By Craig Martin
WASHINGTON, Mo. – The Borgia Invitational was a chance for Ladue to flex its muscle.
Both the boys and girls squads won team titles and the Rams had individual champions in senior Cody Medler and junior Anna Nelson.
Medler took off hard and had the lead by the first mile. That’s when he realized that while Rock Bridge had a team at the meet, the top Bruins were not racing. For the most part, the Class 4 schools in attendance kept their varsity athletes on the shelf in preparation for next week’s districts races. The other classes have two weeks to prepare for districts, which allowed those runners to attack the course.
“I thought Caleb Wilfong was in the race,” Medler said. “I was going for place. I wanted to stay up with him the whole time, but he wasn’t running, so that plan went out that door. At the mile, I thought, ‘I guess he’s not here.’”
Once Medler figured out Wilfong wasn’t running, he decided to keep pushing the pace and opened a large gap over the second mile of the race. The chase pack was able to close the gap a little, but Medler fought to the finish for a 16:47. He said that left him one second off Dan Hedgecock’s Ladue record for the Big Driver course.
“I kind of just kept going with it,” Medler said. “My race strategy is kind of just go out fast and die. It’s worked up until now.”
MICDS junior Amos Bartlesmeyer was in the chase pack, but he could not hold off John Burroughs junior Kirk Smith on the climb up the long hill near the two-mile mark. Smith surge up the hill past Bartlesmeyer and fought his way to a second-place finish in 17:02. Bartlesmeyer took third in 17:04.
The Ladue boys won with 52 points, and SLUH took second with 65. The Ladue girls captured first with 35, and the Ladue JV girls even got in the mix with a perfect 15.
The Ladue girls have been on a mission all season after a third-place finish at the Class 3 state meet last year. The Rams lost their No. 1 Jocelyn Todd and No. 5 Megan Jacobs to graduation, but they have reloaded for another trophy run.
Nelson, who was 54th at state last year, has moved to the front of the pack this season and set a new PR early this fall with a 19:18 at the lightning fast Forest Park Cross Country Festival. She said that was a confidence boost, but she’s disappointed she hasn’t been able to lower that mark. The course at Big Driver is not the right venue to attempt to set a new PR, but Nelson was able to dip under 20 minutes for her third victory this year.
Nelson claimed the Borgia title in 19:58 by passing Potosi sophomore Kassie Rawlings just before the long hill at the two-mile mark, and then Nelson continued her surge to make sure Rawlings didn’t challenge.
“I wanted to go out a little slower and then hopefully push my way up,” Nelson said. “I was feeling pretty good, and then I saw her and got a chance to go in front of her.
“I knew if I hit her before I hit the hill that I’d have the motivation to keep going, and she’d push me up it without slowing down too much. It was great motivation to have her right there.”
Rawlings held on for second place in 20:03. She charged to the front of the pack early in the race and set a fast pace. When Nelson came up to challenge, Rawlings said she started to doubt her quick start.
“I feel like I should’ve stayed with the pack,” Rawlings said. “I feel like I’m better this year than last year. My times are improving; this one is the only one that hasn’t.”
Both girls said the Big Driver course is a perfect chance to prepare for the state course in Jefferson City because of the multiple hills and the long climb at the end of the second mile, which is similar to state’s Firehouse Hill. Nelson also recognized how much Rawlings helped push her on Saturday, and she’s hoping she can use her competition to push to a fast finish at state, too.
“This might even be a little bit harder because there are a lot of other little hills, but that big hill is definitely close to Firehouse Hill,” Nelson said. “Just having (Rawlings) right behind me helped a lot because there’ve been races where I’ll take the lead and there’s nobody to push me. Hopefully at state I’ll be able to stay in a lead pack that can push me through the finish.”
