JV Girls earn 1st place and JV Boys take 2nd place at Hancock Invitational
Oct. 19, Hancock Invitational - Jefferson Barracks Park, St. Louis, MO
On a day that started out extremely foggy but turned out to be gorgeous, the Blue Knights XC teams excelled at Jefferson Barracks County Park. The Hancock Invitational has been held since 1962 and the meet was the 62nd edition. The BK High School Crew had the best all-around meet in terms of team standings. Considering that Hancock draws many private schools with XC chops this was quite an accomplishment.
The Varsity Boys placed 3rd out of 17 teams with James Wamsley earning a 6th place finish with a time of 17:23. Wamsley used a more conservative strategy and had a strong kick the last mile passing several athletes in front of him. Joining Wamsley at the awards ceremony for medals was Reuben Anderson (15th) and Clay Muratori (16th). The two were separated by 1.1 seconds at the finish line. Like last meet, Evan Adkisson, Noah Jacobs, Eli Broadbent, and Mason Tallo all were near each other the whole race consisting of 154 runners. Adkisson would finish 53rd and the other 3 others would add 3 places consecutively to their finishes. Jacobs landed in 56th, three places later Broadbent ended in 59th and Tallo continued the trend crossing the line in 62nd. It was a strong performance to end the regular MSHSAA meet season for the Boys Varsity Team. Wamsley, Jacobs, Broadbent, and Tallo ran their fastest 5k XC times as Blue Knights for DPRs. Anderson and Adkisson both set their previous bests at JB Park. As a result of these strong results, Varsity runners 1 through 5 lowered the all time best team record to 92:09 which was set earlier this year.
The Girls Boys Varsity team equaled the Boys with a 3rd place finish out of 15 teams on the day. Izzy Aimonette turned in a 5th place finish overall with a time of 20:11. Adelynn Travis followed directly behind Aimonette and 8 seconds later for 6th place. Tabby Bryant medaled in the 15 spot and started a trend of the next few runners setting their course PRs. The Stiles sisters (Kiera and Anya) would finish 26th and 35th while setting their course bests. Kiera would medal and shave 2 minutes off her previous best and Anya would improve by 94 seconds. Heidi Anderson and Lily Campbell would have top 50 finishes in the field of 125 runners to complete the Girls Varsity competitors.
The JV Girls added to the plaque collection this year by taking 1st place at Hancock in the Small School Division and having the first 6 runners on the medal stand. Sonya Myskowski “chased the gator” with a winning time of 23:32 for 1st. Places 5th, 6th, and 7th would go to Myskowsi’s teammates. Kaylie Szymanski would lower her course PR and finish fifth. Lynn Criswell, fighting off sickness for a few weeks, would finish next with a courageous effort. Ellie Hoffman would set another DPR by 36 seconds and take 7th. The Devorss, Lily and Maddie, would go back to back in 10th and 11th places in the race for medal positions. The JV girls would not only win the race but also set a season’s best time for the combined time of runners 1 through 5.
The Blue Knight medal count continued to increase during the JV Boys Race. In the Small Teams Division, Joel Barfield and PT Blaxton would medal in 6th and 8th places in the Small School Division. Reece Oxford, Connor McMaken, and Jeremiah Szysmanski would finish in the other 3 scoring positions. The Royal Blue would finish with a score of 59 for 2nd place out of 7 teams and 1 point ahead of 3rd place Providence Academy. Five guys on the team would set DPRs in the race. Joshua Kusmanoff lowered his previous best 5k time by over 2 minutes for an 8% improvement. Elijah Coumerilh had predicted a fast time earlier in the week and he delivered by shaving 1 minute and 20 seconds off his personal bests. Freshman Landon Welch took off 1 minute from his previous best 5 k time at the Jefferson Barracks course. Remy Miller and Jonah Agliata also added their names to the list of 10 Blue Knights with DPRs on the day.
