Garrett Hopke wants to move up another 20 spots next season.

In his second Class 2 boys MSHSAA Cross Country Championships at Gans Creek Cross Country Course in Columbia, the Van-Far sophomore finished 50th with a time of 18:35. Hopke was only eight seconds behind his time from a season ago, even with rainy and muddy conditions this year, and moved up 21 spots from his previous state finish.

Head coach Kris Cross said Hopke feels confident he can jump another 20 spots at state next year, which would put him in the top 30 to earn a state medal. 

“I know he is very excited to go back next year,” Cross said. “He’d really like to be all-state the next couple years. I think it's very doable.”

Cross said she was impressed how Hopke’s time wasn’t that much slower than last year’s Gans Creek time. She said the course was “not remotely up to standards,” and she said Hopke believed the race would have “much more of a struggle” without spikes due to it being pretty slick. 

Hopke has impressed Cross during the season as he has dealt with a range of factors. He unknowingly had strep throat during the Eastern Missouri Conference meet but still managed to earn second-team honors and has had to miss chances to break the school record due to his time commitments with the FFA trap shooting team. Cross recalls Hopke having to pick state trap shooting over a meet one time.

“He’s a sophomore, and usually for guys, you get stronger the older you get,” Cross said. “I think he’ll do very well next year and his senior year.”

Cross said Hopke was disappointed he didn’t break the school record this year but realizes he has more time to accomplish that. The same is true for putting together a team so Van-Far can compete in the boys and girls team competitions at meets.

Slade Keller was another sophomore that had a good season, Cross said, pointing out he only missed state qualification by three spots. A couple runners that were in the two spots ahead of Keller at district but were running their respective teams at state were Hermann’s Chase Branson and Elsberry’s Alan Santos. On Saturday, Branson finished 66th while Santos was 61st.

“It’s been very good for both boys to have each other to push each other,” Cross said. “Even the kid Slade was running with at districts placed in the 60s at state. Slade came along today and was really excited to see that.”