St. Clair, Roth Grab Medals

By ERIC X. VICCARO

EVICCARO@STEGENHERALD.COM

IRONTON — Ste. Genevieve High School’s Nathan St. Clair and Peter Roth from Valle Catholic ran neck and neck this past Saturday at the Arcadia Valley Invitational.

St. Clair clocked in with a time of 17 minutes, 50.41 seconds, which was 2.2 seconds faster than Roth in a showcase of this county’s top boys runners.

This marked Ste. Genevieve’s first meet of the season; meanwhile, this marked Valle Catholic’s third invitational.

“Overall, the girls and boys did well for the first meet of the season,” said Ste. Genevieve head coach Sierra Boyd.

“It was a good learning experience,” Boyd continued, “for several of the newcomers. Some of our upperclassman wanted to start the season better.”

Boyd said St. Clair’s time was a lifetime personal best.

The challenge was simply getting back to racing for the Dragons on the Arcadia Valley Sports Complex course — which features it all — plains, woodsy trails and switchbacks during the final 1,000 meters.

Meanwhile, for the Warriors, Zoughaib counted up what mattered most.

“There were 40 teams, of which 13 are Class 2 and 10 are Class 1,” the coach commented.

The Missouri State High School Activities Association came out with district assignments this past Friday, with Valle Catholic’s girls in Class 2 and boys in Class 1.

The girls were placed in Class 2, in part, because of the recently added “championship factor” dynamic.

“The girls finished sixth and the boys’ JV was second,” Zoughaib added. “We need to start getting after it.”

This week, Ste. Genevieve travels to the Festus Bowles Invitational at West City Park while Valle Catholic will compete in the Bismarck Invitational at Mineral Area College in Park Hills.