Perryville senior Bair Hopkins leads team to victory at Cutlass Invitational

Perryville senior Bair Hopkins dominated his domain and won the Perryville High School “Cutlass” Invitational race on Monday, Sept. 30, with over a minute to spare.

Although he did not break the course record, Hopkins ran an impressive 17:20.30.

“I had to win for the team,” Hopkins said. “It’s not like I go there wanting to win, I have to. That was my mindset.”

The Pirates took the boys’ meet with 32 points, 60 less than second-place Seckman, who edged Hillsboro by a point to win the girls’ race. After missing out on first place both as a team and individual last season, it was important for the senior to go out with a victory in his home course.

“Oak Ridge beat us last year and Carter [Hennemann] beat me last year,” Hopkins said. “I knew that I needed to come here to win for the team.”

Perryville won by having four runners finish in the top 10 and the fifth finish in 12th place. Senior Porter Johnson (19:10.70) finished sixth, junior Clayton Bauwens (19:34.30) finished eighth, senior Preston Johnson (19:41.10) finished ninth, and Micah Brown (19:56.30) finished 12th to round out the scorers for the Pirates.

“It feels nice to win as a team more than individually because it means everybody’s happy, not just one person,” Hopkins said.

Given the many hills and terrain at the Perry Park Center, the Perryville course is considered to be one of the toughest in Southeast Missouri. Coaches see it as a mid-season training meet rather than one to set records or establish personal records in.

“It’s definitely one of the hardest courses we run,” Hopkins said.

The Perryville boys cross country season has been a successful one so far. Bauwens placed first in the previous meet at Oak Ridge on Sept. 24. Hopkins placed second at the Cape Central Invitational on Sept. 20 and fifth at Arcadia Valley on Sept. 14. Both Hopkins and Bauwens finished in the top five at the St. Vincent Invite on Sept. 5, with Hopkins winning the race with a time of 16:42.98 and the Pirates winning the meet.

After winning two meets with three more to go before the Class 4 District 1 race at Cape Central High School on Nov. 2, the Pirates are confident that this could be the year they win a district title.

“With the training we put in, I think we can go anywhere,” Hopkins said, “as long as everybody shows up.”

And Hopkins can run into a future in collegiate cross country.

“SEMO, I guess, would be probably one of the higher ones I want to go to,” Hopkins said.