Two of the top boys teams in the state went head-to-head at the Patriot/Statesmen Classic on Oct. 12 in Webster Groves.
The host Webster Groves Statesmen came out on top in the team standings, while the Festus boys brought home a 1-2 finish.
Festus is the defending MSHSAA Class 4 XC champion, while Webster Groves took fourth to get on the podium last fall in Columbia.
However, Webster Groves had four of the top eight finishers and took home the team title with a score of 36 -- ahead of Festus' 47 -- in Saturday's race at Blackburn Park.
Festus and Webster Groves combined to have 7 of the top 10 runners in the field.
Junior Carson Driemeier won the race for Festus with a 15:34.80, his second win of the year. Senior teammate Tate Uding was second, breaking the 16-minute mark as well. Senior Lucas Campbell was ninth for the Tigers.
Webster Groves, No. 6 in the team rankings in Class 4-5, was led by senior Corbin Cole, who ran 15:58.10. It was his best individual finish since winning the St. Louis Suburban Conference freshman championship in 2021.
Senior Dominic Buckman and junior Drew Upperman were fifth and sixth, respectively, for Webster Groves. Henry Boland, a senior, also cracked the top 10 by taking eighth.
Lafayette (Wildwood) finished a distant third with 91 points. Freshman Ezekiel Hagen took fourth for the Lancers, running a career-best 16:02.80.
Wade Patten of Parkway West (seventh) and Nicholas Winzen of Parkway South (10th) rounded out the individual top 10.
Girls recap
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Natalie Lena broke 20 mines for the third time this season and picked up the win in the girls' varsity race. The Parkway South junior had a winning time of 19:34.70, about 10 seconds faster than Lucy Boyer of Festus.
Parkway South had three in the top 10 but that wasn't enough for a top-3 finish in the field.
Allison Miele was third and Eleanor Yonker took eight for the Patriots, who came in fourth with 105 points.
Festus matched Parkway South with three in the top 10 but had all five in the top 25 and took first place overall with 55 points.
Katelyn Thurman placed fifth and Olivia Cole finished ninth for the Tigers.
That provided a 4-point margin of victory in the team chase with Lafayette (Wildwood) taking second with 60 points. Kirkwood placed third with 77.
Alexis Sandberg and Kelly Archambeault finished sixth and seventh, respectively, for Lafayette.
The remainder of the individual top 10 featured Kirkwood's Katie Klein in fourth and Mary George from Louisville Atherton in 10th place.