On a rainy, humid Saturday, the cross country teams made the two hour trip to Wildwood, Mo. for the Parkway West invitational. By the time the skies cleared and the tents came down, both Bruins girls and boys teams had enjoyed successful days.
The RBHS girls team, ranked fourth, took first place in the Varsity girls race with 57 points to 2nd place Lafayette’s 80. Junior Sam Farmer, the state’s 15th ranked runner, led the way for the Bruins, clocking 19:07 to finish fifth overall. Along with Farmer, three more girls finished in the top 10. Sophomores Marilise Stamps and Emily Harl were seventh and ninth respectively, and junior Kayla Funkenbusch took 10th. Senior Joanna Zhang rounded out the scoring five finishing in 26th place.
“I feel like we did really well placing four girls in the top 10, and then coming home with the first place team finish was awesome,” Farmer said. “I’m confident that we are up there and running for a state title.
On the boys’ side, senior Evan Schulte, the fourth-ranked runner in the state, led the way for Rock Bridge. Schulte ran the Varsity boys race with a time of 15:46, beating 2nd place finisher Dorrian Gordon of O’Fallon, IL by 24 seconds. It was Schulte’s first victory in a cross country race.
“It felt really good to finally get a win,” Schulte said. “I feel like winning this race, especially beating the sixth-ranked guy in the state is going to give me confidence during the postseason.”
Despite Schulte’s big run, the Bruins could not overtake Lafayette. The Lancers won the meet with 56 points. RBHS, ranked 3rd in the state to Lafayette’s fourth, finished second with 64 points.
“I feel like we ran well up front,” Schulte said. “We still have trouble packing up throughout the race and if we would have done that then I think the team as a whole would have performed much better.”
Behind Schulte, seniors Zach Cook and Connor Crabtree finished 6th and 8th respectively. Junior Lucas Harrington placed 22nd, and senior Luke Walters rounded out the scoring five placing 27th. Both the boys and girls teams race next at the Border Wars Championships, Friday, Oct. 11 in St. Charles, Mo.
By Josh Ripley
