2025 MO TF Event Preview: Overall Girls 1600m Outlook


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 Girls 1600 Meter Run.

Premium Content: Large Class Top Returners | Small Class Top Returners | All Returners Rankings

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Class 5 Outlook

Three girls head into the 2025 season at 5:00 or better in Class 5: Marquette's Maleah Eggers, Republic's Gracie Troester, and Webb City's Brooke Hedger. 


Eggers is tops among Class 5 returners with her 4:56.35 best from last summer's Festival of Miles. After finishing fifth at the State meet in the event, she closed out her junior year with a 4:57.87 full mile and win in the first ever Missouri Mile. She posted a personal best 18:26.40 5K this fall and finished ninth at Gans. Troester had an abbreviated cross country season after finishing third in both the 1600 and 3200 at the State meet, but her 4:57.51 personal best stands nonetheless. She should be considered among the favorites for the win along with Hedger, who enters the season at 5:00.84 (another en route mark from the Festival of Miles). She already has a MO No. 2 mark in the mile to her name this winter of 5:15.84 after finishing fifth at the State Cross Country meet in November in her personal best of 18:20.20. 


Liberty sophomore Lily Hurt was just behind Hedger at last year's State track meet, running 5:02.69 for seventh overall. Hurt's freshman campaign was strong after an impressive middle school career. This fall, she pushed her 5K personal best to 18:41.00 and grabbed an 18th place State medal. Fifth among Class 5 returners is Blue Springs South's Ella Rew in 5:06.36, yet another en route mark from the Festival of Miles. Her other sub-5:10 mark came when she finished ninth at last year's State meet in 5:07.88, but we would be surprised to see her outside the top eight this spring after a stellar fall season in which she nearly broke 18:00 for 5K. 

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Class 4 Outlook

Distance fans should be looking forward to a rematch between two of the state's all-time greats and Class of 2025 juggernauts: Kayleigh Norris and Elyse Wilmes. 2024's race came down to the wire as Wilmes was able to take charge in the final 200 meters and hold off Norris, 4:52.86 to 4:53.80.


Though Wilmes has the gold(s) to her name, Norris has the top mark to her name - just barely - with a 4:49.40 en route performance from the Festival of Miles.

Wilmes posted her 4:49.64 best at the Distance Night in Palatine race.  Who will take the tape this spring? So far, it's much too close to call.  

Could we see an upset effort from one of the next closest challengers? It is possible, but Wilmes's teammate Angelina Cottone comes in third, eleven seconds behind her counterpart, with a 5:00.93 best mark to her name. Cottone was third in this event last May and should find herself among the title contenders even after taking a step back this cross country season, at least from the 18:18.50 mark she had posted her freshman year.

St. Joseph's Academy's Savannah Amann is next among returners with a 5:05.98 mark and Naomi Hunter sits fifth with a 5:06.22, both from the Festival of Miles, as well. Hunter finished fourth at the State meet last May and broke 18:00 this fall before being notably absent from the Class 4 Cross Country championships. Amann, on the other hand, was behind her in fifth, but finished an impressive third overall in Class 5 this fall. Overall, there are 10 girls at 5:10 or better heading in for the 2025 season.


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Class 3 Outlook

Would you believe that the top Class 3 returner in the 1600 is St. Charles West's Brianna Krueger? Well, believe it. 

Krueger heads into the spring season after her incredible cross country campaign, which ended with a dominant individual State title on the muddy Gans Creek course. She was sixth overall in this event last May, but the first non-senior as the five girls ahead of her have since graduated. Her 5:16.78 personal best was good enough to hold off the next closest returner, Owensville's Ilene Limberg, whose 5:18.25 mark was her first and only trip under 5:20 in her career so far. The recent Maryville commit was third at this year's Class 3 cross country meet. 

Limberg holds off Goans for 7th at State behind Krueger in 6th and five seniors who've graduated.

In fact, the sixth through ninth place finishers from last year's State 1600 will be back for the 2025 season, with Krueger and Limberg being joined by California's Kenzleigh Goans and Metro's Lucy Luetkemeyer. Luetkemeyer, though, should join fifth best returner Addison Smith in dropping down to Class 2 this spring, effectively throwing a wrench in that outlook. Both girls would assume positions in the top 8 of a fairly stacked field of talented girls in Class 2, with Luetkemeyer sitting third still in 5:19.81 and Smith, the Class 2 cross country champion, coming in seventh in 5:27.51. With those two moving out, El Dorado Springs' Audrey Goatley and Borgia's Addison Pfeiffer move into the top 5 and are the only other girls in Class 3 who have broken 5:30.

El Dorado Springs' Audrey Goatley

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Class 2 Outlook

Even with Smith and Luetkemeyer surely dropping down to shake up the rankings, there are still two girls who come in ahead of their stellar marks, led by Valle Catholic's Madelyn Griffard. You may be saying, "But Kyle, what about reigning Class 2 champion Reagan Meyer? She also ran 5:16.61 and held off Griffard by a nose in that race." Well, to that I would say, "St. Vincent's championship factor total is down to 1 so they are heading back to Class 1." As a result, Griffard and her 5:16.90 best takes the top spot, just ahead of Penney's Jade Gray, who placed third at State and ran 5:18.15. Gray will also come in ahead of Luetkemeyer. 


Brentwood's Kensington Curd makes is the fourth of the top six finishers at last year's State meet who will be back for the 2025 season. Curd, a cross country champion in 2023, was ninth this fall, but has run 5:21.23 nonetheless. North Platte's Chloe Heckman was just a tick behind Curd last May and, thus, brings her 5:21.87 best into the season. New Covenant's Clara Trent was sixth last year in her personal best of 5:22.95, but may be poised to move up after grabbing a State silver medal this fall in Class 2. Keep an eye on Elsberry's Ellie Hartley who ran 5:23.28 before grabbing the final medal at State. 

That only one of the top eight finishers in last year's State 1600 has graduated is impressive and should mean a competitive race is on the docket once again in 2025.

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Class 1 Outlook


With Reagan Meyer moving into Class 1 this spring, the outlook for the smallest enrollment classification will get a bit of a shake-up to be sure. Her 5:16.61 mark will end up putting her 6 seconds ahead of the next closest returner: Liberal's Ally Barton.


Barton pulled in gold medals in the 800 and 1600 in her freshman campaign, running 5:22.99 for the three-second victory over West Nodaway's Paige Hanson in the latter. This fall, she ended up fourth at the Class 1 State Championships and ran a personal best 19:55.58. Hanson, a rising senior, earned silver medal in her first true go-around at the 1600 meter race last spring, posting a personal best 5:25.88 after starting the season at 5:47.35.

The top five finishers from last year's State meet will be back for the 2025 season, in fact, as Mya Wray, Emily Landry, and Mallory Shaw all will add their names to the fold for 1600 glory this spring. Wray and Shaw are no strangers to top of the State podiums in their career and boast personal bests of 5:29.67 and 5:30.80, respectively. Landry earned her fourth place medal last spring with a 5:31.18 and will be fifth among returners; sixth once Meyer drops in.