With middle schoolers, siblings, parents, and coaches all participating, the open race had quite the BK flare. In the Women’s race, 5 of the top 7 places went to Blue kingdom. Colette Blaxton would take 1st place with a time of 23:36. Liberty Fletcher would earn 4th place to edge out her mom, Jill Fletcher, who finished in 5th only 25 seconds behind. Another BK Mom, Darci Szymanski, ran to a 6th place finish with Lindsey Skogen finishing immediately behind in 7th. Briella Anderson took the longer race challenge and finished 13th. Other Moms racing included Coach Anastasha Anderson and Kim Meyers. Chesed Fletcher and Claire Baker, like the other Middle Schoolers, used the race to prepare for Nationals or to add the 5,000 meters to their resume’.
In a familiar scene this year, Micah Stiles, Grant Criswell, and Terry Donelson would finish back to back to back in 3rd, 4th, and 5th places. Stiles would break the 19 minute mark for the first time on a XC course. Criswell and Donelson would set DPRs at Hancock too. All 3 MS guys times would have won the Freshman Race and have been top 5 times in the JV Boys Small Division race. Coaches Marv Meyers and Eric Broadbent represented BK Dads with 7th and 11th places. Eric Anderson and Scott Criswell joined them with solid performances. Sibling Torry Donelson demonstrated his soccer athleticism by breaking the 24 minute mark in the race. Kevin Syzmanski, although only10, joined his family in running the Jefferson Barracks 5k. Aaron Broadbent would set his DPR in the race as he looked forward to Nationals next Saturday in Springfield.
The Blue Knights will finish the 2024 campaign at the Lake Springfield course on Saturday, October 26th. The day will start with the sibling runners at 9 AM and will finish with the Boys Varsity and JV race at 11:30. Hope to see you there !!!
The Knights overcame heat, humidity and hills in tight races all around.
Oct 12: Potosi Invitational - Potosi City Park, Potosi, MO
The Blue Knights traveled a little further south on Highway 21 to compete in the 50th Annual Potosi Invitational on Saturday, October 12th at Potosi City Park. The meet is unique in that it serves as the MAAA (Mineral Area Athletics Association) Conference XC Championship but is also open to outside teams like the Blue Knights. All 6 BK teams captured at least 3 medals each during the competition and some exceeded this number. Considering the unusual warmth for October, curvy course offering, and unusual extra pavement running, it was a successful day for Crew Blue.
The Middle School Teams had 7 medalists at Potosi with over 320 athletes competing. On the Girls side, Victoria Riggs took 1st place with a time of 12:46. Colette Blaxton medaled in 5th position less than 40 seconds after Riggs with a 13:22 finish. Riggs and Blaxton became the fastest and second fastest course times recorded for a BK MS girl at City Park. The Girls would take 2nd place in the team standings with Liberty Fletcher and LIndsey Skogen medaling in 33rd and 34th places. Aviya Cline finished in the 5th team position and finished in a top 50 position with 152 young ladies competing. Briella Anderson set her course PR this year on the day.
The MS Boys would place 3 in the top 6 out of a field of 169 athletes. Grant Criswell would make the podium and a 2nd place finish with a time of 11:14. Micah Stiles and Terry Donnelson would finish back to back in 5th and 6th places respectively. Criswell and Donnelson would set their course bests at Potosi. Aaron Broadbent finished in the 4th team spot and improved his time from last year for his course PR. Sixth grader Jayden Case helped out the squad by capturing the 5th team position. The team would finish 8th out of 15 teams in one of the biggest MS meets on the year.
Although the conditions were less than ideal, all 6 Varsity Girls earned medals at Potosi. Izzy Aimionette continued her strong Senior season with a 3rd place podium finish. Aimionette’s time of 20:27 was the 2nd best course team time. Last year, Lydia Myskowski ran 3 seconds faster at City Park. Adelynn Travis would set the course record for a BK Junior by turning in a 5th place performance with a time of 21:07. Kiera Stiles set her Course PR and finished 20th. Stiles' time of 22:36 was 1:50 seconds faster than last year. The next 3 BK runners adopted the “running in a pack” mentality. Heidi Anderson, Lily Campbell, and Anya Stiles all medaled and finished 34th, 35th, and 37th, respectively. The Varsity Girls finished 4th in the team standings and only 8 points out of first place. The top two teams, Herculaneum and Farmington finished in a tie with points and therefore the 6th runner placement determined the outcome. Herky’s 6th runner finished 25th and Farmington’s 26th as the Black Cats took home the 1st place plaque.
