The major story in the Class 4 races at this year's Class 4 MSHSAA State Cross Country Championships was that the state's all-time great powerhouses once again showed their mettle. Festus and West Plains dominated both the boys and girls races at this year's finale.
First up were the boys, with West Plains defending its 2024 championship against another formidable Festus team. At the district meet, they pulled off their postseason magic once again, outlasting Webster Groves by one point for their 14th win there in the last 17 years. The return of Carson Driemeier from his brief injury earlier this season has been a major boost for the Tigers, and he, too, went into last Friday's race defending a State title.
Driemeier would prove untouchable in the Class 4 race as he led wire-to-wire, coming across first at each of the kilometer checkpoints. He seemingly secured his victory on the dreaded third kilometer, a stretch that is generally the slowest for everyone despite a long, straight downhill, where he opened up 15 seconds on his next closest competitor. The lead would grow to 24 seconds over the fourth kilometer and eventually 42 seconds as he crossed the line as the back-to-back champion in a new State meet record time of 14:49.20. Even with challenges from Jack McGovern in the Class 5 race and Wyatt Klaiber in the Class 2 race Saturday, Driemeier now stands alone as the only athlete to break 14:50 at the State Championships in its long history.
Notre Dame Cape Girardeau sophomore Aidan Morris would cross in second in a new personal best of 15:31.00. He moved up from Class 3 this year, but handled the additional competition with flying colors, moving into the silver position at the 3 kilometer mark and never looking back. St. Charles senior Elijah Case finished off his breakout senior campaign with a third place finish in 15:48.70, his 10th top 3 finish of the season. Desoto senior Carson Koerber crossed fourth in 15:56.90, followed by the other two sub-16:00 performers - Parkway Central sophomore Lucas Amador and Koerber's teammate Cruz Anders, both at 15:58.
But while Driemeier and Festus celebrated the individual win, it was the Zizzers of West Plains who would reign once again as a team, holding off the Tigers' by a mere 5 points to win the juggernaut battle. West Plains once again used their pack-running prowess to secure the victory, placing five boys inside the top 33 (and four on the podium), and boasting a 35.3 second 1-5 spread. Joseph Roberson was the low-man for the squad, finishing seventh in 16:09.00. Two more juniors followed him in Hunter Stanley (12th) and Chaska Shearin (29th). Shearin was a new addition this fall after transferring from nearby Alton High School who recently moved down to Class 1. But in Class 2 last year, Shearin was 15th at the State championships. Senior Trevin Smith also earned all-State honors with a 30th place finish and junior Blake Romans, though he was just off the podium, finished as the key fifth runner for the team's State title defense. It was their 15th State championship in boys team history in their 48th straight trip, 29th victory in coed program history, and the fourth time they have gone back-to-back.
Festus would end up second with 86 points, adding another trophy to the case for Coach Bryant Wright. His Tigers have now finished no worse than second at the State meet in an unprecedented 17 straight seasons. Driemeier was the lone senior on the team that will return four sophomores and two juniors. Grant Fink was 9th overall on the day in 16:13.80. He was joined on the individual medalist stage by fellow sophomore Hudson Bates (17th). Christopher Courtois (41st) and Matthew Collier (50th) pulled in top 50 finishes to secure the runner-up finish for their team.
The lineup for this year's top three teams ended up the exact same as 2024 with Webster Groves coming across in third. It was their third straight team trophy after ending a 52-year drought three years ago. Senior Drew Upperman and junior Zephaniah Jarmon were the all-State finishers for the Statesmen in 14th and 26th. Junior Nathaniel Webber nearly missed an individual medal in 31st, but will be back in 2026 for another go. In fact, much like Festus, Webster Groves's entire 2-7 lineup will be back in 2026.
Bolivar picked up their first team trophy since 2019 and the first for first-year Head Coach and Class of 2017 alumnus Nathan Painter. Led by Mac Rich in 15th and Landen Young in 24th, the Liberators will also return all but one of their top seven for the 2026 season.
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The girls race featured the same two teams as the boys race in the top two spots, but a non-Tiger/Zizzer in the pole position as Parkway Central's Gabrielle Moresi would cross the line first with a decisive move at the 4 kilometer mark to pull away from the field. Her 18:26.80 mark was nearly eight seconds better than the next closest athlete, even though she was six seconds back of the leaders at that fourth mat, and came as a result of a 3:30 final split. It was two seconds faster than her initial kilometer wherein eight girls were ahead of her, and the only split under 3:40 in the final three kilometers of the race. She is the first Colt to win the individual cross country championship since the great Emily Sisson in 2009.
Moresi's effort was good enough to lead the Colts to a third place team trophy, their second straight such finish. Two teammates earned individual medals with Alice Liebetrau in 10th, Penelope Hinkle 24th, and Sophia Dunmire crossed just off the medal stand in 31st. All four girls will be back for the 2026 season, forming a strong contingent heading into next season. Senior Armani Harris rounded out the scoring group with a 75th place finish.
It was Festus this time, though, who would defend their team title crown. Led once again by Lucy Boyer, the Tigers moved into the lead in the third kilometer and built their lead from two points all the way to twenty by the end of it all, winning with 84 points. Head Coach Wesley Armbruster is now 3-for-3 on podium finishes in his short time as the head coach of the girls team and a two-time State champion. For the second straight year, the Tigers had four individual medalists in Boyer (9th), freshman Kyndall Gildea (15th), senior Katelyn Thurman (20th), and junior Bailee Tolbert (23rd). All 7 girls finished in the top 53 places, marking a total team effort for the victory.
West Plains's 104 point effort was just enough to hold off Parkway Central for the runner-up finish, their third straight, and their 29th team trophy. Freshman Kaebrynn Gunter was first across the line for the Zizzers with a runner-up finish of her own. Three seniors followed with Karlee Romans in 12th, Emily Ritter in 27th, and Seri King 45th. Sophomore Lena Finke was fifth for the team in 46th.
Like the boys race, the top three teams were the same as 2024, but the fourth place team was one who had not seen the podium in several years. The Webster Groves girls, in Head Coach Chris Moseley's first year at the helm, produced their lowest point total at the State meet in their girls team's history, and the program's lowest total since their 1949 boys team scored 68. They also produced multiple all-State athletes in the same year for only the second time, but this year's team's total of four was double their previous best. Junior Carson Selby led the way in 6th, followed by Lucille Middendorf in 22nd, Ava Roberts in 10th, and Sophia Besand in 29th. Ashlyn Parikh's 62nd place finish secured the trophy.
The top five individuals were Moresi, Gunter, Rockwood Summit freshman Isabel Burlbaw, Washington's Grace Owenby, and Union's Viola Johanson. Burlbaw's breakout freshman campaign came to a close with a near runner-up finish at the Class 4 State meet, while Owenby's sophomore year ended with a second straight fourth place finish, and Johanson, who led through the first two kilometers, ends her career with a District 2 title and return to the top 5 after a hiatus in 2023.