Whitfield, MICDS, Incarnate Word set for Class 2, Class 3 girls state cross country meet

Whitfield senior Julie Candau is going back to state after winning the district race for the third consecutive year.

Whitfield also reached the Class 2 state girls cross country meet as a team while teams from MICDS and Incarnate Word Academy qualified in Class 3.

The state meet will be held Saturday at the Oak Hills Golf Center in Jefferson City.

In the Class 2 District 2 meet at Spanish Lake Park, Lutheran North and Whitfield tied for first with 37 points each. However, Whitfield lost on a tiebreaker to officially come in second.

Whitfield coach Matt Politte explained how the Warriors finished second.

“In a cross country meet when two teams have the same point total it goes to a tiebreaker, which is where the team’s No. 6 runner finishes,” Politte said. “Lutheran North’s sixth runner placed 14th and ours placed 17th so they win.”

That didn’t really matter as the top teams from the district qualified for state. It is Whitfield’s first trip to state since 2006.

“The girls ran very well at Spanish Lake,” Politte said. “The course in not tough; it’s a very fast course.”

Candau was the medalist with a time of 19 minutes, 33.90 seconds.

“Julie is a dynamic runner who continues to evolve,” Politte said. “She ran very well in the district race. Julie is a two-time individual state medalist and she has prepared very well for Saturday.”

The field will be a strong one, Politte said. He wants his Warriors to compete hard at state.

“State is a tough race,” Politte said. “I am looking for my girls to run as hard as they can for as long as they can.”

Whitfield’s best finish at state was third in Class 1 in 1999.

Here are the individual qualifiers from the district: 1. Julie Candau, Whitfield, 19:33.90; 2. Carlye Chaney, Kennedy, 19:52.87; 3. Merran Waller, Principia, 20:20.88; 4. Alex Curtin, Whitfield, 21:02.41; 5. Zoe Hamber, Lutheran North, 21:03.24; 6. Taylor Bradley, Principia, 21:43.24; 7. Karsten Klotzer, Lutheran North, 21:56.29; 8. Kaiah Farid, Lutheran North, 22:03.51; 9. Katie Walgren, Kennedy, 22:07.10; 10. Martina Karg, Lutheran North, 22:09.62;

11. McKenzie Morrison, Whitfield, 22:30.57; 12. Madi Ahrens, Principia, 22:32.34; 13. Nicolette Taber, Whitfield, 22:43.10; 14. Mackenzie Burnett, Lutheran North, 22;47.58; 15. Holly Hogan, Whitfield, 22:54.24.

MICDS came in second in the Class 3 District 2 at Parkway Central with 55 points. Villa Duchesne won with 52 points.

Rams coach Jim Lohr was happy with his team’s peformance.

“I was pleased with how our girls ran,” Lohr said. “Villa Duschesne just beat us. We ran very well top to bottom. We were expecting to win and had a good plan but Villa has some very good runners and they showed up that day. We had good races out of our team but just got beat.

“Our team has run well this fall and we have seemed to get better each week.”

The Rams have finished sixth several times at the state meet and Lohr would like for his girls to bring home a trophy this fall.

“The state field is going to be outstanding,” Lohr said. “Ste. Genevieve is probably the best team in the state. They will win the meet and it is up for grabs after that with Notre Dame de Sion and Smithville having good programs from the west side and Festus and Villa being very good as well. Bolivar is very strong along with Helias, and Liberty North. Pembroke Hill has a very good team and I would like to think that we would be in the mix some where.

“Each year this race gets faster and the teams get stronger. We have our best team that we have had in a while but so do many other teams.”

Westminster Christian Academy’s Laura Tarantino was the medalist with a time of 19:59.

The other individual qualifiers from the district were: 2. Hannah Baehr, Owensville, 20:33; 3. Hannah Deines, Villa Duchesne, 20:34; 4. Elise Marker, Villa Duchesne, 20:42; 5. Klasey Medelberg, MICDS, 20:47; 6. Lyndsay Hardin, St. Clair, 20:51; 7. Cece Stock, Villa Duchesne, 20:57; 8. Shaylyn Uzzle, Owensville, 21:00; 9. Geneva Lee, MICDS, 21:02; 10. Analise Wagner, John Burroughs, 21:07; 11. Ashley Brinker, Pacific, 21:08; 12. Leslie Perona, St. James, 21:09; 13. Izzy Howerton, MICDS, 21:16; 14. CeCe Moore, MICDS, 21:19; 15. Rachel Leifield, Visitation, 21:20.

In the Class 3 District 3 meet at Spanish Lake Park, Incarnate Word finished second with 41 points. Clayton won with 34 points.

The individual qualifiers from the district were: 1. Gabby Hantak, Rosati-Kain, 19:56.44; 2. Maddie Orf, Incarnate Word, 20:04.43; 3. Gabrielle Boeger, Clayton, 20:10.07; 4. Lauren Indovino, Clayton, 20:16.09; 5. Lily Niswonger, Clayton, 20:24.61; 6. Megan Whitehead, Incarnate Word, 20:25.14; 7. Maggie Keil, Clayton, 20:32.22; 8. Alex Holzum, Rosati-Kain, 20:50.20; 9. Libby Hercules, Incarnate Word, 20:53.14; 10. Alex Porter, Rosati-Kain, 20:56.17; 11. Eliana Hudson, University City, 20:59.28; 12. Brittany McGinnis, Incarnate Word, 21:10.51; 13. Maria Huhman, Rosati-Kain, 21:14.69; 14. Kelsey Murphy, Incarnate Word, 21:17.04; 15. Tori Kruse, Incarnate Word, 21:27.26.