2022 Meet Information & Results
2022 Season Schedule:
- August 8 - First Day of Practice (ALL)
- August 12 - Alumni Race (ALL)
- August 31 - O'Fallon Meet (B, C)
- September 3 - Granite City Invitational (V, JV, C)
- September 10 - Forest Park XC Festival (V, JV, C)
- September 17 - Paul Enke Hazelwood Central Invitational (V2, JV, C)
- September 24 - Ed White Festival of Races (V2, JV, C)
- September 24 - Palatine Invitational (V, JV)
- October 1 - Parkway West Invitational (V, JV, B, C)
- October 6 - MCC Championships (V, JV, C)
- October 15 - Hancock Invitational (V2, JV, C)
- October 21 - Clayton Invitational (V2, JV)
- October 21 - Big River Invitational (V, JV)
- October 26 - Findley Invitational (JV, C)
- October 29 - District 1 Championship (V)
- November 4 - State Championship (V)
- November 13 - NXR Midwest
August 8 - First Day of Practice (ALL)
We begin the 2022 season on Monday, August 8 at 8:00 a.m.
All team members not trying out for another sport are expected to be at the first practice. If your child is trying out for another sport, but is interested in potentially joining XC later, that's no problem - just let Coach Porter know at jporter@sluh.org. All others should meet on the west-facing steps of the Danis Field House. We will begin at 8:00 a.m. sharp. Bring a water bottle with your name on it and be ready to run. We will be finished by 10:15 or 10:30 a.m.
Physicals!
Physicals must completed and approved in PRIVIT before the first day of practice. Otherwise, we will have to send your child away from practice until his PRIVIT profile is finalized. The deadline for Freshmen and Fall Sports athletes is July 31, 2022. Families have received information about completing this profile, but here's another link.
August 12 - Alumni Race (ALL)
Location: SLUH Track
On the evening of Friday, August 12, everyone had the opportunity to get their first taste of racing. After being placed into one of three heats, all team members attacked a two-mile race around the SLUH track. Seniors Tim Greiner and Nolan Meara led the charge, running 9:52 and 9:53 for fifth and sixth place overall. The alumni team, led by a pack of recent graduates now competing at the college level, emerged victorious this year. Thank you to all who attended this event!
Click here to see results for the two-mile race, including lap and mile splits for each competitor. Especially for newer runners, it's fascinating to return to these results after the season ahead, to see just how much progress can and will be made.
The data from this race allows the coaches to better create workout groups based not only on volume of miles, but on speed and competitiveness amongst the groups. Each athlete is assigned to both a letter group (A-F) and a number group (1-6) that allow for more intentional pairings for what we try to accomplish in practices. These letter and number groups are fluid and can change as a runner progresses through the season.
Freshmen and sophomores will open their interscholastic racing season on Wednesday, August 31 at O'Fallon (IL). The rest of the team (including all O'Fallon racers) will open up at Granite City on Saturday, September 3.
August 31 - O'Fallon Meet (B, C)
Wednesday, August 31
O'Fallon High School Milburn Campus (650 Milburn School Rd, O'Fallon, IL 62269)
Results: Freshmen | Sophomores
Photographs: Freshman Race | Sophomore Race
Race Videos: Here
On Wednesday evening, the freshmen and sophomores had their opener at the O'Fallon Futures Invitational. After three-plus weeks of training, the meet is a nice low-pressure opportunity for our younger runners to learn what it means to prepare for and execute in a race setting.
Cross country races are scored by adding up the finish places of a team's first five finishers. The sixth and seventh runners on a team are "displacers" who can increase the score of other teams by finishing ahead of their scoring five. In unlimited entry races (such as both races at O'Fallon) any additional finishers beyond the first seven don't factor into the team scoring.
Though no team scores were officially kept, we scored the races on our own. The freshman placed second of six teams, placing only behind a tough Edwardsville squad. As far as dramatic debut races go, Jaden Elgin had quite a run in his first race wearing a SLUH XC singlet. Storming to the front from the opening gun, Jaden ran away from the field and won going away. Jaden's three mile time of 16:17 was 35 seconds quicker than the previous freshman race record and the fastest time any SLUH freshman or sophomore has had in nine seasons at this meet. Jaden wasn't the only one to have a quick debut. Last year, we had three freshmen dip under 20 minutes in their first race; this year, we had six. Joining Jaden under 20 minutes was a quintet between 19-20 minutes: Jake Fitzpatrick, Hendrix Fyvie, Nick Ahlheim, Tristan Kujawa, and Preston Eash. Aidan Smith was our seventh finisher on the day, sealing our second place score. Congratulations to all the freshmen for completing their first official race as a member of the SLUH XC program!
