At Sunday's Nike Cross Nationals Midwest Regional Championship, the two State champions from Missouri's highest enrollment classes etched their name into the history books by becoming the fifth and sixth Missourians to ever earn an individual qualifying berth to Nike Cross Nationals.
Since its inception in 2004, only once has the Show-Me State sent more than one individual qualifier to the prestigious meet: 2013, when Taylor Werner and Jamie Kempfer went 1-2 at the Regional meet and Jill Whitman crossed in fifth. In order to qualify for Nike Cross Nationals, athletes must either be a part of one of the top two finishing club teams or place within the top five among non-team qualifying athletes. Athletes can also qualify if their team is selected as one of the four at-large bid teams from around the eight regionals, but a third place team finish will most certainly be required in that case.
As for the boys, only Zach Herriott (2011), Evan Schulte (2013), Andrew Hauser (2021), and Connor Burns (2022) have ever earned a spot at NXN by qualifying individually. On Sunday, Festus senior Carson Driemeier and Rockhurst sophomore Jack McGovern joined that exclusive list with respective second and fourth place finishes.
Driemeier's time was his second straight performance under 14:50 - a 14:41.94 that now ranks him MO No. 4 all-time. He is also now one of only five Missourians to ever break 14:50 twice in their career. One of the other four is McGovern, whose 14:46.57 time was just a couple ticks off his personal best from this year's Gans Creek Classic Elite Twilight. Both athletes nearly beat Downers Grove North (IL) senior Philip Cupial, who brought the regional crown home to Chicagoland with his 14:41.37 time.
Photo: Chris Auckley
For Driemeier, this will be the first trip to Nike Cross Nationals for any of the myriad famous Festus Tigers of the last two decades. The Iowa State commit continues to etch his name into Missouri's history books with one remarkable feat after another. For McGovern, this will be his already second trip to the exclusive championship meet after having helped the Hawklets to the team qualification last fall. He finished 104th last year on a typical mud and rain-soaked day in Portland, Oregon, but appears poised to improve upon last year's finish by quite a bit. They will race on December 6th at 12:05pm Central Time.
Pierpont (Rock Bridge) was the top team finisher this year with their 5th place finish led by Luke Sievers in 23rd. Team NA, otherwise known as SLUH, was 4 points behind in 6th led once again by Jackson Miller in 37th. Both teams combined for 9 athletes under 16:00. Blue Springs South was the third Missouri team in 13th, followed by a Liberty North squad missing three of their State title team members in 22nd, and Festus in 30th.
Photo: Chris Auckley
It took a 17:16 or better to qualify individually on the girls side of things, and the closest Missourian to that number was St. Charles West's Brianna Krueger in 32nd. She just snuck under 18:00 for the second time this season, running 17:59.05. Ella Messner was next in 50th, with Gabrielle Moresi crossing in 55th, and Kaitlyn Loeffelman finishing in 58th.
The St. Teresa's Stars got their revenge on Blue Springs South with a 13th place finish compared to the Jaguars' 17th place finish, making St. Teresa's the top team finisher from Missouri on the day. Festus was the only other girls team from Missouri in the race and they finished 32nd.