Class 1 cross country: St. Vincent boys finish second at state meet after tiebreaker

The St. Vincent boys' cross country team tied Hermitage atop the team standings with 90 points at Saturday's Class 1 state meet at the Oak Hills Golf Center in Jefferson City, Missouri.

The Indians fell five points short of the state championship when the scores of the teams' sixth runner were used to determine the winner, which went in the Hornets' favor. Hermitage's sixth runner Zac Sutt finished 63rd with a time of 19 minutes, 1.73 seconds for 39 points while St. Vincent's Sam Baer placed 73rd for 44 points. The use of the sixth runner to break a tie in cross country at the state level is pretty rare, according to St. Vincent coach Terry Wood, although remarkably it did occur in the Class 3 girls' race between Festus and Ste. Genevieve on Saturday as well.

Seven runners from each team that qualifies for state run the race, but typically only the finishes of the top five runners are used to comprise the team score.

Wood said he didn't actually look at the results until organizers were ready to send the runners up to the podium, but was relieved when he did.

"I was anxious to see how they did, but I didn't want to know until it got a little closer," he said. "I took a sigh of relief. ... It was pretty impressive."

To prepare for the meet, the Indians practiced on the course the day before.

"Every year, we come up so we can walk the course and try to showcase where the challenging parts are," Wood said.

St. Vincent's Levi Krauss (1338) battles a Hardin-Central runner to the finish of the Class 1 boys race at the 2014 MSHSAA State Cross Country Championship in Jefferson City, Missouri, on Saturday, Nov. 8. Krauss finished fourth in 17:14, just behind the Hardin Central athlete.

The Indians had three runners earn all-state medals. Junior Levi Krauss was the first St. Vincent runner to cross the finish line with a fourth-place time of 17 minutes, 14.43 seconds. Junior Isaac Baer and senior John Lipe followed in 11th and 12th place, respectively, for the Indians, who improved upon last year's sixth-place finish in the team standings.

"Out of the seven, I had five personal bests. To compete at that stage, it was very impressive on such a challenging course," Wood said. "Coming in, they were psyched, they were amped. To us, as a team that's only been around for four years, they're just beginning to use their strides, so it's just a motivation for them to keep being such a strong team."

Zalma finished ninth overall in the Class 1 team standings. Sophomore Peyton Ford led the Bulldogs with a 17th-place all-state finish of 17 minutes, 49.04 seconds while sophomore Jacob Steinberg took 24th place to also receive a state medal. The top 25 runners earn all-state medals.

La Plata senior Seth Brown won the meet with a first-place time of 16:41.60.

On the girls' side, Delta junior Jamie Hodge finished the race in 36th place with a time of 22 minutes, 54.20 seconds while St. Vincent senior Kylie Baer followed in 37th at 22 minutes, 55.84 seconds.

Sophomore Claire Workman of Lee's Summit Preparatory School posted a first-place time of 19:34.73 to win the race in the girls division.

BOYS

Team Scores -- 1. Hermitage 90; 2. St. Vincent 90; 3. Lone Jack 119; 4. New Haven 125; 5. Sparta 159; 6. Marion C. Early 197; 7. Montrose 201; 8. Van Buren 202; 9. Zalma 245; 10. Northeast Randolph County 261; 11. West Platte 265; 12. Maysville 267; 13. Koshkonong 281; 14. Glasgow 313; 15. Galena 388; 16. Vienna 421

Local results

ADVANCE -- 125. Gage Bien (20:03.15)

OAK RIDGE -- 40. Nathan Bolin (18:28.64); 70. Zach Moore (19:09.47); 75. Jacob Seabaugh (19:11.40)

ST. VINCENT -- 4. Levi Krauss (17:14.43); 11. Isaac Baer (17:40.80); 12. John Lipe (17:41.14); 57. Andrew Lipe (18:52.08); 67. Zach Schumer (19:06.78); 73. Sam Baer (19:10.90); 137. Brett Lottes (20:27.14)

ZALMA -- 17. Peyton Ford (17:49.04); 24. Jacob Steinberg (17:53.57); 60. Alex Steinberg (18:57.59); 152. Charles Freeman (21:04.73); 154. Luke Robertson (21:06.00); 157. Cole Shelby (21:14.83); 159. Wyatt Lemons (21:17.67)

GIRLS

Team Scores -- 1. Salisbury 97; 2. Crystal City 101; 3. Lee's Summit Preparatory School 111; 4. Drexel 136; 5. Mound City 158; 6. Lone Jack 180; 7. Mansfield 205; 8. Glasgow 214; 9. St. Vincent 221; 10. New Haven 222; 11. Couch 245; 12. North Platte 246; 13. Hermitage 260; 14. Sparta 336; 15. Vienna 376

Local results

CHAFFEE -- 100. Lyndsey Statler (24:47.33)

DELTA -- 36. Jamie Hodge (22:54.20)

MEADOW HEIGHTS -- 109. Kassy Henson (25:13.89)

ST. VINCENT -- 37. Kylie Baer (22:55.84); 45. Courtney Brown (23:06.87); 58. Maddie Lappe (23:34.87); 106. Kayla Winkler (25:08.12); 141. Abigail Schremp (27:48.13); 143. Rina Hayashi (28:10.75)

ZALMA -- 86. Chelsey Lemons (24:23.26)