The sophomores, fresh off a strong summer of training, claimed an emphatic victory in their race, placing first of six teams. Much like we had in the freshman race, Gus Talleur went to the front and won after leading wire-to-wire. As well as being a new PR ("Personal Record" – a big thing in cross country!), his time of 16:28 over 3 miles set a new sophomore race record by 24 seconds. After one runner from Mascoutah High School came a parade of Junior Billikens. George Donahue (16:33), Gavin Smith (16:36), Alex Bendaña (17:01), and Patrick Jones (17:22) rounded out the scoring 5, with Ethan Bognar and Logan Phillips also medalling and finishing as our final scorers. Taking a look at the growth of all these sophomores from this same race at O'Fallon last year until only a year later is striking. Great racing!
O'Fallon PRs (Personal Records) - adjacent time equals size of PR
- Micah Doherty 2:04
- Alex Keuss 1:50
- Gavin Smith 1:31
- Alex Bendaña 1:30
- George Donahue 1:22
- Otto Reitenbach :47
- Jens Istvan :46
- Andrew Moritz :45
- Gus Talleur :41
- Ian Kuehner :38
- Patrick Jones :29
- Ethan Bognar :12
- Jesse Heater :08
- Rowan Lemp :08
Other notes:
- We believe Jaden's time is the fastest XC race result ever recorded by a SLUH freshman.
- Jaden Elgin, Gus Talleur, George Donahue, and Gavin Smith now have the four fastest times ever run by a SLUH runner at O'Fallon Futures since we started attending the meet in 2014.
- Jaden Elgin, Fr., 16:17, 2022
- Gus Talleur, So., 16:28, 2022
- George Donahue, So., 16:33, 2022
- Gavin Smith, So., 16:36, 2022
- Reed Milnor, So., 16:44, 2016
- Mason Scargall, So.., 16:50, 2021
- Anthony Zangara, So., 16:57, 2021
- Daniel Hogan, So., 17:05, 2018
- Ryan Kramer, So., 17:06, 2018
- Baker Pashea, So., 17:15, 2019
- Charlie Murray, So., 17:15, 2021
September 3 - Granite City Invitational (V, JV, C)
Saturday, September 3
Wilson Park (2900 Benton St, Granite City, IL 62040)
Results: Varsity (2nd of 43) | B/C (1st of 38) | Open (2nd of 16) | Split Sheet
Race Photos: Varsity | B/C | Open
Race Video: Varsity | B/C | Open
Granite City marked a tremendous season-opening invitational for the entire program.
Varsity ran first, and they finished second of 43 participating teams. Senior captain Tim Greiner was our first finisher, earning 9th place overall with his three mile time of 15:36. Our scoring average of 15:50 was faster than last year’s Granite City champions who averaged 16:12, and our spread between our first and final scoring runner was a stout 25 seconds compared to last year’s 30 second spread. Six of our seven both earned medals and ran PRs on the day - including proud results for seniors Carter Lowe and Lucas Rammacher, the latter of which was his first top seven varsity race.
Relative to the rest of the field, the seven in the B/C were far and away our strongest team of the day. Averaging 16:29 for three miles, they finished first in a 38 team field with a very low score of 34 points. Freshman Jaden Elgin won his second consecutive race, this time by overtaking and pulling away from his challengers in the final mile. His winning time of 16:06 is the fastest we’ve ever seen from a SLUH freshman. Our other four sophomore scorers (Gus Talleur, George Donahue, Gavin Smith, & Alex Bendaña) were not far behind Jaden, finishing packed together between places 6 and 10. As with the Varsity, six of the seven ran PRs and six earned medals.
