2025 MO TF Event Preview: Overall Girls 800m Outlook

Many of the state's top female 400 meter runners show up on the 800 meter list as well, something we do not see nearly as much on the boys' side. In Class 5, the deepest event may be the 400 meter dash. The second-deepest may just be the 800. 

At the moment, ten girls head into the 2025 season with a personal best under 2:20, led by the reigning two-time State champion and nationally-ranked senior from Blue Springs, Paige Stuart. That number could change once the official classifications are released. Stuart, though, represents the state's largest school by enrollment, so she isn't going anywhere. The Wildcat ran under 2:09 four times last season, headlined by a 2:06.90 personal best on her home track, and identical 2:06.98 marks after her Class 5 meet record 2:08.11 in Jefferson City. She has been undefeated on home soil in the event since finishing second at the State meet her sophomore year. 

The next-closest returner is eight seconds back, but it is newly crowned State Cross Country champion Bella Navaro-Sanchez from Liberty (Wentzville). The sophomore star has shown in her first three high school seasons that she can and will bring the heat when it matters most - she ran 2:16.93 at the Sectional meet and 2:14.11 for fourth at the State meet, both of which being her only two marks under 2:21 in her early career.

The actual next-closest returners will most likely be the girls from Ladue: Aaliyah Rogers (2:11.59) and Delaney Brinker (2:13.03). Rogers was the runner-up in Class 4 in 2024, putting an exclamation point on a stellar freshman regular season. Brinker, on the other hand, likely won't see the 800 in the state series as she is too valuable in the long sprints and relays, and the Rams' depth in the 800 has not waned. They still also have 2:16.82 runner Karina Griffin, among others. 
Below: Rogers, Brinker, Griffin, 

Three other girls return for the 2025 season with medals from one of the fastest 800 meter races the state has ever seen - a race in which medal-earners had to run under 2:15 at minimum. Two of them will actually be in Class 5 most likely, though. Marquette's Maleah Eggers ran 2:14.79 for seventh and Webb City's Brooke Hedger went 2:14.89. Two others ran 2:15s in the 2024 season: Adee Broesder and Layla Redding. They finished ninth and tenth, respectively, but will surely be among the podium contenders this season, though it appears a sub-2:15 should be the benchmark once again this season. 

Left to right, Eggers, Redding, Broesder

Hedger, right, Broesder, left

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Class 4 Outlook 

Ladue movement once again shakes up the Class 4 and 5 outlooks, but Father Tolton's Elyse Wilmes remains and she is clearly the one to beat not just in the State, but possibly the nation. 

Wilmes is the first Missourian to sign a Name, Image, and Likeness (NIL) deal after committing to New Balance in December and with good reason. She ran 2:04.92 to win the 2024 New Balance Nationals Outdoor championship after posting a 2:07.37 at the HOKA Festival of Miles and 2:11.50 to win the Class 4 State title. Her only other loss in 2024 came to Paige Stuart at the Gary Parker Invitational. The future Stillwater, Oklahoma resident will be going for her fourth half-mile State gold in 2025. 

Pleasant Hill's Brooke Beck is a 400/800 specialist and will surely be Wilmes's top competition this spring. She was third at the State meet in 2:12.79, her third straight State bronze of her career. Harrisonvile's Kayleigh Norris will be in the mix once again as she gives the distance treble one more try. She was fourth in the 800 in 2:13.14, though she won the 3200 and was second in the 1600. She won her second straight Class 4 cross country title this

fall. 

More movement significantly affects the outlook as Sullivan's Mariah Denney has moved out to Washington state. Also, it looks like MICDS will drop back down to Class 4 after several years in Class 5. That should also have an impact in the 800 with the Rams' Grace Coppel after a 2024 Class 5 5th place 2:14.21 finish and having already run 2:14.63 this winter, setting her up to battle for third or fourth state finish.

So fifth and sixth on the Class 4 lists will be St. Joseph's junior Savannah Amann and Affton's Anna Daughtry. Amann ran 2:16.56 for fifth at State, and Daughtry was eighth in 2:19.20. The depth may not be there like Class 5, but the firepower at the top is undeniable. 

Amann left, and Class 5-bound Griffith

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Class 3 Outlook

Seven of the top nine finishers at last year's Class 3 State meet graduated last spring meaning this year's field looks much different than 2024's. 

The top two returners are under 2:20, but nobody else is under 2:24. Ste. Genevieve's Kale Clements and Chillicothe's Lydia Bonderer are fighting a two-horse battle heading into the season as Clements boasts a 2:18.01 best and Bonderer is right behind in 2:18.54. Both girls were the bookend parts of a group of three that came across second, third, and fourth at the 2024 State meet. Clements, a recent SEMO commit, is looking for her fourth State medal in four tries while Bonderer, a tennis player in the fall, looks to build off a successful freshman campaign.

Ursuline Academy sophomore Elizabeth Tiburzi is a two-time all-state medalist in cross country now and is heading into the 2025 track season third among 800 returners. She was tenth last season in 2:24.12 and should be among the medal contenders in all three distance events. Borgia's Addison Pfeiffer is fourth among returners in 2:24.57 and Owensville senior Ilene Limberg is fifth with a 2:26.96 mark. Twelve total girls head into the season under 2:30, but we do expect to see some significant marks from others who did not post a mark last season, as well as some stellar freshmen.

Ilene Limberg

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Class 2 Outlook

Another Class 2 outlook will be significantly impacted by the movement of St. Vincent from Class 2 to 1 as reigning State champion Reagan Meyer, once again, will make her way down a classification. The top-ranked junior was six seconds ahead of the Class 2 field, but now the top-ranked mark will belong to Valle Catholic's Ava Bauman. She leads the seven girls who finished from third to ninth at last year's State meet with her 2:24.21 personal best. All seven of those girls ran their personal best in Jefferson City last May. 

Brentwood's Kensington Curd is close behind and second among returners with her 2:24.89 best and Elsberry's Ellie Hartley is even closer to her with a 2:25.06 best. Mansfield's Faith Clark ran 2:25.19 and New Covenant senior Clara Trent hit 2:25.38. With so many girls within a second of each other, and all of them being experienced podium finishers, it is anyone's guess who comes across the line first in 2025.

Clara Trent

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Class 1 Outlook 

Reagan Meyer's movement pushes Liberal's Ally Barton to the second spot on the Class 1 list. Meyer ran 2:18.94 en route to her State victory, capping off a historic first high school season. The then-sophomore opened up her season with 1:04.72, 2:50.72, and 6:23.24 marks in the 400, 800, and 1600, respectively, before finishing her season with 57.79, 2:18.94, and 5:16.61 bests. 

Barton will have to hold off the St. Vincent star if she hopes to retain her Class 1 title. Her only sub-2:20 of her career came at State when she ran 2:19.76 to polish off the 800/1600 double. She held off Rock Port's Avery Meyerkorth for the win, as Meyerkorth came across in her personal best 2:21.03. McAuley Catholic's Olivia Parrigon is third on the Class 1 list. She was fifth at State last year, running 2:24.35. West Nodaway's Paige Hanson is the last of the returning 2024 all-staters as she was seventh in 2:27.94. Mallory Shaw, though, a State cross country champion in her own right, was eighth in her personal best of 2:27.87 in 2023. 

Rockport's Meyerkorth, above, and Stoutland's Shaw, below