Ramsey qualifies for state second straight year, two Mexico boys going

Maggie Ramsey continued to build a solid early cross country career for Mexico.

The sophomore qualified for her second Class 4 state meet after finishing 11th in the Class 4 District 3 meet on Saturday at St. Vincent Park in St. Louis. Two boys finished in the top 30 to qualify for their first state meet as Hunter Bickell was 15th and Andrew Peuster was 26th.

“Of the 10 runners that competed on Saturday, eight of the 10 had either their best race of the season or had their second best race,” head coach Lucas Breneman said. “We are a young team and my hope is this race, for those that didn't make it out, will leave them motivated to come back next year on a mission. Next year, we don't want to just qualify, we want to win the district.”

Ramsey posted a time of 21:21 to be among the top 30 out of 70 runners. Emmaleigh Seibert and Madison Bickell finished 38th and 44th, respectively, with times of 23:23 and 23:51.

Bickell ran a time of 17:27, and Peuster finished with a time of 17:49 to secure a state spot a year after his brother and Benedictine College runner Thomas Peuster ran at last year’s state meet. Three other Mexico boys finished in the top 40 out 87 runners, including Brady McCoy in 33rd with a time of 18:04, Guy Fairchild in 37th with a 18:12 and Carter Nading in 39th with a 18:30. Those Bulldogs missed the cut this season but helped the team finish seventh out of 11 schools with 147 points — missing top four team state qualification by 39 points.

“We were really trying to qualify as a team this year. We just fell a bit short,” Breneman said. “You never want your season to end early, but when you throw down one of your best races of the season and nearly qualify an entire team individually, you can live with the results.”

Bickell and Peuster are scheduled to run in the boys race at 11:15 a.m. Saturday at Gans Creek Cross Country Course in Columbia, and Ramsey runs right after in the girls race at noon.

Bulldogs not taking things for granted after 57-6 district loss at Holt

Nothing is guaranteed.

That includes at least a winning football season as Mexico learned this year when its 2023 campaign ended Friday night with a 57-6 loss at Holt (7-3) in the Class 4 District 4 tournament. The Bulldogs finished the season at 2-8 for its worst season since a 1-9 record in 2012.

Head coach Steve Haag said Mexico made several mistakes such as fumbling a kickoff return, committing penalties that put its offense further behind the line of scrimmage and dropping a pass in the end zone. Hunter Cuno capped about a 70-yard drive in the second quarter with a five-yard run and trailed 28-6, but the Indians made it clear who was moving on this year.

“We were able to score a touchdown in the second quarter, but we weren’t able to keep them out of the end zone and they were able to score a couple more times before we got to half,” Haag said. “We were keeping the water in for a while and then the dam broke.”

Haag said Holt quarterback Ayden Sullivan — who finished with 219 yards and four touchdowns on 15-for-21 passing — throws the ball well and is able to rely on a solid run game that had 283 yards on Friday night with a big offensive line. The Indians are coming off an eight-win season and are two years removed from a second-place state finish when they were in Class 5.

“They’re just able to keep you off-balance, throwing it outside,” Haag said. “If you try to bounce outside to stop that, they’re able to run it and do some misdirection.”

Cuno had a good game on the ground outside of the touchdown, Haag said, finishing with about 60 yards. Quarterback Charlie Fisher ran the option well before leaving the game with an injury, and the offensive line also had a solid game.

The Bulldogs faced six teams that were state-ranked this season while breaking in a young roster and will be searching for more victories next season after the lessons learned from this year. Haag said Mexico, since the 2012 season, has been consistent with at least six victories in seven seasons, but there is much that goes into that success.

“We got to see the kind of team we could be and then the kind of team we don’t want to be,” Haag said. “The problem is we saw the team we didn’t want to be too many times this year, especially (Friday night). Everything isn’t guaranteed. Sometimes, kids assume we've been blessed as we won six to seven games a year for a decade. You can’t take it for granted, and you’ve got to work. This is a humbling experience for everybody, for myself and the kids. We need to remember this feeling and take into the offseason and use it as fuel.”

Mexico boys season reaches rough end in district loss to Fulton

It was not a good day on the pitch for the Mexico boys.

The Bulldogs lost 11-0 via mercy rule to North Central Missouri Conference rival Fulton in the Class 2 District 4 tournament at Southern Boone in Ashland on a cold and rainy Saturday. The loss is Mexico’s worst ever to Fulton and the widest margin to decide a 54 rivalry game since the Bulldogs won 10-0 in 2017.

Fulton (12-10) had six goals within the first 20 minutes and ended with two Hornets having at least a hat trick. Jayden Ayers led with six goals, and Christian Mahoro had three goals.

Mexico finishes this season 6-16-2 and didn’t have a single victory against a conference opponent this season. Head coach Bill Gleeson said there will be key seniors gone next year — such as goalkeeper Emille Scanavino, defenders like Jaylen Johnson and Jibran Rodriguez, and leading scorer Brendan McKeown — but a crop of young players are coming.

“We did not come out playing aggressively and it cost us,” Gleeson said. “It was a very up-and-down season. While the seniors are going to leave a big hole, we have a good fresh younger crew coming up that we expect good things from in the future.”