Purple and Gold
There was a lot of purple and gold on the uniforms of the athletes near the front of the Class 1 boys race. Thomas Jefferson's Kip Atteberry (left #438, Hermitage's Justin Horn (middle #329) and Bennett Mantooth (right #330) run in 2nd, 3rd, and 4th-place, while Stoutland's Bradley Shaw isn't far back in the Tiger's purple and gold a few strides back (back center).
Final Two Miles
Valle Catholic senior Peter Roth climbs a hill just after the mile mark, leaving him with two final miles to race in his high school cross country career. Roth, like many Valle runners, followed a sibling's path to run for the Warriors at the private Class 1 school in Ste. Genevieve. Peter followed sister Mary, and got to be teammates for two years. Peter finished 19th in 17:50 to earn his second-straight All-State finish.
The Oak Ridge Boys
Oak Ridge's Karson Ward (left #391), Cohen Hahs (center #385), and Jayden McAlister (back), race just after the mile mark on their way to helping the Blue Jays to the 2022 Class 1 3rd-place team trophy. Oak Ridge was 3rd at each of the 1,000-meter marks and finished with just 95 points. That was music to the ears of fans of Oak Ridge, from Southeast Missouri, 385 miles from the Oak Ridge, Tennessee, the home of the legendary country and southern gospel music group, "The Oak Ridge Boys".