This past weekend was the official start of the 2026 Cross Country season in Missouri and with it came several stellar performances from several of the State's best athletes. Much more is set to come this week, epic heat wave permitting, of course.
Each Monday this season, we will be running a poll with five candidates for Performer of the Week that was, highlighting five athletes from around the state who did something amazing in the last seven days. Vote for who you think deserves the honor!
Polls open at 7:00am on Monday and remain open until 5:00pm on Friday. The athlete who wins will move to our end-of-the-season "Performer of the Year" poll and will not be nominated again for the weekly poll for the rest of the season. Athletes who were nominated and do not win will not be eligible to be nominated for one full week.
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Here are this week's nominees:
Chaseley Guyear - Nixa
It was quite the high school debut for Nixa's Chaseley Guyear as she won the 417Running XC Kickoff in the top 5K mark of the weekend: 19:15.00. Guyear had a strong middle school career with personal bests of 2:32.03 and 5:26.21 in the 800 and 1600 this past spring and 12:37.87 3200 meter run last fall.
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Isabel Burlbaw - Rockwood Summit
No sophomore slump on the horizon for Isabel Burlbaw as she dropped the hammer in the 10th grade division at the Jackson HS Invitational, winning by 70 seconds and running 11:30.53, the top time out of all four divisions by 46 seconds.
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Bella Navarro-Sanchez - Liberty Wentzville
Bella Navarro-Sanchez seems to be in mid-season form already, herself, as the 2024 state champion ran an eye-popping 10:27.78 for 3K at the Como Kick-off, a meet record. This converts to an 11:13.21 3200 meter time.
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Lucy Boyer - Festus
Festus traveled up to the CM Twilight Invite in Bethalto, IL and came away with both individual victories, one team victory, and one team runner-up (by one point). Lucy Boyer ran 18:57.74 for 3 miles, equal to a 19:37.52 5K, for the win, and led her team to a dominant 20-point team score and 58-point margin of victory.
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Paige Posson - Lee's Summit
Paige Posson won the highly competitive Dave Denny City Championships with an 11:57.52 performance. Last year at this same meet, she ran 13:00.13 and finished 6th. She had a breakthrough track season this spring and seems to be carrying it over into her senior cross country season.