Mexico cross country achieved many goals this season.

State Cross Country Day 2 Photo Gallery

Three represented the program at state on Saturday in the Class 4 MSHSAA Cross Country Championships at Gans Creek Cross Country Course in Columbia, matching the Mexico representation from a year ago and the program’s goals for this season. Junior Maggie Ramsey finished 62nd for her best state placing in three years with a time of 21:33 in the girls 5K, and junior Brady McCoy and senior Hunter Bickell capped their seasons with respective finishes of 119th out of 157 runners with a 18:43 and 133rd with a 19:03.

Head coach Lucas Breneman said Mexico achieved other goals such as the boys repeating as North Central Missouri Conference champions and Ramsey having another strong season into yet another state qualification, including winning an individual conference title with five all-conference runners.

“Anytime you get kids to state, it’s how you want to end it as a coach,” Breneman said. “You want to be here with some kids representing Mexico and the community. The boys are already talking how can we get here next year as a team. Maggie wants to be all-state. The girls team is motivated and ready to have a full team.”

Ramsey’s time fell from state last year while enduring the rainy and muddy conditions every other runner dealt with on Saturday that Breneman estimated slowed down times by a minute to a minute and a half. 

“They were talking about one part where, ‘If I went right, I’d be in mud. If I went left, I’d run through a puddle,” Breneman said. “I was like, ‘Alright, here we go.’”

Breneman said those conditions are definitely not ideal and Gans Creek was probably in its worst ever shape, but Ramsey felt positive after her race. She was 50 seconds out of medaling position and was aware of that when thinking of next year.

“She’s got big goals already,” Breneman said. “She’s already said, ‘Next year, I’m going to be all-state.’ Next year, our sights are on all–state for her.”

Breneman said the boys had a strong showing at districts with a sixth-place finish out of 13 teams but wanted a full team representing Mexico this year. He said he believed they would have had a team this year, but sickness affected the boys team near the end of the season. 

The boys had the final race of six in a beaten up course, Breneman said, but the colder temperatures couldn’t be overlooked in the case of Bickell. He said Bickell had his own sickness to deal with in a pneumonia diagnosis since the conference meet. While it is tough to breath for him the cold, Bickell finished his fourth state race after qualifying two years with Mexico in Class 4 and two years with Wellsville-Middletown in Class 1.

“The thing with Hunter is he’s a tough runner,” Breneman said. “From conference on, he was running with diagnosed pneumonia. That shows you his toughness. He would just put his head down and go.”

Mexico expects to be at state next year as a team and hopes the middle school girls coming up will give the program enough for a girls team next year. 

Breneman is glad to bring somebody like McCoy back to a boys team after what he has accomplished with his three years of experience. He was a pole vaulter in middle school track and field so Breneman said distance felt new when McCoy was introduced to it. McCoy moved up 17 spots before the end of the boys 5K. 

“I don’t think he knows how good he is yet,” Breneman said. “This will help him be motivated next season.”