St. Louis cross country continued its success Saturday, Oct. 31, at regionals. The boys’ team took first place overall, and the girls were runner-up at the competitive meet held at DeWitt High School. Both varsity squads qualified for the State meet with their fantastic performances.

The boys took first place with a score of 43; Ithaca was second with 54, and New Lothrop was third with 97. First for the Sharks, and earning All-Regional honors, was Keegan Honig in fourth place overall with a personal record (PR) time of 16:33.72. Also earning All-Regional honors was Aaron Bowerman in sixth with a 16:46.73 finish, Nate March in seventh with a 16:55.34, and Ben March in eighth with 16:58.87. Next for St. Louis was Joe Erickson in 18th finishing in 17:45.15, Dylan Marr in 20th with an 18:03.90, and Alex Davis in 42nd with an 18:58.52 finish. The boys came into the meet the reigning champions from last year’s regional meet, and they executed perfectly to retain their title.

Nate March said, “It was a business trip, so we went in there and took care of business. Hopefully, we can continue to be dominant and gain our first state title in 15 years.”

The girls’ team was second with a score of 46. Ithaca was first with 30 points, and the Sharks beat out third-place Pewamo-Westphalia, who finished with 64. Leading the Sharks was Libby Munderloh in second place with a 19:28.26 finish. Also earning All-Regional honors alongside Munderloh was Jaiden Dickman in fourth place with a 20:04.92, Mikenna Borie in ninth with a 20:34.85, and Mikaila Borie in 15th with a 21:20.48. Next was Laney Pestrue in 21st with a 21:37.81, Monika Borie in 26th with a 21:55.11 finish, and Sela Delgado in 49th finishing in 24:43.31. The girls ensured a third straight trip to the State meet with their runner-up finish.

The only runners to run PRs this meet were Pestrue with a 14-second drop and Honig with a six-second drop.

Davis shared, “I am very excited to be a part of this, and I never thought I’d have this opportunity. I’m just going to race as hard as I can.”

The Sharks will be finishing their season Saturday, Nov. 7, at Michigan International Speedway at the Michigan High School Athletic Association State meet.