James Wamsley led the Varsity Boys once again by finishing 7th and a time of 18:13. Reuben Anderson would improve on his previous best on the course by 5 seconds and finish 14th. This was 11 places higher for Anderson over last year’s effort. Clay Muratori would join Wamsley and Anderson in medaling in 28th place. Evan Adkisson, Eli Broadbent, and Mason Tallo would mirror the Girls Varsity pack running. Adkisson ran a 20:36 for the 41st spot, Broadbent would finish 2 seconds later for 42nd, and Tallo was 7 seconds later for the 43rd position. The Varsity Boys would finish with a score of 124 for 5th out of 11 teams. The Boys in Blue were only 1 point out of 4th place but 64 points ahead of 6th place.
In the JV Girls race, the Blue Knights placed 3 in the top ten and 4 medaled at Potosi. Kaylie Szymanski led the team with a 6th place finish. Sonya Myskowski came back from fighting an illness to earn the 8th position. Ellie Hoffman finished one place behind Myskowski and Maddie Devorss would finish out the BK medals in the race by taking 24th. Ellie Hoffman and Audrey Baker would lower their best 5k times in the JV race. For Hoffman this was the 3rd meet in a row she accomplished this feat by taking off 20 more seconds of her DPR. Baker would shave over 2 minutes off her previous best.
PT Blaxton finished 10th in the JV Boys race for a team best. Blaxton and his teammates would finish 3rd out of 6 teams at Potosi. Reece Oxford and Andrew Meyers would have top 20 finishes and in medaling positions. Oxford placed 13th and Meyers earned the 19th spot. Josh Ward continued his assault on his course PRs this year by taking off 5 minutes and 22 seconds from his Freshman time last year. Elijah Coumerilh joined Ward by improving his 9th grade time and setting a PR at City Park.
While the Middle School Teams take a week off to prepare for Nationals, the High Schoolers will be running on October 19th at Jefferson Barracks in South St. Louis County.
Course PRs aplenty despite the early October heat.
Oct 5: Frank Schultz Invitational - Hillsboro, MO
All Blue Knight teams were in action on Saturday, October 5th at the Frank Schultz Invitation held at Bridal Acres Park in Hillsboro, Missouri. Bridal Acres, a working educational farm, had several hills and presented runners with different challenges compared to previous courses. The XC Knights met these challenges with many good results. For the first time this year, BK harriers medaled in each contested race. Individuals set many PRs of different kinds on the day and 3 teams brought home podium finishing plaques from Hillsboro.
On a hilly course there will probably be less distance PRs set. If the invitational has been run in previous years by current BK athletes, this lends to individual PRs for Bridal Acres Park. Sixteen High School runners would set course PRs in Hillsboro. The Sophomores would make the biggest gains in this pursuit. Ten different 10th graders would set their Bridal Acres PR. Noah Jacobs, Elijah Coumerilh, Joshua Kusmanoff, and Josh Ward, all Sophomores, would set their course PRs by over 5 minutes at the Frank Schultz Invite! Each improved by over 15% from their Freshman efforts. Evan Adkission, Connor McMaken, and Remy MIller would join their grade group in taking at least 2 minutes off their previous course bests. Jacobs and Miller would go a step further by setting Distance PRs on the challenging course. Jacobs ran Varsity and lowered his previous best by 22 seconds and Miller led the distance record breakers on the day by taking an amazing 48 seconds off his DPR in the JV contest.
The Sophomore girls joined in on the records too. Kiera Stiles, Kaylie Szymanski, and Lily Campbell would take time off their Bridal Acres times from last year. Senior Sophia Nguyen led the BK course records on the girls side. Nguyen would improve by nearly 10% and took 3:13 off her previous course bests.
In the JV Girls race, Anya Stiles medaled with a 6th place finish for a team best. Kaylie Szymanski would finish in the medals for 15th place. Ellie Hoffman, like last week at Gans, continued to lower her distance PR. Hoffman would take off another additional 38 seconds to finish in the third slot for the team.
