Girls
The Contenders
Last year, Smithton was one of the largest Class 1 schools which helped Riley Bryan win the individual state championship by nearly 2 minutes. This school year, they added 17 to their enrollment number which pushed them into the bottom of Class 2. Be that as it may, Bryan should still have no trouble winning the Class 2 title. Her only losses have come to Class 3 front-runners Alexandra Volkart at Jim Marshall and Zoe Martonfi at Fatima as she's won every other race she's contested. She's yet to improve upon her 18:21.00 junior year personal best so far, and the senior may not have to on Saturday. She enters the meet 43 seconds ahead of the next closest challenger if you go based off her 18:31.40 season best.
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Katy Menke was a major part of Hermann's Class 2 team title last fall as she crossed the line in 13th in 20:31.80. This year, she's improved upon last year's personal best by 1:17 and looks poised to make the leap all the way up to 2nd on Saturday. She has four victories at the Rim Rock Blue Division, her home meet, the Four Rivers Conference, and the District 3 meet over some really talented Class 2 foes. All 8 marks she's posted this season have been faster than that 20:31 from last year's state meet, headlined by a 19:14.49, so it's the consistency and excellence that have her firmly in the conversation for a very high finish this weekend.
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We have seen a lot from Spokane this season so there's plenty of data to predict that Lily Hunsucker will be a member of the top 5 this Saturday. She's finished no worse than 3rd in all 11 of her races this fall, including 8 victories headlined by her 19:21.72 best for the win at East Newton, as well as the W's at the SWCL Conference and District 2 meets. She has been consistently in the high 19s to low 20s everywhere she's gone and comes in with a 6th place finish to her name from last year. She should challenge for at least 2nd and could surprise some folks if front-runner Riley Bryan has an off day.
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St. Louis Metro's Yuri Malone was the lucky number 25 in Class 3 last year as a freshman. Metro has moved down to be one of the largest schools in Class 2 this year and Malone is competing for a top 5 at the state meet spot now. She probably would be regardless with a 19:30.90 personal best and pretty strong resume throughout the season. She has two wins against Public High League teams, three top 5 finishes (Lutheran North, Patriot/Statesman Classic, Clayton Invitational - runner-up), and third place finish at the District 3 meet, just a hair behind 2nd. She led her squad to their first ever District title and could lead them to a podium finish this year.
Thank goodness Brentwood brought their cross country team back this fall or else we may have missed out on the talents of freshman Kensington Curd. She burst out on the scene when she finished fifth in the Varsity Girls Gold Division at the Forest Park Festival. She dropped under 20:00 for the first time at the Ed White Festival of Races and picked up her first career win at the Hancock Invitational. Curd was 2nd in District 3 behind Katy Menke and a tenth of a second ahead of Yuri Malone. As a freshman, and in her school's first year as a program in 15 years, she already appears ready to compete for a top 5 finish in Class 2.