Over the next several weeks, Missouri MileSplit will be doing a deep dive into the top returners for each event heading into the 2025 Track and Field season. We will have premium rankings pieces highlighting the top 100 returners in each classification as well as an overall outlook for each event for all non-subscribers. Let's take a look at the Boys 1600 Meter Run.
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Class 5 Outlook
Hyperbole aside, this may be the most talented group of returning milers this state has ever seen across the board. In Class 5 in particular, the amount of all-state caliber athletes is staggering.
It starts with Rockhurst's Henry Acorn. Acorn (above) stunned the state last spring with a 56.84 final lap to run a Class 5 meet record 4:06.31 and bring home his first career individual State gold medal. The mark is fourth in State history if you consider Connor Burns's en route 1600 at the Festival of Miles and only three seconds behind Jason Pyrah's now 38-year old overall State meet record of 4:03.54.
Jason Pyrah may not have to look back to see the rest of the All-Time State Performance list in the 1600 Meter Run after this year.
Incredibly, Acorn is not the only returner under 4:10 as Kirkwood's Graham Stevener heads into this season with the sixth fastest time in State history: 4:07.80.
Stevener came across second to Acorn last May, even though he closed in a 59.15 final lap. After a 15:00.90 5K best in his first cross country season this fall, Stevener should be another contender to take down Pyrah's record this spring and earn his first individual State gold medal.
After the two sub-4:10 boys, it is a host of returners under 4:20 - eleven to be exact, though one of them may be moving back down to Class 4 (Webster Groves's Corbin Cole). SLUH's Jackson Miller (above) backed up his eighth grade national record with a freshman state record in 2024 and US No. 8 mark all-time for ninth graders with the 4:11.08 time he posted en route to his full mile mark at the Festival of Miles. He did post a 4:13.92 outside of FOM and has already run 4:12.81 for the full mile this winter, showing he is ready to keep the good times rolling as a sophomore.
Nixa's Ashley-left, Rock Bridge's Sievers (#5784), Liberty-Wentzville's Taylor-right
Three more boys come in under 4:13 in Liberty Wentzville's Ayden Taylor, once again en route at the Festival of Miles, Luke Sievers, and Aaron Ashley. Sievers, Ashley, and Taylor were sixth, seventh, and eighth at the Class 5 State meet last spring. 
After another incredible cross country season, we expect the Class 5 race to feature a field of sixteen boys who could all break 4:20 in 2025 - last year, a whopping fourteen did on the day on the track at Jefferson City.
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Class 4 Outlook
Class 4 is slightly more spread out than Class 5 as much fewer returners boast a personal best under 4:20. In fact, if you consider the afore-mentioned Statesman Cole, there are only two: he and Festus junior Carson Driemeier. 
Driemeier is, of course, the favorite to take home the crown this spring with his 4:13.84 best and 14:50.79 5K best to his name. He was fourth last spring behind three seniors in his first race after winning his first career individual gold medal in the 3200 meter run and posted a mark faster than the second best returner five times. Cole heads into the spring having finished fifth at the Class 4 State Cross Country meet and ran a new 15:34.32 personal best. He was a hard-luck fifth in the both the 1600 and 3200 at his Sectional meet last spring, but should be among the State's best in both events as Webster heads back to Class 4.
Nobody else heads back for this spring under 4:20, but West Plains's Carson King did run 4:20.40 last spring, finishing fifth overall at the State meet. He came across ahead of Driemeier's teammate Tate Uding, who finished three seconds back of his 4:21.98 personal best. Both boys were keys to their teams success this fall, as King's squad won its first state championship since 2008 and Festus ended up second.
King, above, Uding, below
Next among returners is Parkway Central's Alexander Moresi and Hillsboro's Landon Pogue is not too far behind. These two are the final ones to return with sub-4:25 marks. 
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Class 3 Outlook
It's official: The Burns dynasty in Missouri has ended.
After former University of Missouri Head Cross County Coach Marc Burns accepted the position as Head Women's Cross Country Coach at the University of Arkansas, the Burns family has moved to Bentonville where Brian Burns and Sean Burns have already settled in and begun training with the reigning 6A State Champions Bentonville High School. As a result of two of the top three finishers at this fall's Class 3 State Cross Country Championships moving out of the state, the outlook of the Class 3 distance scene will take a significant hit, much to the appreciation of several of the state's best.
