Varsity Boys Gold
The headlining race of the meet was the Varsity Boys Gold Division race at 10:30 a.m. It was a chance for history and more sub-15-minute performances. There were four that had already achieved the feat in the race and with good conditions they could do it again and possibly go faster than they had before or pull some others with them below the 15-minute barrier.
Temperatures had warmed since the first two races of the day, but a hot early pace kept hopes high that a multiple sub-15-minute performances were at hand. Southern Boone County senior superstar and recent University of Oregon commit Connor Burns ran side by side with Liberty North junior Sage Wilde. The pair went thru 1k in 2:51.5 while Rock Bridge's Ian Kemey and Andrew Hauser were immediately behind them and Kickapoo senior Tyler Harris right behind them.
Lafayette's LJ Groenewald, Joplin's Hobbs Campbell, Hillsboro's Josh Allison, and Lutheran South's Adam Snoke made it eight under 2:54 for 1,000-meters while a total of 30 boys were under 3:00 at the first 1k split.
The lead pack of (right to left) Sage Wilde of Liberty North, Tyler Harris of Kickapoo, Connor Burns of Southern Boone County, and Andrew Hauser and Ian Kemey of Rock Bridge, climb a hill at the mile mark of the Varstiy Boys Gold Division race.
The pace cooled and Burns, Wilde, Kemey, and Hauser all went thru 2k in 5:51 while Harris' timing tag didn't record any splits, throwing off team scores until the finish. It was more of the same at 3,000-meters. Wilde and Burns side by side with Hauser immediately behind and Kemey just off his shoulder and Harris just off Kemey's shoulder. The group recorded splits of 3:09 and totaled 9:01 with 2-kilometers to go.
Some calculating of what the published team scores are and adjusting for timing tags not reading, at 3k, Rock Bridge was 1st with 89 points, Liberty North 2nd with 106 points, Hillsboro 3nd with 113 points, and Kickapoo 4th with 161 points. At 3,150-meters, Wilde sat off Burns shoulder as the pair had just over a stride on Kemey as Hauser and Harris were just off Kemey's shoulder.
Burns and Wilde poured it on. The pair had met on the course the day before when it was open for teams to preview and decided to make a "tempo" run out of the race. They dropped a 4th kilometer of 2:58 to pull away from the field and put about an additional 10-seconds on the Hauser and presumably close to that on Kemey and Harris, whose tag's hadn't been picked up at the 4k timing mat.