Perryville pleased just to get state meet experience

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. -- Gain experience. That was the goal of both the Perryville girls and boys teams at Saturday's state cross country meet.

Three seniors were joined by three juniors and a sophomore ran for the boys team. The girls team boasted two seniors, three juniors, a sophomore and a freshman.

While neither team earned a trophy for finishing in the top four -- the boys were 14th of 16 and the girls were 13th of 16 -- coach Wesley Armbruster said their mission was accomplished.

"We've got a lot to build on," Armbruster said. "They were right where I thought they'd be. Being their first time here, I thought they'd be a little wide-eyed. I told them to go out and run fast because they didn't have anything to lose. It's the state meet."

West Plains won the boys race with 44 points. West Plains also won the girls race, becoming the first team ever to post a perfect score of 15 at the state meet.

St. Clair's Dustin Dixon won the boys Class 3 race in 16 minutes and 28 seconds.

Perryville was led by senior Terry Wood (65th) and junior Jesse Kueker (69th).

Wood said he thought he could have finished higher than 65th.

"I'm not happy with it," he said. "I think I could have done better. With the adrenaline going, I got out too fast."

Kueker said the hilly course was a challenge.

"It was a tough, challenging course," he said. "That firehouse hill in the last part of the race really kills you because you finish with a hill and there's not much room to recover."

West Plains' Jennifer Harper won the girls race in 19:26.

Leading Perryville was junior Leslie Schilli (59th).

"I'm very pleased," Armbruster said. "It's pretty exciting. We have five girls and four boys back. Our goal was we wanted to get here and get the experience. We wanted to give the returning kids something to build on."

Just getting to the state meet was an accomplishment for an inexperienced girls team.

"Five of the seven, it was their first time running cross country. This was their 10th race. The girls were district champions. I told them last May, when they released the new district assignments, that I thought they could do it. That was our main goal: to win it and get here."