photo credit: Lance Erickson
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ST. LOUIS – Few want to assign to much weight to results from the first weeks of a new cross country season, especially when trying to determine which teams look like contenders. Injuries nearly always become a factor at some point, and numerous runners will move in or out of varsity lineups as the coming weeks unfold. Even with those caveats in mind, the Lee’s Summit West girls appear poised to make another run at the Class 4 state title. The Titans, winners of the last five Class 4 state championships, made the trip east to compete in the Forest Park Cross Country Festival for the first time, and they came away with the Green Division title. West tallied 139 points to edge Eureka’s 146. Rock Bridge was also in striking distance in third with 147, and Francis Howell still finished sixth (245) despite the ACT test luring away half the varsity. “The competition is why we made the trip over there,” Lee’s Summit West coach Jesse Griffin said. “We knew the (East) side of the state has very good teams. And the individuals were unbelievable on the girls’ side. I like how the meet was run; it was very professionally done, and we would consider coming back.” Griffin was a little surprised to claim the meet title after he saw some on his squad struggling mid-race. Many on the team had missed time during the week due to illness, and Griffin wasn’t quite sure everyone was back to 100 percent. He said he could sense they were feeling a little stressed about their performances heading into the race because of that. It was the junior varsity performances that really impressed Griffin, who praised the squad for running loose while taking on the challenge of a new course against new foes. Some of the girls may have even made enough of an impression to garner a spot on the varsity seven in the coming weeks.
photo credit: Lance Erickson “I was very pleased with what I saw and how they worked together,” Griffin said. “They found their identity, and we’ll have some switching JV and varsity. I think we’ll eventually see some all-state girls out of that group.” The JV squad came in second with 40 points behind a burgeoning O’Fallon (Ill.) team that won with 30 points on the 1-2 finish of freshman Casey Carter and sophomore Rachel Russel. “For me it’s more of just getting use to the three miles, and I just go out and give it my all and push myself each race,” Carter said. “Our coach has been trying to push us up as a pack and he wants us to get in the top 10 by state. That’s a really big thing for us, and we have a lot of depth.” O’Fallon made bigger waves in the boys’ varsity Green Division, where the Panthers stormed to a team victory with 66 points. Patrick Perrier (15:24) and Alex Riba (15:26) were second and third, respectively, to lead the charge. “We come here to see competition, and that’s exactly what this meet brings out,” O’Fallon coach Jon Burnett said. “As fast as this place is, it’s not the fastest course we run. The course in Peoria is faster, and the course in Normal, where we run our sectional is faster too. This sets up nicely for us because the Illinois state meet is so flat, it’s much more like this course so we can almost practice the state meet while we’re here.” O’Fallon has grown into a perennial contender in Illinois. The Panthers finished runner-up in Class 3A last year, just six points behind highly-touted Palatine. This year’s squad shows the depth and make-up to again be in the hunt for a state trophy. Rock Bridge captured second place with 141 points, and SLUH was third with 160. In the small-school White Division, Villa Duchesne claimed the girls’ title with 115 points as Elise Marker paced the Saints with her first-place finish (19:16). Teammate Cece Stock was fifth (20:01). Troy came in runner-up with 123 points. On the boys’ side, it was Jackson with an 89-124 victory over Kearney. Junior Gabe Underwood (17:06) led the way for Jackson in 11th. |
