Griffard Wins Districts; Roth, Kist, Warriors Team Qualify For State XC Meet

BY MICHAEL BOYD JR.

HERALD SPORTS EDITOR

Adding to her stellar sophomore campaign this fall, Madelyn Griffard brought home two big rewards Saturday morning, winning the district championship with a school-record time at the MSHSAA Class 2 District 1 girls’ meet at Arcadia Valley High’s Sports Complex.

Griffard crossed the finish line first by over 20 seconds ahead of the runner-up with a new record time of 19 minutes and 47.12 seconds, and she got an all-district medal along with it. There were 93 competitors for this girls’ event.

“Madelyn winning district was awesome,” said Warriors’ head coach Samer Zoughaib. “She did everything right. Running an 19:47 was incredible. I can’t wait to see how fast she can go next week with other girls running fast or faster.”

Senior teammate Natalie Kist will join her at state with her all-district 29th-place finish as she recorded a time of 22:36.70.

“(Natalie) qualified,” Zoughaib said. “but had a hard time breathing and still got out (of districts).”

The two now move on to MSHSAA Class 2 championship meet in Columbia this coming Saturday morning.

But Zoughaib was proud of all the girls at this time of the season. The Warriors took sixth place overall as a team.

“The girls ran out of their minds,” he said. “They ran really well, they just got beat by five other teams.”

MSHSAA allows the top-four district teams and the top-30 individual placers to move on to the state meet.

Freshman Lennox Greylee (24:14.82) took 44th for Valle, junior Gwen McKlin (24:22.12) took 46th, senior Sophie Varga (24:46.04) took 51st, junior Lexi Ritter ( (25:45.40) was 62nd and Nicole Gegg (29:44.85) was 83rd.

Grandview (Hillsboro) won the district title with 81 points. Jefferson (Festus) took second with 89, St. Pius X (Festus) was third with 98 and Woodland was fourth with 99 points

Woodland freshman Faith Rouggly (20:11.63)was runner-up and St. Pius senior Rachel Elmer (20:27.26) was third.

CLASS 1 BOYS

Valle Catholic senior Peter Roth took sixth place out of 102 runners, and all seven Warriors qualified for the state meet after taking third overall as a team at the MSHSAA Class 1 District 1 cross country race at the Arcadia Valley High’s Sports Complex in Ironton Saturday morning.

MSHSAA allows the top-four district teams and the top-30 individual placers to move on to the state meet.

Roth extended his high school career as he finished with an all-district time of 17 minutes and 25.96 seconds, recording another top-10 finish on the season.

“The entire team is moving one,” Zoughaib said. “We ran really well, but so did everyone else.”

Sophomore Austin Ringwald and senior Josef Flieg both claimed all-district medals in the process.

Ringwald took 20th place with his time of 18:03.97, while Josef Flieg was 23rd with his time of 18:18.13.

Junior Garrett Shortt (18:40.45) finished 32nd, sophomore Thomas Varga (18:59.94) was 44th, senior Jayce Bales (19:04.91) was 45th and senior Joseph Flieg (19:27.55) was 52nd.

Van Buren won with a low score of 53, while Oak Ridge (63) was second and Bernie (112) was fourth.

Christian senior Ronan Hardwicke won the boys’ individual district crown with a time of 16:46.87. Van Buren senior Caleb Ricker (16:56.90) was second and Oak Ridge junior Brock Hobeck (17:00.09) was third.