Joel Barfield would lead the JV Boys with a medal and 18th place. Barfield would slash nearly 10 seconds off his course PR. McMaken and P.T. Blaxton would finish in the 2nd and 3rd slots for the BK JV crew. Reese Oxford would finish in the 4th team spot. As mentioned above, many JV Boys were in the getting faster mode at Hillsboro. Landon Welch would set his DPR on the day with a 26 second improvement. Andrew Meyers would take off 1 minute and 11 seconds of his previous course times in the race. The JV Boys would finish 3rd out of 9 teams at Hillsboro. As a team, runners 1-5 and 6-10 would set PRs for the Bridal Acres course.
James Wamsley and Reuben Anderson would once again lead the Varsity Boys. Wamsley and Anderson would finish in the medal positions of 13th and 15th places. Both would set their course PRs, too. Wamsley recorded a 17:42 and Anderson a rounded 17:47. Evan Adkisson would finish in the 3rd team spot on the Varsity. Eli Broadbent lowered his DPR and finished in the 4th team position. Noah Jacobs finished 1 second behind Broadbent for 5th spot. Jacobs has stepped up his Sophomore year after a strong off season. The best piece of evidence for this is breaking a DPR at Hillsboro by breaking the 20 minute mark for the first time. Jacobs shattered his previous time at Bridal Acres by 8 minutes and 34 seconds. The Varsity Boys would finish 5th in the team race standings.
Team honors in the Girls Varsity race went to Adelynn Travis. Travis earned a podium spot with a 2nd place finish. She set her Distance PR on the course. Izzy Aimionette, Tabby Bryant, and Stiles would all medal finishing 6th, 10th, and 18th, respectively. Freshman Heidi Anderson grabbed the 5th team place to round out the team score of 48 for 2nd place behind a strong and deep Eureka HS. Campbell finished just behind Anderson for 6th team place. Campbell joined Bryant and Stiles setting course PRs.
The MS Girls continued their winning ways by winning a plaque for the third consecutive meet. As at Forest Park, the Girls MS triumphed at Hillsboro with 1st place. Victoria Riggs and Colette Blaxton would go back to back for 1st and 2nd place with times of 11:39 and 12:00. Katherine Morris and Liberty Fletcher would also medal with 5th and 8th place finishes. Lindsey Skogen joined her running sisters on the medal stand by finishing 16th. Fletcher and Skogen medaled for the 2nd straight year in a row at the meet. In addition to these achievements,Riggs, Blaxton, Morris, Fletcher, Skogen, Briella Anderson, Maya Bobell, Abby Dengler, Samare Miller and Claire Baker all set Distance PRs on the day. And for the second time this season, Riggs set the all-time BK MS girls 3k record.
The MS Boys finished in 2nd place out of 8 scoring teams. Strong 3rd, 4th, and 5th place individual finishes for Micah Stiles, Grant Criswell, and Terry Donnelson propelled the younger Blue Knights. Stiles ran a 10:27.6 for the race and Criswell finished less than a half a second behind. Donnelson finished 10 seconds behind and averaged 5:55 per mile pace. All 3 medaled on the day with Stiles and Criswell repeating their medal performances from Bridal Acres last year. Aaron Broadbent finished 37th for the 4th team spot and Jayden Case capped the Knights scoring with a 42nd position finish. The Boys finished in 2nd place behind a strong team from Herculaneum with a score of 73. All seven boys competing set DPR’s on the day. This included : Stiles, Criswell, Donnelson, Broadbent, Case, Frankie DiMercurio and Gabe Griffith.
Both High and Middle School Teams will be running on October 12th at Potosi City Park for the Potosi Invitational.
Varsity Girls Take First Place in Gans Creek Classic Blue Division
Sept 28: Gans Creek Cross Country Course - Columbia, MO
A cooler race day after training in mostly heat, a gorgeous National Championship caliber course, and strong competition from all over Missouri. This sounds like the making of a great day of running filled with many PRs! On Saturday, September 28th the Blue Knights HS Cross Country Team traveled to the Gans Creek Classic and accomplished this very thing. Of the 30 BK athletes who ran in Columbia, 14 would set XC DPR’s (distance personal records/bests) and 2 would set all-time team records. In addition, the Royal Blue would take home a 1st place team finish!
