St. Louis varsity cross country competed in its pre-regional meet Saturday, Oct. 24, at Ithaca High School. The boys took first place, and the girls were runners-up. Both qualified for next week’s regional competition!

The boys’ team finished with a score of 35 and beat the host team from Ithaca by 10 points. Aaron Bowerman was first for the Sharks in third place with a time of 16:36.15. Right behind him was Keegan Honig in fourth with a 16:39.11, then Nate March in seventh with a 16:57.89, Ben March in eighth at 17:00.56 finish, Joe Erickson in 13th with a 17:50.06, Dylan Marr in 16th with an 18:18.34, and Alex Davis in 28th place with a 19:26.08. The boys’ team performed exactly as was needed to take the win and prepare for the upcoming regional meet.

Bowerman stated, “It was an amazing race. We knew what we had to do, and in the words of senior member Keegan Honig, ‘composure was key.’”

The girls took second place with a score of 27, trailing first-place Ithaca by merely four points. Libby Munderloh was first for St. Louis in second place overall with a finish of 19:18.81. Next was Mikenna Borie in third with a 19:39.81, Jaiden Dickman in fifth with a 20:02.60, Sela Delgado in 10th with a 21:20.77, Mikaila Borie in 11th with a 21:25.54, Laney Pestrue in 15th with a 22:30.72, and Monika Borie finishing 16th with a 22:46.60. The girls are closing the gap between them and Ithaca and hope to make the regional race extremely competitive.

Pestrue said, “It was very cold and a little bit nerve-wracking, but both teams had great outcomes.”

The only Shark who ran a personal record (PR) this meet was Honig. Honig ran a 16-second PR to improve his best to 16:39.2.

The Sharks will be competing again Saturday, Oct. 31, at Dewitt High School for regional competition.