The Open race was the final race of the day, and it turned out to be a dual meet with Rock Bridge at the front of the race. Senior captain Brendan Jones took the win in 16:43, and Charlie Gray and Anthony Zangara were close behind in third and fourth. Senior captain Nicholas Purschke had a fantastic day to finish as our #4 runner - setting a new PR from sophomore year. Our score of 28 matched Rock Bridge’s 28, but they won on the tiebreaker (the place of the sixth finisher). Though no team trophy or medals were awarded, we had an incredible amount of good races and we should be proud to take second of the 16 teams in this field. Check the list of PRs on the Team Split Sheet, including some freshmen who ran BIG improvements from even just a few days ago.
Granite City PRs (Personal Records) - adjacent time equals size of PR
• Alex Juan 4:07
• Isaac Aguayo 3:50
• Jude Galli 2:15
• Nathan Abner 2:11
• Adrian Samaniego 1:53
• Jesse Toland 1:40
• August Russell 1:34
• Garrett Franks 1:34
• Colton Eikermann 1:17
• Vedaant Sreedharan 1:12
• Lucas Rammacher 1:09
• Will Martin :57
• Jake Fitzpatrick :54
• Tristan Kujawa :48
• Carter Lowe :47 (from sophomore year)
• Will Hoffman :45
• Fin Roseberry :39
• Luke Seamands :39
• Nolan Meara :38
• Wyatt Seal :38
• Nick Ahlheim :34
• Luke McIntyre :30
• Alex Bendaña :27
• Hudson Funke :27
• Ben Bundschuh :27
• Hendrix Fyvie :24
• Alex Keuss :23
• Ryan Wingerter :21
• Rowan Lemp :20
• Otto Reitenbach :19
• Micah Doherty :19
• Ethan Pogue :18
• Clark Davis :17
• Reed Shah :16
• Charlie Murray :14
• Patrick Jones :12
• Jaden Elgin :11
• Nicholas Purschke :10 (from sophomore year)
• Charlie Casey :08
• Tim Greiner :07
• Greg Rogers :06
• Preston Eash :05
• Gus Talleur :04
• Gavin Smith :01
• Charlie Gray :01
• Ethan Bognar :01
September 10 - Forest Park XC Festival (V, JV, C)
Results: Varsity (4th and 8th of 19) | Junior Varsity (3rd of 13) | Freshmen (2nd of 8) | Team Split Sheet
Race Photos: Varsity | Junior Varsity | Freshmen
Race Video: Varsity | Junior Varsity | Freshmen
Be proud of a great day in Forest Park! Our two varsity squads placed fourth and eighth of 19 teams in the green (most competitive) division, with our JV defeating many fine varsity teams in the process. Even with two teams running up in varsity, JV placed third of 13 teams, also in the green division. Our freshmen placed second of five in the freshman division. Medals went to Nolan Meara (Varsity), Tim Greiner (Varsity), Carter Lowe (Varsity), Noah Evers (JV), Patrick Jones (JV), Lucas Strohmeyer (JV), Logan Phillips (JV), and Ethan Bognar (JV). Additionally, Anthony Zangara and Noah Evers ran season-best times in hot and slow conditions.
Freshmen, if you add approximately 46-54 seconds (ranging from our fastest to slowest finishers) to your 3k result, you can produce an equivalent time to compare to your 3,200-meter time at the Alumni Race a month ago. Doing so makes it clear that we are continuing to improve. It was also illuminating to see how this year's freshman 3k times compared to last year's freshman times - on the same course! Not only does this speak to the depth of our freshmen, but it speaks to the quality of hard work put in over the last 12 months by several sophomores who have risen up and become varsity-caliber runners. Congrats to all freshmen, including the 11 medalists on the day: Jake Fitzpatrick, Hendrix Fyvie, Nick Ahlheim, Sam Riggan, Simon Edgell, Tristan Kujawa, Greg Rogers, Aidan Smith, Ben Schneider, Reed Shah, and Jesse Toland.
It took a legion of volunteers to make the 17th Annual Forest Park XC Festival a success. A gigantic and earnest thank you to those who helped the day before, before sunrise on Saturday morning, throughout the day, and stayed late after the meet ended.
In particular, we'd like to highlight the following individuals for going above and beyond in their service:
- Jerry Zilske and Dr. Matt Dougherty '93 (father of Charlie '25) who the trail vehicle all day, providing immediate medical attention to those in need.
