High School

See Every Winner from the 2025 Missouri State Cross Country Championships

Repeat Champions, Newcomers, and New MSHSAA Class and State Records Punctuated State Championship Weekend for Class 1-5 Boys and Girls

Levi Payton

Competitors set off in the MSHSAA Class 1 Boys State Cross Country Championships at Gans Creek Cross Country Course in Columbia.
Competitors set off in the MSHSAA Class 1 Boys State Cross Country Championships at Gans Creek Cross Country Course in Columbia. / Joe Andrews, Sedalia Democrat

Fans has plenty of reasons to roar at Gans Creek Cross Country Course last weekend in Columbia.

For one, fans and competitors got to enjoy a few more days of decent weather before a brutal cold snap draped the state on Sunday. The good weather also brought about some fantastic performances from the state's best.

An overall individual MSHSAA record was broken and a new individual high mark in Class 2 was set. There were a number of individual and team repeat champions, but fans also got a glimpse into the bright future of the sport as a number of freshmen and sophomores turned heads with staggering performances.

See all of the top 5K performances from Class 1 through Class 5 boys and girls below.

Class 1 Girls

1st: Jayden Chambers, sr., Norwood, 19:09.4

2nd: Amaya Shafer, fr., St. Paul Lutheran, 19:19.2

3rd: Reagan Meyer, sr., St. Vincent, 19:28.3

Tidbit: Chambers dominated her final high school race after taking eighth as a junior, 14th as a sophomore and 38th as a freshman.

Team champion: School of the Ozarks won the title after placing fourth in 2024. Senior Ella Howard was the Lady Patriots’ top finisher, placing 10th.

Class 1 Boys

1st: Kellen Robertson, soph., School of the Ozarks, 16:16.0

2nd: Austin Hill, jr., St. Joseph Central, 16:35.7

3rd: Hunter Schwartze, jr., Vienna, 16:43.1

Tidbit: Robertson won his first individual championship after placing seventh as a freshman with a time of 17:07.5. Hill placed 28th and Schwartze was 13th in 2024.

Team champion: School of the Ozarks – The Patriots swept the boys and girls Class 1 title. The boys got the job done after placing third in 2024.

Class 2 Girls

1st: Addison Smith, jr., Lexington, 18:33.0

2nd: Ellie Lichte, fr., Lexington, 18:35.8

3rd: Kensington Curd, sr., Brentwood, 19:05.2

Tidbit: Teammates Smith and Lichte ran away from the rest of the pack, crossing the finish line 1-2 with teammate Phoebe Engelbrecht in fifth and Tessa Lovell right behind in ninth. The win was Smith’s second consecutive state championship.

Team champion: Lexington – With four runners finishing in the top nine, the Minutewomen have now won back-to-back state team championships.

Class 2 Boys

1st: Wyatt Klaiber, jr., El Dorado Springs, 14:51.0

2nd: Chael Lichte, sr., Lexington, 15:43.5

3rd: Landen Chapman, sr., Paris, 15:46.4

Tidbit: There wasn’t another runner in sight when Klaiber finished the race, finishing nearly a minute faster than second place to set a new MSHSAA Class 2 record.

Team champion: Woodland – With the win, the Cardinals claimed their third consecutive team Class 2 state championship.

Class 3 Girls

1st: Brianna Krueger, jr., St. Charles West, 18:15.1

2nd: Martina Ressel, soph., Notre Dame Cape Girardeau, 18:42.2

3rd: Lily Coy, sr., Notre Dame Cape Girardeau, 18:52.4

Tidbit: Krueger claimed her second straight Class 3 state championship. She took third as a freshman in 2023.

Team champion: Notre Dame Cape Girardeau – The win marked the first team state championship in program history. The Lady Bulldogs took seventh in 2024.

Class 3 Boys

1st: Sinry Mendoza, sr., Hollister, 15:25.1

2nd: Nolan Spickert, soph., Centralia, 15:37.5

3rd: Leo Butler, soph., Summit Christian, 15:44.4

Tidbit: Mendoza won his first individual Class 3 championship, besting Spickert, who took 13th as a freshman, and Butler, who was 10th as a freshman.

Team champion: Centralia – The Panthers won their second consecutive Class 3 team state championship after taking third in 2023.

Class 4 Girls

1st: Gabrielle Moresi, jr., Parkway Central, 18:26.8

2nd: Kaebrynn Gunter, fr., West Plains, 18:34.4

3rd: Isabel Burlbaw, fr., Rockwood Summit, 18:34.4

Tidbit: Moresi won her first state championship after placing second as a sophomore and 39th as a freshman. Gunter and Burlbaw, two impressive freshmen, broke into a sprint and raced each other to the line, crossing almost simultaneously for second and third place.

Team champion: Festus – Lucy Boyer was the team’s top individual, taking ninth in 19:14.8. It was the second consecutive team championship for Festus after taking third in 2023.

Class 4 Boys

1st: Carson Driemeier, sr., Festus, 14:49.2

2nd: Aidan Morris, soph., Notre Dame Cape Girardeau, 15:31.0

3rd: Elijah Case, sr., St. Charles, 15:48.7

Tidbit: Driemeier’s historic run set a new MSHSAA overall record and was his second consecutive Class 4 state cross country championship. He placed 13th as a freshman with a time of 16.26.5, and third as a sophomore in 15:14.1. He won the 2024 event in 15:59.5.

Team champion: West Plains – Joseph Roberson was the top finisher for the Zizzers, taking seventh in 16:09.0.

Class 5 Girls

1st: Ava Doll, sr., Joplin, 18:06.4

2nd: Mary McKenzie, sr., Cor Jesu Academy, 18:10.3

3rd: Caroline Bowen, soph., St. Teresa’s, 18:28.1

Tidbit: Doll won the crown after taking fourth as a junior last season in 18:17.7, while 2024 state champion Bella Navarro-Sanchez finished 11th.

Team champion: Blue Springs South – The Lady Jaguars won the title after placing second in 2023 and 2024. Ashlyn Wahrenbrock took top individual honors for the team, crossing the finish line in sixth place with a time of 18:44.9.

Class 5 Boys

1st: Jack McGovern, soph., Rockhurst, 14:52.2

2nd: Gabriel Voelker, sr., Raymore-Peculiar, 15:03.3

3rd: Jackson Miller, jr., St. Louis University High (SLUH), 15:06.9

Tidbit: McGovern’s 14:52.2 fell just three second shy of the MSHSAA overall record set on the same day by Class 4 champion Carson Driemeier (Festus). He took eighth as a freshman with a time of 15:17.6.

Team champion: Liberty North – Nathaniel Haberlach crossed the finish line first for the team, placing sixth in 15:33.3. The Eagles placed ninth in 2024.

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Levi Payton
LEVI PAYTON

Levi’s sports journalism career began in 2005. A Missouri native, he’s won multiple Press Association awards for feature writing and has served as a writer and editor covering high school sports as well as working beats in professional baseball, NCAA football, basketball, baseball and soccer. If you have a good story, he’d love to tell it.

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