Shemonia finishes second in Class 2 boys cross country race

~ The Rams cross country team enjoyed a successful first year

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. -- Scott City sophomore Brandon Shemonia knew the duel was coming.

Shemonia and Arcadia Valley junior Caleb Sutton already had battled three times on the cross country course this season.

Shemonia had won two of the three races against Sutton entering Saturday's Class 2 boys race at the state meet. But Sutton won districts last week and was hitting his peak.

"Every time you go out you want to beat them," Shemonia said. "It's back and forth. Even if one guy has a bad day, you want to beat him every time."

Shemonia never actually has had a conversation with Sutton but tells him good luck before races.

"He seems like a really nice guy," Shemonia said. "I always know where he is on the course."

Shemonia bounced up and down with nerves before Saturday's race at the Oak Hills Golf Center.

"I was really nervous before," Shemonia said. "All night I was nervous."

He wanted to be in the top 30 runners after the first mile, which he accomplished. But he said he thought he could have run it a little faster. His goal was to start picking up his pace in the second mile and overtake his rival, Sutton, with about a half mile to go. He then planned to use his adrenaline to fend off Sutton.

"It didn't work out as planned," Shemonia said.

Shemonia couldn't catch Sutton in the last half mile and finished 13 seconds behind him in second place.

"I would have liked to win, but I'll take second any year," Shemonia said. "He's a junior and he's worked harder than me. I think he deserved it."

Scott City finished 14th in the team standings in the program's first year of competition.

"It's cool because the whole team got to go to state," Shemonia said.

Since it was the team's first trip to state, everyone got to experience together the nerves of the state meet for the first time.

"We stayed up in the room talking," Shemonia said. "We were just nervous, so it was a little silent. We tried not talking about it too much and stayed away from the subject."

Entering the season, no one on the Scott City team had any idea what it could accomplish.

"I had no clue what was going to happen," Shemonia said. "I knew I could do pretty good. I was just hoping to be all-state. This is beyond my expectations."

The Scott City team has learned many lessons this year, but the biggest one is sticking together through practices, races and outside of practice.

"You have to stick together and make sure everyone does their workouts and doesn't mess around," Shemonia said. "You have to be focused. You have to run your hardest every workout."

But Shemonia knows why it's so easy to go to practice every day.

"When your friends are out there, it's easy to go work hard," he said.

Scott City finishers

Boys -- 2. Brandon Shemonia 17:28; 117. Robert Matheney 20:02; 127. Chris Limbaugh 20:16; 136. Eric Essner 20:22; 156. Landon Robert 21:04; 162. Jesse Sanders 21:37

Girls -- 49. Libby Miles 22:58