The PR’s were spread fairly evenly among BK runners in the four contested races. The Varsity Boys started out the day of racing by finishing 15th out of a field of 36 teams and 306 athletes. James Wamsley finished 33rd in the crowded field for the Knights with a time of 17:30. Reuben Anderson set the first PR on the day for the team as he would shave 17 seconds off his best previous race with a time of 17:40. Anderson’s effort placed him in the 42nd spot and 4th best of any Junior in team history. Clay Muratori would claim the 60th place by averaging a 5:48 pace. Another Sophomore, Evan Adkisson, would finish 4th on the team and Mason Tallo would tally the team total with the 5th BK slot in the crowded field. Tallo would set a DPR by taking 9 seconds off his previous best. Eli Broadbent and Noah Jacobs contributed to the Varsity efforts at Gans. Jacobs would continue the PRs for the Varsity Boys by taking nearly 15 seconds off his former mark.
The Varsity Girls had a day to remember in the second contest. With the top 4 athletes setting distance PRs at Gans, the team ended up setting 3 Blue Knight team records. The Girls won 1st place in the Blue Division and in the process set the best time ever for runners 1-5 with a combined total of 105:51. This brought down the previous record set early this season at Forest Park by over 1 minute and 50 seconds. Izzy Aimonette led the way with a 4th place finish and an all-time BK record of 19:59:3. Aimonette becomes the first Lady Knight ever to break the 20 minute barrier. Adelynn Travis would finish 7th in the race and set the team record for a Junior with a time of 20:18. Travis broke her previous best time by over 42 seconds. Tabby Bryant added to her large medal collection by finishing 20th in the division and setting a new PR. Kiera Stiles set her PR for the 5k distance and in the process became the 3rd fastest Sophomore in team history with a time of 21:58. Stiles has been an important contributor to the Varsity Girls success this year and beat her previous best time by 36 seconds. Lynn Criswell finished in the all important 5th position and closed the team scoring with 134 points. The Lady Knights would finish 34 points ahead of 2nd place Lexington High School.
In the Junior Varsity races, both Girls and Boys had 2 medalists and a number of DPR achievers. Lily Campbell finished 8th in the race and led the team to a 7th place team finish. Campbell set her DPR along with fellow medalist and teammate Heidi Anderson. Anderson finished 13th and cut her time DPR by almost 40 seconds. Kaylie Szymanski had a strong race and finished 32nd out of 156 finishers. Ellie Hoffman had the greatest time improvement for a DPR for a BK runner on the day in the JV contest..Hoffman improved her previous best time by 8% and an impressive 2 minutes and 25 seconds!
The JV guys had their strongest race of the year and finished 6th out of 18 teams. They missed out of 5th place to Stafford HS by one single point but were over 75 points ahead of 7th place Fulton. Connor McMaken led the team with a 14th place medal finish and cut 1 full minute off his previous best time for the 5k distance. First year runner P.T. Blaxton won his first medal with a time of 20:26 and 24th place. Blaxton would set his DPR by 47 seconds. McMaken and Blaxton have been diligent in their progress this year as they eye a spot in a future Varsity appearance. Seniors Andrew Meyers and Jeremiah Szymanski had top 50 finishes in the field of 194 runners. Meyers set a DPR finishing 34th and Szymanski took the 42nd position. Sophomore Elijah Coumerith would take nearly 30 seconds off his DPR in the race.
The Blue Knights will return to action on Saturday, October 5th at the Frank Schulz Invitational held in Hillsboro, MO. The race will feature the Middle and High School teams.
The Blue Knights participated in the Bowles-Wright Invitation
Sept 21: Larry G. Crites Park - Festus, MO.
It was the first time the Royal Blue had run at the B-WI sponsored by the famed Festus XC team. The High School team ran the challenging 5k course on the day while the Middle School ran a 3200 meter race. All teams faced warm and muggy conditions.
