While many had pegged Connor Burns to be the Class 3 boys championship race champion, the MSHSAA Class 3 State championship girls race was a little more wide
open.
Seven of the top 10 finishers from last year didn't return to the Class 3 state meet this year but two did: Eldon's Zoe Martonfi, who was third and Southern Boone County's Alexandra Volkart, who was fifth.
As it would have this year, the 2022 championship featured the two juniors back in the top two spots on the podium.
Volkart, a junior, won the race in 18:40.3, for a five-second margin of victory.
The win by Volkart and Burns in the boys race helped the Eagles accomplish a bit of history. Since MSHSAA expanded to four classes in 1994, only two times has the Class 3 championship been swept by the same school.
Logan-Rogersville first accomplished the feat in 1997 with Jason Edwards and Carrie Bell winning the title. In 2015, Ste. Genevieve's Taylor Werner won the girls title and Ben Naeger added the sweep.
Eldon's Martonfi galloped to 2nd place in 18:45, helping the Mustangs to 15th place team finish.
St. Michael the
Archangel's Elsa Henry was third, making it three runners in the race to break 19
minutes. Volkart, Martonfi, and Henry will all be back next year to battle for the title again.
Also returning will be Fulton junior Emery Mayfield, Southern Boone County junior Evan Mauney, St. Charles West sophomore Genevieve Wacker and California sophomore Kenzleigh Goans, who were the fifth through eighth finishers.
Seniors Lyric Ford (Montgomery County 4th), Kiersten Potter (Lamar, 9th) and Kadence Berry (Winfield, 10th) also cracked the top 10.
The state
championship went to St. Charles West, the program's second title
and first since 1998. Last year, the Warriors were the runners-up
behind Father Tolton Catholic, who was Championship Factored up to Class 4 this year. Along with Wacker, sophomore Claire Horstmann was also an all-stater for West, taking 16th. St. Charles West scored just 74 points for a 63-point margin of victory.
Centralia was the runner-up and earned the first state trophy for the girls program. The Panthers scored 137 points as senior Jozelynn Bostick took 11th place while freshman Kenedee Moss just missed all-state honors, placing 26th.
Summit Christian
Academy, from Lee's Summit, took third place after being bumped up from
Class 2 where they placed 2nd last year. The top finisher for the Eagles was senior Adriana Mcgregor in 27th, helping the team to total 167 points.
Another Kansas City
team was fourth - Lutheran (Kansas City). This was the sixth trophy for the
private school. Freshman Isabelle Wood placed 17th for the
Knights, who scored 175 points to edge Osage (181 points) for the 4th and final team trophy.