Emily Beaver ran a 19:41.00 in the 5000m at MSHSAA State XC Championships, placing first in Class 1 Girls.

Trenton Morris ran a 16:39.00 in the 5000m at MSHSAA State XC Championships, placing first in Class 1 Boys.

Awesome photos provided by Lori Good

Congratulations to the HS girls and boys cross country teams for a superb performance at the state meet on Saturday, November 8, 2008

Joplin Globe Article
JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. — College Heights Christian captured the Missouri Class 1 boys cross country team championship Saturday, and the Cougars from Joplin had individual champions in both the boys and girls divisions.

With 18 points, the Cougars easily outdistanced the rest of the Class 1 field. West Platte was a distant second with 118 points. College Heights runners placed first, second, third, fifth and seventh individually.

The point total was the second-lowest in Class 1 history, behind the 17 the Cougars scored in winning the 2007 title, coach Daniel Lewis said.

Sophomore Trenton Morris won the 5K race in 16 minutes and 39 seconds. Caleb Hoover, another sophomore, was second in 16:48 and Alex Moore, a senior, placed third in 17:00. Junior Joshua Carter was fifth in 17:20 and Alan Good finished seventh in 17:37.

“On a day like today, when it never got above 37 degrees and the wind was blowing somewhere between 15-20 miles per hour, that’s a pretty good time,” Lewis said of Morris’ race. “Good had an injury which had been bothering him all week. He would typically have run 15-20 seconds faster than he ran today.”

College Heights’ other runners were seniors Matthew Michael, 19:41, and Kaison Davis, 20:23.

Emily Beaver of College Heights was the individual champion in the girls competition with a time of 19:41. She paced the Lady Cougars to a fifth-place finish with 164 points. Penney High School won the team title with 58 points.

Beaver won the state title for the third straight year.

Other CHC runners in the girls race, and their times were Rachel Calandro 22.22, Carly Cole 23:38, Laura Szczepanik 23:41, Karen Poroj 27:42 and Kirsten Ward 28:30.

The Cougars had finished second to eventual champion Hamilton the past three years. Beth Good, the No. 2 runner for CHC, missed the meet after having ankle surgery last week.