Mexico qualifies three runners for state meet

Among Mexico’s state cross country representatives are some that have been there and one that will run for the first time.

Hunter Bickell qualified for his fourth state meet and second for Mexico (first two at Wellsville-Middletown) by finishing 30th with a time of 17:53, and junior Maggie Ramsey will run in her third straight girls race for Mexico after taking eighth out of 65 runners on Saturday at the Class 4 District 3 meet at McNair Park in St. Charles. Junior Brady McCoy had the top Mexico boys finish with a 24th-place time of 17:50 to qualify for his first state meet.

Bickell’s time of 17:53 earned him the last spot out of 111 runners so he will run with McCoy at the Class 4 state race at 1 p.m. Saturday at Gans Creek Cross Country Course in Columbia. Ramsey will run in the noon girls race on the same day at Gans Creek after finishing with a time of 21:08.

Centralia boys repeat as district champions

Last year was a first and this year was a repeat.

The Centralia boys are sending a team to the Class 3 MSHSAA Cross Country Championships for the second straight year after winning Saturday’s Class 3 District 3 meet in Fulton. The Panthers finished with 42 points to beat out Southern Boone’s 88 points after winning a district title for the first time in program history a year ago. Kenedee Moss and Katelynn Asbury qualified for state on the girls side for Centralia after finishing in the top 30.

Despite the boys earning a team plaque to send a team, they each did enough individually to qualify, starting with Nolan Spickert’s third-place time of 16:46. Carter Moss was behind him in fourth with a 17:01, Dryst Bostick was sixth with a 17:12, Wesley Robertson was 11th with a 17:25, Zane Deckerd was 21st with a 17:54, Jensen Decker was 23rd with a 18:01, and Lane Chancellor was 29th with a 18:10.

Moss finished seventh with a time of 20:06 to lead the Centralia girls, and Asbury was 26th with a 21:35. 

The girls run at the state meet at Gans Creek Cross Country Course in Columbia on Saturday. The girls compete at 9:45 a.m., and the boys go at 11:15 a.m.

Van-Far sending Hopke to state second straight year

Garrett Hopke will have his second chance at his first state medal.

The Van-Far sophomore finished 17th out of 121 runners with a time of 18:16 to be within the top 30 and earn a trip to the Class 2 state meet at 10:30 a.m. Saturday at Gans Creek Cross Country Course in Columbia. Hopke will run for the second straight year in the state meet.

Slade Keller just missed state qualification by finishing 33rd with a time of 18:56. Erin Childs was 64th out of 100 runners with a time of 25:34 to close her senior season and high school career.

Paris girls, Chapman repeat as district champions

For the second straight year, Paris cross country earned district championships.

After each winning the program’s first ever district titles, the Lady Coyotes and Landen Chapman won the girls team title and boys individual title Saturday at the Class 1 District 3 meet in Fulton. The Paris girls finished with 49 points ahead of Glasgow’s 56 points to all qualify for the Class 1 state girls race at 9:45 a.m. Friday at Gans Creek Cross Country Course in Columbia, and Chapman’s winning time was 17:04 out of 94 runners.

Mairyn Kinnaman, once again, had the best district finish for the Paris girls with a third-place time of 21:44 out of 72 runners. Others that finished in the top 30 to earn all-district honors and qualify individually included Ava Crain with a 12th-place 23:35, Kaylee Johnson with a 17th-place 24:10, and Mia Kendrick with a 25th-place 24:54.

Chapman led the Paris boys to a second-place finish with 63 points — just behind Vienna’s 57 points — to qualify the Coyotes for the Class 1 boys state race at 11:15 a.m. Friday. The other all-district boys included Severeno Olivias with a 25th-place time of 19:42 and Hayden DeOrnellas with a 29th-place time of 20:00.57.

Community R-6’s Wright finishes in top 60 at districts

Nobody from Community R-6 will be running at state cross country this weekend.

Layton Wright, however, did well enough to finish in the top 60 boys out of 94 runners Saturday at the Class 1 District 3 meet in Fulton. Wright finished with a 57th-place time of 21:55.

Nicholas Henke had the next best Community boys finish in 67th place with a time of 22:46. Grace McCoskey and Gabby Knipfel finished close to each other in the girls race with respective finishes of 63rd and 65th out of 72 runners and respective times of 31:39 and 32:14.

North Callaway’s Grace Rasmussen leads school at districts

Grace Rasmussen was the best on the team for the final meet of the season.

Like during the regular season, Rasmussen had the best finish for North Callaway by taking 42nd out of 106 runners in the girls 5K with a time of 23:08 at the Class 3 District 3 meet in Fulton. She misses the Class 3 state meet next weekend.

Hunter Jansen and Emerson Reinhard also missed state qualification by finishing 81st and 112th, respectively, with times of 20:14 and 21:53.

Missouri Military Academy has two finish in top 60 at districts

In a large field on Saturday, Missouri Military Academy had two finish in the top 60 runners.

That wasn’t enough to qualify for next weekend’s Class 3 state meet, but Christopher Song and Jesus Robinson finished leading the Colonels this season at the Class 3 District 3 meet in Fulton. Song was 52nd out of 137 runners with a time of 19:07.80, and Robinson was right behind him by a slim margin in 53rd with a time of 19:07.82.

Jacob Stallone had the next highest finish for MMA in 89th with a 20:38.