- Former coaches Mike Swan '14 and Jim Linhares who drove the lead vehicle all day.
- Chris Bognar (father of Ethan '25) who worked on course preparation from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. on Friday.
- Mike Talleur (father of Gus '25) who volunteered Friday morning, Saturday in the very early morning, and was still helping at the end of cleanup on Saturday.
September 17 - Paul Enke Hazelwood Central Invitational (V2, JV, C)
Saturday, September 17
Sioux Passage Park (17930 Old Jamestown Rd, Florissant, MO 63034)
Race Results: Varsity | Junior Varsity | Freshmen
Photographs: Varsity | Junior Varsity | Freshmen
Meet Videos: Varsity | Junior Varsity | Freshmen
Team Split Sheet: Here
Varsity - 1st of 28 teams; 141 total finishers
- Medalists - all seven! Jaden Elgin, George Donahue, Lucas Rammacher, Charlie Gray, Gavin Smith, Alex Bendaña, Gus Talleur
- Jaden Elgin (17:42), George Donahue (17:58) Lucas Rammacher (18:01) and Charles Gray (18:01) each ran the fastest times by SLUH runners at Sioux Passage since Ben Ford ran 18:06 in 2009.
- Jaden is our first regular season varsity invitational race champion since Tim Rackers in 2010 at the First Capitol Invitational. This does not include any MCC, District, and/or Sectional champions we’ve had since then.
Junior Varsity - 1st of 28 teams; 230 total finishers
- Medalists - Noah Evers, Patrick Jones, Lucas Strohmeyer, Ethan Bognar, Nicholas Purschke, Logan Phillips, Matthew Musial, Jesse Heater, Rowan Lemp, Clark Davis, Joe Stoeckel
Freshmen - 1st of 15 teams; 113 total finishers
- Medalists - Nick Ahlheim, Jake Fitzpatrick
- PRs - Brady Vogt, 2:26; Titus Zeigler, 0:07
At the Hazelwood Central Paul Enke Invitational, run on the famous Sioux Passage course, the program had a day for the history books, winning on all three levels - including our first varsity team championship at the large invitational since 1993, and first regular season varsity invitational race champion since 2010.
The meet has a long and rich history in Missouri Cross Country, largely because of its legendary and challenging hills that has it universally regarded as among the most difficult courses in Missouri. On a sunny and warm day, we earned first place team titles in all three race divisions - even while holding out nine of our top runners to allow them an extra week of training between races. The seven that took the line at Hazelwood Central were fierce, each of them medalling, and as a team triumphing over 27 other school’s school’s primary varsity teams. In combination with what we’ve seen the last couple of weeks, this result gives this particular group of seven runners a safe claim as being the best varsity team in the St. Louis Metropolitan area. This team depth is an amazing testament to the goals we’ve set out for the program and the hard work of so many in the program to bring them to life.
In the varsity race, the result wasn’t even particularly close. By placing four of our five scoring runners in front of runner-up Kirkwood’s first runner, the result wasn’t in doubt from the middle of the race on. All seven runners packed together closely and earned varsity medals, and our top four of Jaden Elgin, George Donahue, Lucas Rammacher, and Charlie Gray each ran the four fastest times that the program has seen at Sioux Passage since 2009. Additionally, winning the race in 17:41, freshman Jaden Elgin is our first regular season varsity invitational race champion since 2010 (not including any MCC, District, and/or Sectional champions we’ve had in that span). Simply amazing!
On the JV level, we scored 23 points to defeat the next closest challenger in a 28-team field by 18 points. For the second week in a row, Noah Evers and Patrick Jones were our top two JV finishers, finishing in second and third place overall in a race of 230 runners. Behind them were five more in the top 10 and three in the top 25, with a total of 11 of our athletes earning JV race medals. There were many personal triumphs in the JV race, but a special shout out to senior captain Nicholas Purschke for his remarkable grit and determination, and sophomore Rudy Reitenbach for batting through some bad and bloody luck!
