Both the boys’ and girls’ St. Louis Cross Country teams crushed their first league meet at Imerman Park Wednesday.  

Coach Jay Puffpaff stated, “Last year we got beat in our conference meets. This year we wanted to set the tone for the next two conference meets.” The race was very interesting as the guys’ team raced through a below par performance, tough competition, and an injured teammate. 

As the race began, senior and top runner Aaron Bowerman started off strong leading the first two miles. As the race progressed through the half mile Dylan Marr suffered a tremendous ankle injury. Marr stated, “I ran great for the first half-mile. Then, while going down hill my ankle rolled and there was a loud crack. I ended up not finishing the race.” As if the team hadn’t been through enough, Bowerman dropped the lead and eventually finished in second. Fortunately for the team, Nate and Ben March along with Thomas Zacharko were able to pick up the slack and finish in front of Ithaca’s third runner.

  The guys team won their race with a score of 26 points.  Not far behind was the arch-enemy Ithaca Yellow Jackets with 34 points. The other competing teams remained obsolete throughout the race. 

The girls won their race with a score of 33 points. The only other team close to the lady Sharks were the Yellow Jackets with 40 points. Top five for the girls included: Libby Munderloh with a time of 20:52.17, Mikkena Borie with a time of 20:53.16, Jaiden Dickman who ran a 20:56.80, Monika Borie with an exceptional time of 22:47.37, which was also her season record, and Jenna Able finished out  for the team with a 23:30.35. 

The guys top five were Aaron Bowerman with a time of 17:07, Ben March with a time of 17:35, Nate March with a time of 18:02, Thomas Zacharko with a time of 18:10, and Colin Kuhn with a time of 19:01. Both teams left the meet in high spirits awaiting the fabled Spartan Invite just one day away.