Even with one of the worst heat waves we have seen in recent memory, Missouri athletes were blazing the courses all across the state all week. Adjusted time schedules accommodated the weather somewhat, but triple digit heat indexes wreaked havoc on nearly every afternoon/evening meet regardless. With a reprieve and some rain on the horizon, we are expecting to some amazing performances this upcoming week, especially with a handful of the biggest meets of the year taking place this upcoming weekend.
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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Previous Winners:
Week 1 Winner: Paige Posson - Lee's Summit
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Here are this week's nominees:
Lily Hurt - Liberty
After a historic track season, Lily Hurt opened her senior cross country season with a Liberty High School record 17:49.50 and victory at the Tim Nixon Invitational. It was the first sub-18:00 mark in the school's illustrious history and is already a MO #28 mark all-time.
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Kaitlyn Loeffelman - Cor Jesu
In blistering temps, Cor Jesu routed the field at the Fleet Feet Cross Country Classic, led by Kaitlyn Loeffelman and her 11:45.80 mark for the win. It may have been 6 seconds slower than 2025's mark, but context is important in this case: namely, a triple-digit heat index on Wednesday evening.
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Araceli Perez - Webb City
Webb City's Araceli Perez was the big winner at the SWCCCA Richard Clark Invitational, coming across 1st in the field of 386 athletes. Perez's 18:44.21 was 16 seconds better than her time at this meet last year and only 2 seconds off her career best of 18:42.81.
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Rose Nicholls - Northwest Cedar Hill
It was a breakout evening for Northwest Cedar Hill senior Rose Nicholls who dropped a hefty 22 seconds off her career best 5K time from last year's Class 5 State meet. She was the fastest Missourian at this year's City Auto Memphis Twilight XC Classic with the 19:13.05 school record time.
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Anna Ross - Reeds Spring
Anna Ross's high school debut went as well as expected as she cruised to victory at the Hot Dawg Cross Country Invitational in 19:17.80 Thursday evening. The 2:29.27/5:24.91 8th grader won by 1:55 and appears poised to be among the Class 3 contenders this fall.