The JV Boys finished 11th as a team and were led by Junior P.T. Blaxton with a time of 21:29 for 103rd place. Once again, the JV Boys had the largest field of competitors on the day with 383. Another Junior, Reece Oxford finished next in the 128th slot. Jeremiah Szymanksi finished closely behind Oxford as the 3rd BK finisher. Six seconds later, Logan Clipper would finish with a time of 22:31. Clipper would set a PR for the 5K distance on the day. This was quite a feat considering the racing conditions. Only 1 other Blue Knight high schooler would set a Distance PR on the day. Sophomore Remy Miller would cross 5th on the JV team for a score of 357. The JV team fell short by only 1 point behind 10th place Providence Academy.
Lynn Criswell and Heidi Anderson led the JV Girls team with 3rd and 6th place finishes for medal status. Criswell ran in the hottest part of the day for a time of 24:41 while Anderson was the 2nd highest finishing Freshman in the JV Division. Kaylie Szymanski broke into the top 30 with a 29th place and the 3rd BK team member to cross the finish line. Freshman Lilly Devorss and Junior Ellie Hoffman would go 4th and 5th for the Blue Knights as the team finished 5th in the JV standings.
The Middle School Boys finished in 4th place out of 13 scoring teams. Grant Criswell celebrated his birthday in style by winning the contest with a time of 12:03. Grant won comfortably by 7 seconds over the second place finisher. Micah Stiles would run to a 4th place finish only 11 seconds behind his teammate. Terry Donnelson, also celebrating his birthday, made sure the BK would have plenty of representation on the stage when he turned in a 9th place performance. Aaron Broadbent and Jayden Case finished in the last two scoring positions for 4th and 5th on the team. Grant, Terry and Aaron all set PRs for the 3200 meter distance at Festus.
The Middle School Girls made sure to have a large presence on the Festus stage during the awards ceremony. Victoria Riggs continued her impressive 7th grade season by winning the race by over 56 seconds by clocking a 13:32. Riggs led from start to finish and 4 other teammates would join her on stage. Colette Blaxton and Katherine Morris would medal in 6th and 9th places. Both Blaxton and Morris would finish under the 15 minute mark. The Eight grade tandem of Lindsey Skogen and Aviya Cline would also medal with finishes of 15th and 25th places. The Lady Knight quintet combined for 55 points and brought home a 2nd place plaque. Briella Anderson joined the 3 MS boys mentioned above by setting a distance PR at the 3200 meter length.
In the first race of the day, James Wamsely led the Varsity Boys with a 17th place medal winning performance with a time of 17:58. Junior Reuben Anderson and Sophomore Clay Muratori would go back to back, finishing in 35th and 36th place. In their last race, Wamsley, Anderson, and Muratori would be the first Blue Knights trio to average under 6:00 miles for the race. They almost repeated the feat at Festus barely missing the mark by a mere 3 seconds. Wamsley averaged 5:48 per mile pace, Anderson went 5:57, while Muratori averaged exactly 6 minutes per mile pace. Noah Jacobs turned in a season's best performance for 4th on the Varsity for 93rd. Freshman Eli Broadbent and Senior Joel Barfield would repeat their teammates by finishing back to back just outside the top 100 for 5th and 6th on the team.
The Girls Varsity squad nearly matched their Middle School counterparts for most athletes on the awards stage. Four Lady Knights would medal at B-WI. Adelynn Travis would be the other high schooler to set a PR at the 5K distance with a time of 21 minutes flat. Travis would finish 3rd and would watch Izzy Aimonette earn a 7th place and Tabby Bryant run for a 16th place finish. Travis is the 3rd BK Varsity Girl to hold the top team spot this year with her finish. This is one piece of evidence to suggest that the Girls have a deep team when 3 different teammates can hold the top team spot at any given meet. Kiera Stiles grabbed the last medal position with a 25th place outcome. Stiles' older sister Anya, would finish in the key 5th team position ending up 34th. Anya outran the 35th place finisher by .05 seconds. All 5 Varsity Girls finishes were important in landing as a 3rd place team behind XC powerhouses Lafayette and Festus. The BK Ladies finished 2 points ahead of 4th place Zumwalt North.
The Middle School will take a week of rest from competition and will not race again until October. The High School teams will travel down Highway 70 to Columbia for the Gans Creek Classic on the last Saturday in September.
The Blue Knights XC Teams were back in action at the 19th Annual Forest Park XC Festival.
