls Division 1 race. Autumn Alden of School of the Ozarks is the top returner in the Division 1 race.
9/19 Oak Ridge Invitational Oak Ridge, MO
9/19 Smithville Invitational Smithville, MO
Smithville is coming off a wins on the boys and girls side in the White Divison at Forest Park, including a dominating performance by the boys, Smithville will be hosting their home meet after a week off. We will be watching to see how the Warriors trio of Jonah Palmer, Luke Termorshuizen, and Mark Krueger respond after their 1-2-4 at Forest Park. Mira Bannwarth will be leading the way for the Smithville girls again and she will do battle with Lawson's Elizabeth Weller.
9/19 Stockton Invitational Stockton, MO
Stockton boys are one of the Top 3 teams in Class 2 right now and we will see if they can keep the good times rolling at their home meet. With 5 boys within 47 seconds of each other, led by Bryson Coulter in 17:38.
9/21 Belle Invitational Belle, MO
9/21 Frontier MS XC Invitational Wentzville, MO
9/21 Grandview Invitational Kansas City, MO
Rockhurst ran a JV squad last year in the varsity and won by 44 points. We will see if they do that again with Rim Rock also being this weekend.
9/21 Rolla Invitational Rolla, MO
When you think Rolla right now, you think Emma Puetz. We'll see another installment of her breakout season coming off of an injury-stunted freshman year. Rolla's Lions Park is notorious for also presenting a fast course for their participants as the course records are 15:25 and 18:15 so on a nice day, this meet could produce some eye-popping times. Also in attendance will be Washington High School. We are starting to enter the second half of the season and this is when we will see Washington start to make the moves they made last late-September. We should see 2 or 3 more Washington girls under 20:00 sometime in the next 2 weeks, led of course by Mikayla Reed.
9/22 Ed White Warrior Invitational Arnold, MO
We have already seen 3 boys go under 10:00 at Arnold City Park earlier this year and now we will get to see a 5K. Parkway West will be in attendance this year, but who they run there will be the question with Hancock running the next day. Last year's boys race was dominated by former Parkway Central standout Charlie McIntyre so this year should prove to be a toss-up as not many names jump off the page. Seckman will bring in last year's winner in the girls race, Stephanie Anthonies, as she went 19:55 at this meet last year. The sophomore is consistently one of the least talked about runners in the entire state, but deserves mention as she could potentially be one of the premier runners in the Class of 2020. Poplar Bluff's Katie Sliger should be in attendance here, as well, and if Parkway West is running their full squad, then we could see Chloe Hershenow, Claire Smout, Emily Dickson, and the rest of the Longhorn girls. Fox's Amie Martin should also be in the mix.
Confirmed Teams: Desoto Fox Ft. Zumwalt East Hillsboro Parkway Central Parkway North Parkway West Poplar Bluff Providence Classical Christian Academy Rockwood Summit Seckman St. Louis College Prep Windsor (Imperial)
9/22 Terry Meatheany/Hazelwood West Invitational
Confirmed Teams: Duchesne, FZN, FZS, FZW, Hazelwood Central, Hazelwood East, Hazelwood West, Ladue, Lindbergh, McCluer North, North Tech, Pattonville, Ritenour, Ursuline, Webster Groves
9/22 Warrenton Invitational Warrenton, MO
9/23 Six Flags/Maryville University Open Eureka, MO
9/23 Black River League Conference Meet Viburnum, MO
Teams: South Iron, Ellington, East Carter, Bunker, Viburnum, Centerville