When the time came for the freshman race, the heat and discomfort of the day reached its peak. Batting on a brutal course and tough conditions, the freshmen claimed their first team victory of the season, scoring 54 points to defeat second-place Kirkwood (65 points) and the other 13 teams. Their championship is a perfect example that speaks to the team-oriented nature of cross country. Though we only had two of the ten medalists (Nick Ahlheim and Jake Fitzpatrick), and Kirkwood placed three of its five scoring runners before our first finisher, our team depth was too strong. All of our scoring runners finished before Kirkwood’s 4th and 5th finishers, pushing their score up high enough to give us the victory. Amazingly, two freshmen even ran PRs - kudos to Brady Vogt and Titus Zeigler!
The coaches know there were many tough days experienced at Sioux Passage and are proud of the maximum effort and support offered by all team members, whether they raced or not.
September 24 - Ed White Festival of Races (V2, JV, C)
Saturday, September 24
Arnold City Park (1 Bradley Beach Rd, Arnold, MO 63010)
Results: Varsity | JV "A" | JV "B" | Freshmen | Splits
Photos: Varsity | JV "A" | JV "B"
Video: Varsity | JV "A" | JV "B" | Freshman (Includes drone footage by Charlie Dougherty)
Bolstered by another week of training, a flatter course, and favorable temperatures, we saw tremendous races up and down the roster. Even though we held out 16 athletes to travel to Chicago, everyone stepped up to help the team perform exceptionally well. This included PRs from ten juniors and five seniors, which is a staggering amount on any given day for upperclassmen.
The varsity - all but one in their first-ever varsity race - ran mightily to finish second in a field with runners from 22 teams. It’s worth noting that our varsity squad faced and defeated top varsity teams from all but one school - and that one school wasn’t far ahead!
The Jr. Bills took first place in the JV "A", JV "B", and Freshman races, with a near-perfect score of 16 points for the freshman squad. Landon Beiseman (JV "B") and Nick Ahlheim (Freshman) won individual championships, headlining a slew of SLUH medalists.
There's more! On a day with so many great stories to share, we think you'll find reading the more complete meet recap to be time well spent.
September 24 - Palatine Invitational (V, JV)
Saturday, September 24
Deer Grove East Forest Preserve (Cook County Forest Preserve, 1599 Pepper Tree Dr, Palatine, IL 60074)
Results: Varsity | JV | Splits
Photographs: Varsity | JV
Video: Varsity | JV
The highly competitive Palatine Invitational is a good barometer of our progress at the competitive midpoint of the season. As we continue to gear our training to run our best races at the end of the season, we are excited about where we find ourselves.
In a very challenging varsity field, we earned a top-ten finish, with roughly 20 seconds separating our first six runners. Based on a comparison with this year’s varsity average scoring time to last year’s Palatine team, we are nearly 15 seconds faster this year.
The JV race may have been one of the finest JV races we’ve ever had, showcasing the phenomenal depth of the program. In a field of 28 teams and 368 runners, we put all eight runners in the top 16 overall and scored a very low 34 points, to win our first-ever Palatine JV championship. Our scoring runners averaged 16:18 for 3 miles (16:55 estimated over a 5k), with a tiny 11.9-second spread between our first and fifth finishers. All eight medaled, and seven of the eight ran a PR.
Please read the meet recap for more details!
October 1 - Parkway West Invitational (V, JV, B, C)
Saturday, October 1
Living Word United Methodist Church (17315 Manchester Road, Wildwood, MO 63038)
Results: Varsity | JV | Sophomores | Freshmen | Team Split Sheet
Photos: Varsity | JV | Sophomores | Freshmen
Video: Varsity | JV | Sophomores | Freshmen
After last weekend's split schedule, the team reunited for a beautiful October morning at Saturday's Parkway West Dale Shepherd Invitational.
Highlights of the day included race championships for Anthony Zangara (JV) and George Donahue (sophomore). The freshman, sophomore, and JV teams each won their respective divisions, with the sophomore squad achieving a perfect score of 15.
On the varsity side, the Jr. Bills took second place to O'Fallon. Despite putting four runners in the top 10 overall, we fell 4 points short of the Panthers, who had been missing a few runners the previous times we raced them at Granite City and Forest Park.
The program took home 30 medals: 7 varsity, 8 JV, 9 sophomores, and 6 freshmen. Catch all of the excitement in our complete meet recap document.