Sept 14: Forest Park XC Festival - Forest Park, St. Louis, MO
In one of the largest meets of the year, teams from Missouri, Illinois, Oklahoma, Iowa, Wisconsin, and Texas all took part in the running celebration. Over 1,800 athletes crossed the finish line in the 12 racing contests.
The BK Middle School teams participated in their first head to head competition of the year at Forest Park. Both Girls and Boys teams brought home team plaques as well as a long list of medalists in the 3K race. Led by a trio of 7th graders, Victoria Riggs, Colette Blaxton, and Katherine Morris, the MS Girls would capture the team title in convincing fashion. Riggs, Blaxton, and Morris would go 1st, 2nd, and 3rd for a podium finisher sweep. They were joined by teammates Liberty Fletcher, Autumn Williams, Lindsey Skogen, and Aviya Cline all who finished in the top 10. Williams posted the fastest time for any 6th grade participant on the day. Briella Anderson, Maya Bobell, and Abby Dengler finished in the top 20 on the last and hottest race on the day.
Micah Stiles and Grant Criswell copied the podium finishes of the BK Girls at the meet. Stiles would be the only MS athlete to go under 11 minutes with a time of 10:54 for the 3000 meters. Criswell finished 2nd in a time of 11:03 for 2nd place. Terry Donelson and Aaron Broadbent both medaled and added to the BK Boys finishing 3rd at the XC Festival.
The Blue Knights High School Teams have been rewarded for their previous successes at the Festival by being moved to the Green Division. The Green Division contains the largest schools and/or most successful XC teams in the State/Midwest region. While the Knights did not finish higher than 13th in any of the Varsity/Junior Varsity team standings, this does not indicate lack of improvement as individuals or as groups. The Green Division competition brought out some strong BK performances.
Both Boys and Girls Top 5 finishers at Forest Park set an All-Time Team Distance Record for the 5k. The first 5 Varsity Boys, James Wamsley, Clay Muratori, Reuben Anderson, Evan Adkisson, and Eli Broadbent, and first 5 Varsity Girls, Izzy Aminonette, Tabby Bryant, Adelynn Travis, Sonya Myskowski, and Kiera Stiles, all contributed to bring down the previous records. The Boys covered the distance in a combined time of 93:17 breaking the previous record by 3 minutes and 50 seconds. This was over a 5% improvement and the first time in team history the top 5 had all averaged under 6 minutes (5:57). The Girls covered the 5k course in a time of 108:11 which cut off 1:54 off the previous team best.
The first 5 of the JV teams also wanted to be part of breaking records on the day. The JV Boys first 5, Noah Jacobs, PT Blaxton, Connor McMaken, Reese Oxford, and Josh Ward, all shattered the previous JV record by nearly 11% when they turned in a combined time of 113:17. The first 5 of the JV Girls, Lily Campbell, Heidi Anderson, Kaylie Szymanski, Lilly Devorss, and Audry Baker, combined for a time of 119:09. All four of these first 5’s set the best time ever recorded by Blue Knights division teams in our 7 years history. This is a pretty good indication of the depth of the program and the dedication of the athletes to work for improvement.
Eleven of the Royal Blue set Distance PR’s at Forest Park. Four Sophomores, Ward, Jacobs, Adkisson, and Stiles broke their Distance PR by over 5% each from their Freshman efforts. Others setting Distance PRs at Forest Park included Reuben, Andrew Meyers, Remy Miller, Jeremiah Szymanski, Wamsley, Connor McMaken, and Bryant. Three other BK High School runners set course records on the day besides the 11 mentioned. Joel Barfield, Mason Tallo, and Szymanski improved on previous bests on the course.
Aimonette was the lone BK medalist on the day. Izzy finished 25th in a tough field including defending State Champions and All-State selections. Wamsley finished 77th for the top Boys finisher. Also of note, Wamsley, Muratori and Reuben, became the first 3 BK athletes to run under 18 minutes in the same 5K race.
The Blue Knights High School Cross Country team started their season at the Fleet Feet Classic.
