Girls
The Contenders
Julia Ray has been absolutely cruising through her senior season and seems to be ready to unleash something special. She moved down from Class 5 to Class 4 for her final season, her third classification change in four years, but should be unfazed as she heads into the day. Ray handled some fierce competitors at her District meet and has lost to only Grace Tyson and Carolyn Ford this season -- two Class 5 stars. We've seen her put the pedal to metal in the past and run away even on the biggest of stages. Could she bide her time and let loose at the end, or leave no doubt from the beginning? Either way, at this point, Ray looks like the girl to beat this Friday.
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Elyse Wilmes - Father Tolton Regional Catholic
The Class 4 District 3 meet was easily Elyse Wilmes' slowest mark of her season so far. But she didn't have to do much beyond what she did. Wilmes started out comfortable and stayed that way throughout. Her teammates did their jobs and the Trailblazers cruised to victory. Saturday's performance and her other 19:00+ performance of the year on the state championship course aside, Wilmes will once again have the home-field advantage as she looks to earn her second XC state title of her short career. The sophomore was the Class 3 champion last fall, capping off an undefeated season, but she will certainly have much more of a challenge this year. She hasn't run faster than her 17:55.78 personal best...yet...but that may be coming this weekend. She'll certainly need to be close to that or else it's going to be a nail biter all the way to the line.
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With 5 victories in 7 tries, Webb City's Abigail Street has had a really stellar senior campaign. Her big wins have come at the Richard Clark Invitational, Laker Invitational, COC Championship, and District 2 meet. She also won the Carthage Invitational in early September. She's been sub-19:00 four times headlined by her 18:37.69 personal best from Ha Ha Tonka State Park. Two more marks at 18:40 and 18:53 over her last two tries (both at Nixa) have her set up to be a top contender for the individual win on Friday.
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Isabella Frost has made some strides in her senior year after finishing 10th at last year's Class 4 state meet. She enters this year's race with a personal best of 18:54.56 from the Laker Invitational and coming off another sub-19:00 performance for 2nd at District 2. She's picked up wins at Lebanon, Camdenton, and the always stacked Ozark Conference so she's shown the ability to be a frontrunner. She's made progress at every meet she's been too so far so dipping into the 18:30s could be in the offing this Friday. If so, she's a top 5 candidate for sure.
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Kayleigh Norris - Harrisonville
In her first cross country campaign coming off a fantastic freshman season of track, Harrisonville's Kayleigh Norris is ready to show the entire state what she's got. She's posted wins at Cass County, Odessa, Warrensburg, and last Saturday at the District 4 meet. Her 18:33.96 is a 2:00+ solo effort from Odessa so she certainly has the talent to run fast no matter what. She has the wheels, too, with 61/2:23 400/800 speed from the spring. It's Norris's time to shine at Gans Creek this Friday and we think a top 5 finish could be in her future already.