On August 28th, we made a bold prediction that Rockhurst senior Wes Porter would become the fifth Missourian high school to break 15:00 in the 5K in state history and the first one since 2007.
Check.
Throughout the season, Porter, in his encounters with us at MileSplit had thanked us for the prediction and, instead of denouncing the notion as farfetched, he would tell us, "I'm going to get that. Just wait." He even predicted it may come at the Class 4 Sectional 3 meet.
Well, the star senior pulled off the feat with his 14:53.90 clocking at the Missouri Southern State University XC Course in Joplin Saturday, which not only earned him the individual victory, but also helped his Hawklets squad to a second place finish as a team.
Porter's sub-15:00 is now third all-time in Missouri history according to MoMileSplit's database. He sits behind only olympian Matt Tegenkamp and former West Plains superstar Jon Hatley. In the process, he passed the likes of Josh Thebeau, Josh Mathis, Caleb Hoover, Jacob Swearingin, and Austin Hindman, among others.
He now sits at a 15:35.04 average on the season after breaking 16:00 for the sixth time in six tries. Heading into this weekend's state meet, Porter is the clear and heavy favorite after having dispatched basically all of his competition thus far this season whether at the Gans Creek Classic, Forest Park XC Festival, KC XC Classic, or Sectional 3 meet, among other meets. Watch for Porter, who ran 15:44.70 in his first attempt at Gans Creek to build off this monumental performance and make a run at another sub-15:00 mark on the much more forgiving (than Oak Hills) Gans Creek Recreation Area course.