Herculaneum's Nathaniel Wright moves to the top of the Class 3 totem pole with a 4:15.76 personal best. He was only a few ticks behind Burns for the top spot heading into the season. Wright was an 800/1600 specialist last spring and finished third in this event at last year's State meet.
Hollister's Sinry Mendoza is next among returners with a 4:17.42 best. The 3200 champion in 2024, Mendoza, a rare distance talent that does not run cross country, finished second in the 1600 via the incredible kick of East Newton's Chase Sorrell. With incredible range from 400 to 3200 meters, Mendoza is a contender for the long distance double and even the distance treble.
The 2024 Cross Country season sophomore star Wyatt Klaiber is third among returners after running 4:19.27 in his freshman year, a MO No. 3 all-time mark for ninth graders. Seven seconds later is Strafford's Colton Willis who had a strong fall in his own right. He was eighth in this event in 2024 in his personal best of 4:26.22. Chillicothe's Cain Evans comes in next, and now fifth, with his 4:29.62 personal best, closing out the list of Class 3 returners under 4:30.
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Class 2 Outlook
The Class 2 1600 scene is wide open in 2025 with no boys returning with a mark under 4:30, but six boys between 4:31 and 4:35, and a potential game-changing move into Class 2 by Lexington. Should the Minutemen make their way into Class 2 as they did this past fall, the presence of Conner Soendker and Chael Lichte could completely change the landscape.
Soendker, above, Lichte, below
Soendker would become the top returner in Class 2 with his 4:30.82 personal best, a mark he posted a few weeks after finishing 12th at the Class 3 State Championships. Lichte's 2024 spring was short and included only three 3200 meter runs, but after dominating the Class 2 State Cross Country meet this fall and ran a personal best 16:00.40, he should also throw a wrench in the plans of the current list of returners.
With all of that said, Clark County's Mason McDaniel tops the list based on last year's enrollment numbers with his 4:31.04 personal best. He ran that at last year's State meet and earned a fourth place medal as a result. With three seniors having finished ahead of him there and one more behind him, McDaniel is among the favorites to climb up to the top spot this spring. Mansfield's Nolyn Corder was behind him in sixth place and ended his season with a 4:32.90 season best mark. Lest we forget he ran 4:28.65 as a sophomore in 2023 and is coming off a Class 1 State Cross Country title. Mansfield is projected to be right at the bottom of Class 2 this spring, but could be the top end of Class 1 - either way, Corder's presence or absence will have a significant impact on the Class 2 outlook. 
Mansfield's Corder
Three others head into the season with 4:33.xx name to their name: Penney's Hayden Krentz (last year's eighth place finisher in the 1600), Butler's Brandon Hammett (the 2023 and 2024 Class 2 Cross Country runner-up), and Elsberry's Jedidiah Heras.
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Class 1 Outlook
Only two all-state runners from last year's Class 1 1600 return for the 2025 season: McAuley Catholic's Michael Parrigon and Paris's Landen Chapman.
Parrigon is looking to cap off an incredible career and head to Missouri Southern State University with his first individual State gold of his career. He has earned State golds now in the 4x800 with his incredible 1:55.70 anchor leg last May and with his Cross Country team this past fall. The dual-sport fall athlete ran 4:31.99 and finished second last spring and should be considered a favorite for the title this year.
Should the afore-mentioned Corder move down to Class 1 for track season, that will certainly change the outlook, but if not, then Landen Chapman appears to be the next closest challenger with his 4:33.97 personal best.
Paris' Landen Chapman
It was a mark that earned him third at last year's State Championships and has him a whopping ten seconds ahead of the next closest returner.
Yes, there is a chasm between second and third with Northeast Cairo's Shaun Luecke coming in next with a 4:43.47 best. He will be vying for hardware this year after finishing ninth last May. Dora's Cade Nold - the returning State champion in the 400 and 800 - will most likely not run the 1600 in the State series as a result, but he has run 4:37.07 in his career and went 4:44.87 last season. Expect to see the Thomas Jefferson Independent duo of Braden Honeywell-Lynch and Spencer Long to take a step forward this spring after an impressive Cross Country campaign.