October 6 - MCC Championships (V, JV, C)
Thursday, October 6
Jefferson Barracks Park (533 Bagby Road, St. Louis, MO 63125)
Results: Varsity | JV | Freshmen | Team Split Sheet
Photos: Varsity | JV | Freshmen
Video: Varsity | JV | Freshmen
For the sixth year in a row, the Jr. Billikens swept the varsity, JV, and freshman team and individual titles at the MCC Championships. This is the team's 19th consecutive conference title. Congratulations to this year's conference champions: Nolan Meara (varsity), Anthony Zangara (JV), and Nick Ahlheim (freshman)!
Of the 62 medals awarded on Thursday, SLUH took home 46. See medalists, PRs, and more in this week's meet recap.
October 15 - Hancock Invitational (V2, JV, C)
Saturday, October 15
Jefferson Barracks Park (533 Bagby Road, St. Louis, MO 63125)
Congrats to the team for winning both the varsity and JV divisions of the Hancock Invitational for the second year in a row. The varsity squad took home six individual medals and a low score of 33 points. Next up, the JV team earned a perfect score of 15, led by a photo finish victory for junior Matthew Musial. Read more highlights from a beautiful morning of cross country in this week's meet recap.
October 21 - Clayton Invitational (V2, JV)
Friday, October 21
St. Vincent Park (7335 St. Charles Rock Rd, St. Louis MO 63133)
** Click here for the Clayton Team Split Sheet, Results, Photos, & Video **
The Clayton XC Invitational was an opportunity for non-varsity seniors to have a meet for themselves. Instead of the traditional meet location of Shaw Park in Clayton, this year we went to St. Vincent Park in Normandy for our first-ever glimpse of that course. As a special treat, the seniors all got to wear the white jerseys!
CLAYTON TEAM RESULTS:
Varsity - 13th of 20 teams,107 finishers
- Our top finisher was Joel Miller in 24th place, earning a medal and running a PR in his first-ever varsity race.
- Also running varsity at Clayton were Cody Cox, Connor Coolbaugh, Ryan Carpenter, and Nico Wilson, the first varsity race for the latter three runners.
Junior Varsity - no team score, 20 teams represented and 174 finishers
- Our top finishers were Lionel Moise (20th) and Nathan Abner (23rd), each earning medals for their performance.
- Also running JV at Clayton were Hudson Funke and Joe Abbate.
October 21 - Big River Invitational (V, JV)
Friday, October 21
Buder Park (215 Valley Park Rd, Fenton, MO 63026)
Results: Varsity | JV-1 | JV-2 | Team Split Sheet
Photos: Varsity | JV-1 | JV-2
Video: Varsity | JV-1 | JV-2
The Jr. Bills went three-for-three at Friday's Big River Invitational, with the JV-1 and JV-2 squads achieving perfect scores of 15. Charlie Gray and Jake Fitzpatrick took individual victories in the JV-1 and JV-2 races, respectively. Nolan Meara was our top varsity finisher, coming in second overall.
The Big River group produced a whole raft of PRs and fine races, including 10 runners who improved their times by over a minute. Read all that and more in this week's meet recap!
October 26 - Findley Invitational (JV, C)
Wednesday, October 26
Jefferson Barracks Park (533 Bagby Road, St. Louis, MO 63125)
Results: JV | Freshmen | Team Split Sheet | Recap
Photos: JV (photos needed!) | Freshmen
Video: JV | Freshmen
Congratulations to the JV and C teams for claiming dual team championships to close out the regular season, and thanks to all families who made our annual "Findley Feast" possible.
In the freshman race, we found ourselves in a rematch with a Kirkwood team that we faced previously at the Paul Enke meet at Sioux Passage. For the fourth time this season, Nick Ahlheim won a race. Eleven more medalists followed, helping to secure our team championship. Four freshmen - Brayden Bussmann, Ryan Wingerter, Jonah Ruyle, and Jude Galli - ran PRs to close out their inaugural season.
As is custom, the JV closed out the day at Findley, and they earned another commanding victory with a perfect score of 15. After the trio of George Donahue, Wyatt Seal, and Charlie Gray took out the race early, George pulled away in the second mile and ran solo the second half of the race for a spectacular victory, his second race win of the year. We earned 15 of the 25 medals, and though there were no PRs in the JV race, it was another impressive display of racing for this squad from top to bottom.
