Van-Far senior Brooke-lyn Forman hadn’t won an individual state medal in cross country prior to this year.

Day 1 State Cross Country Photo Gallery

Forman had a team medal as part of Farmington’s second-place finish in the Class 4 meet in 2021 before transferring to Van-Far during her junior year. In her lone cross country season, Forman finished 27th at Friday’s Class 1 MSHSAA state championships at Gans Creek in Columbia to give her a personal first as well as a program first for Van-Far as its first all-state girl, according to head coach Kris Cross.

The limit for an all-state medal changed from top 25 to top 30 this year, giving Forman more hope that her last chance would be fruitful. However, no matter the limit, Forman was going to leave Columbia with that medal as she set a season personal-best time of 21:13 by over a minute, moving up seven places by the end. She said was aware she was right on the cusp at the 2,000-meter mark in 30th, and not only held off trail runners, but made even more.

“I know this course. I’ve run it a lot before. I also just know how to race as I’ve been doing this for six years,” Forman said. “I knew I needed to keep where I was, and if I wanted to secure my spot, then I needed to pass more people. I made a goal, ‘Do not let anybody pass me. If somebody passes me, I need to pass them back or I need to pass the person in front of me.’”

Cross said the previous year a Van-Far runner reached the podium was in 2017, when Lathyn McMorris finished 14th that year. She had a good feeling Forman would make history on Friday because of her good racing sense and intelligence as she passed several people, including South Shelby’s Abigail Olson, who Forman hadn’t defeated yet this season.

“If it would have been 25th for the cutoff, she would have made it somehow,” Cross said. “She didn’t go out too hard or too fast at the front, and she ran it where she kept picking people off. Some of those who did start out, it seemed like, from our district too fast died and she passed them.”

Forman found that sense of comfort during Friday’s race as she had found at Van-Far. While her new community, and her state race this year was smaller than at Farmington, Forman said it was also welcoming to help her transition. 

Cross mentioned that Forman also had to deal with a stress fracture in her foot along with uneasiness in a new place, but Forman said both eventually subsided.

“I came from a much bigger school to a school that is more centered on FFA than FBLA,” Forman said with a smile. “Van-Far is really accepting toward me, and that is something I really appreciate. I’ve grown really good relationships with people, and some are even deeper than I’d ever had at Farmington.”

Forman said at the forefront of her smooth transition was her teammates and Cross as Van-Far’s head coach appreciates what Forman was able to accomplish in her limited time as a Lady Indian.

“Stress fractures, and injuries like that, are really hard to come back from,” Cross said. “That was one of her dad’s things is he told me he really hoped he’d get to see her in the 21s again at state cross country and actually do well. We were lucky to have her.”

Cross said state cross country was in Jefferson City the previous time a Van-Far runner medaled and didn’t have the custom of the coach adorning their athletes with medals as has been the case at Gans Creek. She believes she will be able to do that again soon based on the performance of freshman Garrett Hopke in the boys race.

Hopke finished 71st out of 169 runners with a time of 18:27 to miss all-state by much but moved up 24 places during the race, including 18 from in the second 1,000 meters. Cross said she likes Hopke’s future when comparing him to his fellow runners in the Eastern Missouri Conference like Mark Twain’s Sam Northcutt, who finished 60th with a time of 18:18, and Elsberry’s Ezekiel Byers, who finished 57th with a 18:13.

“He actually got knocked down on the course so he probably lost 10 seconds there on course,” Cross said. “Even during the year, he’s gotten stronger so he’s beating a lot more kids at this meet. He’ll do really well.”