St. Louis cross country ran its third and final TVC Jamboree Tuesday, Oct. 13, at Carrollton High School. The Sharks had an incredible performance as the boys came from behind to take first place!

The varsity boys lost to Ithaca at both the first and second TVC matchups. This meant the title was out of reach, but this didn’t stop the Sharks from putting up a fight. They were able to break up Ithaca’s top pack and win with a score of 26, with the Yellowjackets trailing at 33. Aaron Bowerman finished first for St. Louis with a second-place finish and a time of 17:21.15. Next was Keegan Honig in fourth with a time of 17:30.03, Ben March in fifth with a time of 17:47.27, Nate March in seventh place with an 18:13.40 finish, Joe Erickson in eighth place with a time of 18:49.39, Dylan Marr in ninth with a 19:05.68, and Alex Davis in 20th with a time of 20:46.47. It was a great team win that will propel the boys into the championship phase of the season.

The girls’ team also performed extremely well at Carrollton. They took second place with a score of 32 (five points behind Ithaca), but they made noticeable improvements in the standings and closed the gap with the scoring. Libby Munderloh led St. Louis with a second-place finish and a time of 19:51.20. Next was Mikenna Borie in third with a 19:58.51 finish, Jaiden Dickman in fifth place with a time of 20:47.62, Monika Borie in 10th with a 21:59.42, Mikaila Borie in 12th with a time of 22:29.61, Sela Delgado in 16th with a 23:06.37 finish, and Payton Kuhn in 18th place with a time of 23:21.13. The girls’ team went into the race with toughness and had great improvements.

Monika Borie shared, “It was a tough course, but everybody still went out and raced well. Everyone stepped up to the challenge, and the gaps are closing between teams we’ve raced all year.”

St. Louis absolutely dominated the boys’ junior varsity race. In fact, St. Louis had the first seven runners in the race! Will Erickson led the Sharks by finishing first overall with a time of 19:48.72. Next was Dominic Gilman in second in 20:20.82, Tristin Baker in third with a time of 20:23.88, Walker Aldrich in fourth with a 20:51.39, Robert Long-Terwilliger in fifth with a 21:36.09, Alex Baxter in sixth with a 21:44.93 finish, Demetrius Alspaugh in seventh with a 22:18.52, Matt Haag in ninth place with a 23:00.62, and Hunter Salladay in 16th with a 25:21.83 finish.

Girls’ J.V. also dominated, taking the first four places. Laney Pestrue led in first place with a 23:09.18 finish. Then, Natalie Lemert finished second in 24:50.39, Lillie Shattuck finished third with a 25:30.18, and Gracie Shattuck came in fourth with a time of 25:42.89.

The Carrollton course was not a fast course by any means, but one Shark managed to drop a personal record (PR). Hunter Salladay dropped almost an entire minute to run his new best of 25:21.9! He shared, “I’m not going to flex too hard because I couldn’t have done it without my teammates pushing me through and everyone cheering for me on the course.”

All-Conference honors were handed out after this conclusive third TVC, and several Sharks earned honors. The placements were decided from performances of all three TVC Jamborees. Earning Second-Team All-Conference were Monika Borie, Mikaila Borie, Dylan Marr, and Joe Erickson. Earning First-Team All-Conference were Libby Munderloh, Mikenna Borie, Jaiden Dickman, Aaron Bowerman, Keegan Honig, Ben March, and Nate March. Congratulations to these runners for earning these achievements.

The Sharks will be back in action at the TVC Overall Championships Tuesday, Oct. 20, at Ithaca High School. This will be the last time the J.V. teams will get the opportunity to race.