For some runners, this is the season when pulses quicken and hearts race. If this were the Wizard of Oz, the nervous mantra would be: districts and sectionals and state, oh my.
Kaitlyn Fischer is not most cross country runners. Her engine doesn't run harder only in late October. Instead, it runs hard all the time. Early September, late October, it doesn't matter. The same for the spring track season: March, April, May, they are almost all the same.
"It might be a little different (at the end of the season), but not a lot different," the Herculaneum standout said. "I still have to worry about the same people."
Fischer's worry list is a long one. She worries about contenders for Class 2 state honors. She worries about her teammates. She worries about herself.
"I've been focusing on: am I eating right and am I getting enough sleep," she said.
Whatever Fischer is ordering off the Herculaneum lunch menu, runners across the state should be saying, "I'll have what she's having." A 5-foot-1 junior, Fischer has four state titles in track and two top-three finishes in cross country. This fall, she won at Forest Park and Hancock and dueled 2010 state champ Saga Barzowski of Arcadia Valley to the wire at two other events. Two weeks ago at Farmington, Fischer and Barzowski finished in a near-dead heat.
"After the race, we looked at each other and said, 'Who won?' We didn't know," Fischer said. "That was very intense."
Intense suits Fischer, who is a bit put out that two appearances at the state finals have produced only near-misses.
"I would definitely like the chance to win cross country -- finally," she said.
Intense also suits the Blackcats program. The Herculaneum girls were second at the 2010 state championships after winning four titles in a row. On the boys side, Herky has won three of the last four Class 2 titles, including the 2010 championship.
Saturday, Class 1, 2 and 3 teams across Missouri will race in district meets that qualify them directly to state. Class 4 teams ran district races last week; their sectionals are Saturday. The state championship races are Nov. 5 at Jefferson City. In Illinois, all classes will race in sectionals Saturday and advance to the state meet Nov. 5 at Peoria.
The father-son tandem of Jim and Ryun Kasten heads the Herculaneum program. For paperwork purposes, Ryun is the head coach for both teams. The reality, however, is that Ryun coaches the boys while his dad coaches the girls. The two have been as successful as almost any coaches – in any sport – in state history. In the last 10 years, the Herky boys and girls have collected nine state titles, five seconds and two thirds.
And more shiny medals and plaques likely are just around the corner. Both the boys and girls have to be on the short – very short – list of title contenders this year.
Ryan Jackson, Jacob Coffman and Drake Smelser are top 10-type runners. If they are as good (healthy and, maybe, lucky, too) as Ryan Kasten hopes, the rest of the field at the state meet could be chasing a ghost.
If the Blackcats put three in the top 10, "It's going to be hard to beat us even if our fourth and fifth guys don't do all that well," Ryun said.
As for the fourth and fifth runners – in cross country, schools enter seven-man teams and the top five score – those spots belong to Austin Haas and Adam Maxwell, but Cody Achter, Adam Williams and Tristan Mock have been contributors much of the year, too.
"Our (Nos.) 6 and 7 and even our 8 and 9 are almost as good as our Nos. 4 and 5," Ryun Kasten said.
Those bottom-of-the-lineup runners can be make-or-break scorers.
"We've had times when the No. 9 kid – and even farther down than that – ran for us at state," Jim Kasten said.
Even with Fischer, Mary Moloney and Cheyenne McArthur anchoring the lineup, Jim Kasten's girls team likely faces a more difficult state test than the Herky boys.
"It's gotten tougher," he said, listing returning champ Springfield Catholic, along with Stratford, Stockton, Blair Oaks and, if everyone is healthy, Lutheran St. Charles as title contenders.
Herky, though, is the team everyone will be watching – and with the program's distinctive red-and-white striped shorts they will be easy to pick out.
"Everybody's shooting for us, and that's a badge of distinction these kids wear with pride, just like those striped shorts," Jim Kasten said.
GAC SOUTH TEAMS DUEL AGAIN
For the second time in 10 days, the Francis Howell and Fort Zumwalt West girls battled to the wire in a race at McNair Park. And for the second time in 10 days, Howell held off the challenge.
Howell, with Kristen Adams winning, scratched out a one-point win, 45-46, the district meet Saturday. On Oct. 13, with Leah Krause winning, Howell won the GAC South title 27-55.
The Howell-Zumwalt West duel was one of two district championships decided by one point. At Jackson, Summit held on for a 47-48 win against the host school.
The best area scores from the first week of Missouri Class 4 district races were posted by the Eureka (22 points) and Nerinx Hall (25) girls and the St. Louis University High (29) boys.
On the East side, the O'Fallon girls posted a near-perfect score of 19 at the Edwardsville Class 3A Regional, while the O'Fallon boys finished with 21.
STARTING ON THE RIGHT FOOT
Area district individual champs last week were: boys – Noah Kauppila, Marquette; Nicholas Stewart, McCluer North; and Josh McKinley, Francis Howell; girls – Melissa Brown, Oakville; Hannah Long, Eureka; Sophia Racette, Nerinx Hall; and Adams, Francis Howell.
Team champs: boys – Lindbergh, Marquette, SLUH and Fort Zumwalt West; girls – Summit, Eureka, Nerinx and Howell.
On the East side, sectional individual champs: boys – Garrett Sweatt, Edwardsville (3A), Murphy Affolder, Mascoutah (2A) and Drew Spargo, Columbia; girls – Sydney Neal, O'Fallon (3A), Ellen Toennies, Mater Dei (2A) and Kristen Busch, Freeburg (1A).
Team champs: boys – O'Fallon (3A), Carbondale (2A) and Metro East Lutheran (1A); girls – O'Fallon (3A), Mater Dei (2A) and Freeburg (1A).
LOOKING AHEAD
There could be a slight shakeup in the state power structure on the west side of Missouri. Rockhurst defeated defending state champ Lee's Summit North in their boys district meet Saturday. Lee's Summit North was the only team among last year's top five not to win a district title.
Among girls teams, defending state champ Lee's Summit West was impressive in winning a district title, but Branson knocked off second-place finisher West Plains in a Southwest Missouri district.
Individually, most of the top runners won their district races. One interesting exception: Caleb Wilfong of Rock Bridge finished second to teammate Nathan Keown. Don't read that as Wilfong slipping. Keown has been on Wilfong's shoulder all year, including early in October at the Parkway West Invitational. With Wilfong, Keown and Jordan Cook at the top of its lineup, Rock Bridge looks like the team to beat at Jefferson City on Nov. 5.