Sept 4: High school FleetFeet XC Classic - Arnold City Park, Arnold, MO
The Blue Knights kicked off the 2024 campaign at the Fleet Feet Classic @ Arnold City Park on Wednesday, September 4th. In the 4 contested races, 1003 athletes from nearly 30 schools participated in the 2 mile race. Lining up against some outstanding runners, the 37 Blue Knight participants set 20 course PRs and 29 PRs for the 2 mile distance!
The first two races held at Arnold were the Girls and Boys JV races. Coincidentally, yet strangely, there were 328 finishers in each contest.
Heidi Anderson started out her High School career in style by medaling in the Girls JV race with a 21st place finish. (Medals were earned for a top 30 in each race) The Freshman led the JV team with a time of 14:51. Kaylie Szymanski finished 56th for a 45 second PR over last year. The Devorss sisters (Maddie and Lily) and Sophia Nguyen all finished in the top half of the finishers list. Also in this race Audry Baker, Anderson, Szymanski, and Lily set PR’s for the 2 mile distance. The JV Girls finished 13th in the team standings.
The JV Boys raced next with BK athletes setting more course and distant PR’s. Noah Jacobs led the way with an 85th place finish with a time of 13:07. Jacobs showed a 15% improvement on the course from 2023 with his time. Next for the Blue Knights, P.T. Blaxton and Remy Miller worked their way into the top 100 in the crowded field. Reece Oxford and Logan Clipper rounded out those scoring points for the JV team which finished 11th out of 23 scoring teams. Sophomores Josh Ward, Josh Kusmanoff, and Elijah Coumerilh led the parade of JV athletes setting course PRs at Arnold. Ward took off an astonishing 4 minutes and 52 seconds from last year while Kusmanoff and Coumerilh cut their times by around 2 minutes and 30 seconds. Jonah Agliata joined the mentioned sophomores with MIller and Oxford also setting PRs on the course.
The Varsity Girls finished in an impressive 6th place out of 19 teams at the Fleet Feet. Senior Tabby Bryant medaled and had the top Lady Knight finish with a time of 12:47 for 19th place. Bryant shaved nearly 19 seconds off her course PR time. Izzy Aimonette and Adelynn Travis finished 35th and 36th respectively in their inaugural XC meets as Blue Knights. Both have energized the reigning Girls Homeschool National Championship team at practices. Lynn Criswell cracked the top 50 at the race in a tie for 48th place. Criswell PR’d on the course by 42 seconds. Another Sophomore, Sonya Myskowski, rounded out the scorers for the Blue crew with a 60th place finish and a time of 13:45. Kiera Stiles would finish 6th on the team and cut her course record time by 51 seconds. Senior Anya Stiles also set a course record during the Varsity race. Lily Campbell rounded out the Girls Varsity team at Arnold in the only evening meet of the season.
Senior James Wamsley was the final BK athlete to medal on the day. Wamsley finished 25th with a time of 10:41 in the Boys Varsity race. The rest of his team followed Wamsley’s example of setting a course PR in the last race at Fleet Feet. Every Boys Varsity runner who ran the course last year or the year before wound up setting a new personal standard. Junior Reuben Anderson finished 39th overall and took off 28 seconds from last year. Clay Muratori broke into the top 50 in his first XC race as a Blue Knight. Muratori ran a 11:16 and finished 10th when considering all underclassmen in the race. Fellow Sophomore Evan Adkisson finished in the top 70 while at the same time taking off 1 minute and 8 seconds from his Freshman effort. The Senior trio of Mason Tallo, Joel Barfield, and Andrew Meyers kept the PR records falling in the Varsity race. Meyers shattered his former best course time by 1 minute and 35 seconds with a time of 12:44. Only .2 seconds behind the Senior was Freshman Eli Broadbent. Jeremiah Szymanki was immediately next in the race with a mile average pace of 6:23 and another course PR. Connor McMaken topped off the Varsity Knights’ assault on the course PRs by lowering his time by over 10% from last year. McMaken PR’d by 1 minute and 27 seconds. The Boys Varsity team finished 10th at the Fleet Feet.
After 10 days off of competition, the Blue Knights will next compete at the 19th Annual Forest Park XC Festival on Saturday, September 14th. The Middle School team will join the High School team for a full day of racing. Athletes will be coming from all over Missouri and perhaps even several states!