For many of our seniors, this was the final SLUH XC race of their successful careers with the program. We are very grateful for their leadership and hard work!
October 29 - District 1 Championship (V)
Saturday, October 29
Arnold City Park (1 Bradley Beach Rd, Arnold, MO 63010)
Results: Results | Team Split Sheet | Recap
Media: Photos | Video
Congratulations to the program for their 30th consecutive qualification to the MSHSAA State Championships, a streak that originated in 1993. Thanks to the many parents and team members who came out to Arnold Park to support and cheer on the Junior Billikens. It was great to see such an incredible crowd! We scored 73 points, second place behind Jackson’s 35 points.
The name of the game in a District race is to survive and advance, and that’s exactly what we did. On the strength of their smart first mile, Jackson earned a decisive District victory. Our runner-up performance left us clear of every other team, including all St. Louis teams, to earn our qualification to next week’s State championships. Tim Greiner led the way with his First Team All-District performance in 5th place, which was also a PR time performance. Nolan Meara earned Second Team All-District honors in 8th place. Nolan and Will Riggan also PR’d.
The stage is now set. On to State!
November 4 - State Championship (V)
Friday, November 4
Gans Creek Recreation Area (3350 E Gans Rd, Columbia, MO 65201)
Meet Results: Live Results (includes kilometer splits) | Final Results (PDF)
SLUH Results: Team Split Sheet | Recap | SLUH State Meet History
Media: Photos | Video
On an unseasonably warm, cloudy, and windy November morning in Columbia, SLUH finished in ninth place in the large school classification of the MSHSAA Cross Country Championships, the highest placing St. Louis-area team in Class 5. Kansas City’s Liberty North won their school’s first team title with a score of 77 points, and Liberty North junior Sage Wilde broke away for the individual title in a 5k time of 15:05.
Senior captain Tim Greiner led the way for us in 28th place. Tim was the fifth-fastest runner from St. Louis in the race, and he improved nearly 30 places from his State position a year previous. Junior Anthony Zangara had his finest race yet, running a PR of 16:33 for 47th place. Rounding out our team score were senior Carter Lowe, junior Charlie Murray, and freshman Jaden Elgin. Finishing in 84th place, Jaden became the highest-placing freshman finisher at State in our program's history.
Thanks to all who supported and cheered on the team, whether in person or by tracking the live results online. We are grateful for the investment and hard work of all team members. The 2022 season was another season filled with hard work, successes, fun times, and lasting memories. All involved in the SLUH Cross Country program should be proud of what they and the team accomplished. Good luck to those competing at NXR next Sunday and the Run for ALD the weekend after!
SLUH Team Results:
- Tim Greiner: 16:18.2, 28th place
- Anthony Zangara: 16:33.7, 47th place (:02 PR)
- Carter Lowe: 16:44.2, 58th place
- Charlie Murray: 16:53.7, 66th place
- Jaden Elgin: 17:04.4, 84th place (SLUH's highest-ever freshman place at State)
- Nolan Meara: 17:10.0, 89th place
- Will Riggan: 17:59.6, 125th place
Class 5 Team Results:
- 1: Liberty North, 77
- 2: Rock Bridge, 89
- 3: Kickapoo, 106
- 4: Jackson, 154
- 5: Raymore-Peculiar, 154
- 6: Joplin, 173
- 7: Rockhurst, 179
- 8: Liberty, 220
- 9: SLUH, 221
- 10: Lee's Summit North, 237
- 11: Kirkwood, 248
- 12: Parkway South, 277
- 13: Hickman, 300
- 14: Blue Springs South, 330
- 15: Capital City, 347
- 16: Francis Howell, 389
November 13 - NXR Midwest
Sunday, November 13
LaVerne Gibson Championship Cross Country Course (599 South Tabortown Road Terre Haute, IN 47803)
Led by Tim Greiner's heat-winning PR and performance, we placed FIRST of 78 teams in the Open Division at the Terre Haute regional. This was the first time we've ever won the NXR Open Division.
There were a number of fine performances on the day, and it was fun to have the chance to get all 29 of our racers head to head in the same race. What a great final race for the team for the 2022 season.
Open Race Results: Team | Individual
Race Photographs: Here