Ste. Genevieve Hunters take first, Dragons place third

By DONN ADAMSON/Daily Journal Sports Editor

JEFFERSON CITY - Ste. Genevieve High School has plenty to be proud about after Saturday's Class 2 state cross country meet. The Ste. Genevieve Hunters are again state champs with a repeat of last year's performance. But not only did their girls team place first again, the boys team, the Dragons, took third place.

Last year's win was the first time a Ste. Genevieve team had placed in the top four at state. With the Hunters loaded with underclassmen, this year's win may see more to come. Six of the Hunters' seven runners made All-State by placing in the first 25 runners.

Such is the case with the state individual champion, junior Jessica Bollinger. Bollinger outdistanced the field of 154 runners by 30 seconds ahead of second place with a time of 19:08.71. Bollinger's time was only seven seconds more than the state record in girls Class 2 cross country.

Senior Jessica Wehner was the hunters second runner to cross the finish line. Wehner placed sixth at 20:15.62, and was soon followed by junior Kristi Palmer in 8th at 20:23.04 and junior Kristin Rust in 9th at 20:27.34.

Senior Mallory Roth came in 14th at 20:41.59, sophomore Kelsea Inman placed 24th in a time of 21:16.27. Sophomore Ashley Armbruster came in 35th at 21:43.85.

The Hunters finished with a team score of 27, well ahead of second-place and district foe Herculaneum with 73 points.

“This was a pretty happy day for us,” said Ste. Genevieve coach Brian Jett. “This was a little harder when you've got the pressure on you to try and repeat. Our girls have worked hard, and in turn it has inspired our boys who saw their success and wanted to do some good too.”

The Ste. Genevieve boys third place finish was only 23 points behind second-place Priory, and two of the Dragons made All-State.

Sophomore Will Everett placed 10th at 17:28.95, and sophomore Blake Armbruster came in 30th at 17:46.72. Herculaneum's Sean Swapp placed first at 17:00.14.

Senior John Boyd came in 33rd at 18:04.31, freshman Erich Diesel was 51st at 18:30. 98, and junior Nathan Uding came in 64th at 18:42.53 to round out the team scoring. Senior Fred Gross placed 78th, and freshman Cory Samples placed 85th out of 171 runners.

ARCADIA VALLEY

Mickey King was the lone representative for Arcadia Valley and the junior runner did well with a time of 17:56.42 for 28th place, just three seconds away from an All-State berth.