Ste. Gen Boys’ Varsity Claims Three Medals At Notre Dame

By ERIC X. VICCARO

EVICCARO@STEGENHERALD.COM

CAPE GIRARDEAU — Ste. Genevieve High School runner Devin St. Clair continued his stellar senior season on Saturday at the Cape Notre Dame Invitational.

St. Clair recorded a time of 17 minutes, 54.40 seconds, which was good enough for 13th place and a shiny medal.

“He’s definitely a great leader for us,” said Ste. Genevieve cross country coach Sierra Boyd about St. Clair. “He seems to be hitting his stride, and I am excited about that.”

The course at Cape Notre Dame provides runners with many challenges — long straightaways, steep inclines and declines and enough swichbacks to keep them honest.

It’s also a challenge for the coaches as they attempt to give runners their mile splits on this expansive layout.

“It was good to see us have some strong races,” added Boyd, noting both Levi Wiegand and Nathan St. Clair also picked up medals — which were awarded to the top-25 runners in each division.

Wiegand raced with a 19th-place finish (clocking in at 18:21.31) while Nathan St. Clair was 21st (18:26.80). Mason Gegg was 34th.

This was another meet using the “wave” format, which has become a fixture during the COVID-19 (coronavirus) pandemic. Large schools went off the line first, followed by the smaller ones. Both Ste. Genevieve and Valle Catholic were a part of the second wave.

Valle Catholic didn’t pick up any medals; however, coach Samer Zoughaib was pleased with the boys’ performance as many of them shaved one minute off their times from previous runs at this course.

“We didn’t medal, but that’s okay,” the coach commented. “Comparing our times on this course from this year to last year, the boys were better and dropped 60-90 seconds.”

Peter Roth was Valle Catholic’s top runner on the boys’ side, recording a time of 18:35.47, followed by Josef Flieg in 40th position in a field of 127 runners. Braden Coleman and Jordan Bales were 48th and 49th, respectively with times of 19:30.28 and 19:30.82.

Neither Ste. Genevieve nor Valle Catholic earned any medals on the girls side in a competitive field of 97 entries, which included runners from Jackson, Farmington and host Notre Dame.

Valle Catholic’s Camryn Basler turned in the best effort, taking 34th in a time of 23:02.39. Dakotah Meadows had Ste. Genevieve’s top time in 23:31.45, which was good enough for 41st position.

Several other Valle Catholic and Ste. Genevieve girls placed in the top-60.

For the Warriors, Mary Roth was 43rd (23:33.30), Nicole Valle 46th (23:48.19), Lillian Hoog 57th (24:42.89) and Rachel Valley 59th (24:46.62). Katie Kertz and Natalie Kist also competed on varsity for Valle Catholic.

Ste. Genevieve’s Allison Braun was 47th (23:52.64) and teamate Cylie Carlson placed 51st (24:03.74) — rounding out the varsity performances.

POSTAL MEET

FARMINGTON — Cylie Carlson recorded a time of 13:43.69 seconds, which was good enough for 18th place at the Farmington Postal Meet on Sept. 29.

This marked the first time in several decades a “postal” meet took place, with all of it on the track in the form of a glorified 3,200-meter run.

“I think the kids had fun with it,” Boyd said. “The atmosphere was different. There was music playing, and the football field lights were turned on. We enjoyed it.”

Devin St. Clair placed second with a time of 10:23.33, six seconds behind winner Gruenke Lyndan of Fredericktown. Levi Wiegand, Nathan St. Clair and Mason Gegg finished in respective 7th, 8th and 11th positions.

In the girls’ race, Dakota Meadows was 21st, Allison Braun 27th, Hannah Naeger 36th and Serea Garcia 39th.