Yesterday marked the first official day of cross country practices and now the fall season is in full swing.
All throughout the next few weeks, we will be taking a deep dive into each of the five classifications, analyzing top individuals, top teams, individuals and teams on the rise, and potential classifications.
With so much content to sift through, make sure to keep it locked as we dive deeply into all of the major storylines to watch leading up to the first official day of cross country meets in four short weeks.
Let's take a look at the top individual female returners in Class 4.
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MO MILESPLIT XC PREVIEW
2026 CLASS 4 GIRLS XC
The Returning Champ has to hold off a talented field.
How Tight Is This Race?
Each athlete's season best shown on one scale. Tap or hover a dot.
Just 22 secs separates the field
17:57
18:19
17:40
17:50
18:00
18:10
18:20
18:30
the leader
17:57.25 · Martina Ressel
+6 secs from leader
18:03.07 · Gabrielle Moresi
+17 secs from leader
18:14.30 · Isabel Burlbaw
+18 secs from leader
18:14.91 · Kaitlyn Loeffelman
+22 secs from leader
18:18.90 · Grace Murphy
The top returners on time and State place are not the same person, but only because of a championship factor development. The eastern side of the state, similarly to the boys field, dominates the girls field in Class 4.
Gabrielle Moresi's individual state championship last fall was the first for Parkway Central since Diane Robison and Emily Sisson won in 2007, 2008, and 2009. She's back for her senior year looking to repeat and build off a stellar track season.
The Colt took a big leap forward in 2025, going from 18:41.87 to 18:03.07 and from state runner-up to state champion. She won two other times on two of the tougher courses in the metro area (Sioux Passage and Principia College) and broke 19:00 five total times. Her 18:03.07 personal best at NXR Midwest Regionals is second among Class 4 returners and fifth overall.
After qualifying for the track and field state championships in the 800, 1600, 3200, and 4x800, finishing with all-state medals in the 1600 and 4x800, she earned AAU All-American status in the 4x800 meter relay and 1500 meter run. She should be sharp and ready to roll into the fall as Parkway Central seeks out its first team championship in girls cross country and/or third podium finish in a row.
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A challenger has entered the arena.
After leading her team to a state title in Class 3 last season, junior Martina Ressel will be looking to lead her team back to glory in Class 4. The top returner on time, Ressel ran 17:57.25 at the Class 3 District 1 meet before finishing as the Class 3 runner-up in 18:42.20. In 2025, she won seven times, finished second twice, and third once, but never worse than third.
This spring, the Bulldog raced only once in mid-April, but expect her to be back in force this fall as she seeks out Notre Dame Cape Girardeau's first ever individual championship in cross country.
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True fans saw the breakout coming from a mile away, but when Rockwood Summit's Isabel Burlbaw took down some of the top girls in the entire state in her high school debut at the Ft. Zumwalt North Twilight last fall, it put everyone on notice that this girl was for real.
Sure enough, Burlbaw did not fall off the pace as the season wore on. She ended up running 18:14.30, the tenth fastest time by a freshman in state history, and earned a third place medal at the Class 4 State Championships. Her lone victory of the season was accompanied by two seconds, three thirds, and a twelfth place finish at the Gans Creek Classic Elite Twilight.
On the track, she powered to personal bests of 2:27.35, 4:58.13, and 10:50.69, earning medals in the 1600 and 3200 and the Class 4 State meet, and finishing with the second fastest ninth grade mark in the 3200 in state history. The 1600 was sixth all-time among freshmen, too.
Burlbaw is a breakout candidate this fall even with her 18:14.30 personal best. There may be even more in the tank. Keep an eye out.
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For the first time since 2020, Cor Jesu Academy is in Class 4, which is bad news for the field.
Last season, Kaitlyn Loeffelman debuted as a junior and made her presence felt immediately with an 11:39.40 2 Mile and 19:04.80 5K. That was her only 5K mark over 19:00 as the other nine were in the 18s and improved throughout the season all the way up to the RunningLane Championships in Alabama where she ran 18:14.91. Fifteenth in Class 5 this past fall, the senior should be in the running for an individual state title in Class 4 and a top five finish at least.
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Nerinx Hall's Grace Murphy continued to improve in her junior season, pushing her personal best 5K all the way down to 18:18.90 on a less-than-ideal weather day the Forest Park XC Festival. She won the Green division in emphatic fashion, setting the tone for a stellar fall. Murphy ended up first in two more meets, third at the District 3 meet at Sioux Passage Park, and seventh at the State meet.
In the spring, it was more of the same and even more. Murphy won the Class 4 State title in the 1600 in dramatic fashion, running her personal best of 4:56.64 and finished second in the 3200. The 10:54.74 3200 best she posted at the Ladue Brusca-Strobach Invitational was tenth in the entires state, setting her up for even more potential success in her senior season. As it stands, Murphy has dropped a whopping seven minutes from her high school debut in 2023.
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Honorable Mention:
Kaebrynn Gunter - West Plains
Probably deserving of making it a top 6, Gunter is right in the mix with Loeffelman and Burlbaw, and ahead of Murphy based on returning 5Ks. She ran 18:14.60 and snuck in right ahead of Burlbaw at the Class 4 State meet, leading West Plains to another runner-up finish as a team. She was also no slouch on the track this spring with 2:19.33, 5:00.86, and 11:18.28 personal bests.
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Grace Owenby - Washington
Quietly steady and always lurking nearby the leaders in every race in which she competes, Washington's Grace Owenby will be looking to improve upon back-to-back fourth place finishes at the Class 4 State meet in her freshman and sophomore seasons. She ran a personal best 18:38.30 at last year's finale and improved to 5:08.76 and 11:43.99 in the 1600 and 3200 this spring.
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Ellie Tiburzi - Ursuline Academy
Tiburzi is the third girl on our list from an all-girls private school in St. Louis because of an 18:42.50 personal best 5K from last year's Big River PR Invitational. She ended up 38th at this year's State meet, but was a three-time champion throughout the season. We are looking forward to a bounce-back senior season for the Ursuline Bear.
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Skyler Knight - Warrensburg
Warrensburg's Skyler Knight burst onto the scene in her sophomore campaign with nine marks under 20:00 and a personal best of 18:43.74 at NXR Midwest. She was 11th at the Class 4 State meet. Knight followed up the success in her first high school cross country campaign with trips to the State track meet in the 1600 and 3200. Keep an eye out for this junior who seems to be climbing the ranks slowly but steadily.
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Lucy Boyer - Festus
It would hardly be a top returners list without the standard bearer for the last two championship teams: Lucy Boyer. Now a senior, Boyer is looking to lead the Festus girls team to a three-peat of its own. She boasts a personal best of 18:53.90 and added marks of 2:18.89 and 5:12.94 to her resume this spring.
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Carson Selby - Webster Groves
Carson Selby may be a dark horse in Class 4 after the summer she just had. A newly minted AAU National Champion in the 3000 meters, Selby improved significantly over the last five months and could use that momentum to swing herself all the way up to the front of the Class 4 pack. She ran 18:54.50 for the District 1 championship last year and ended up sixth at State. This spring/summer, she added personal bests of 2:22.07 in the 800, 4:42.79 in the 1500, and 10:59.82 in the 3200.
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