St. James junior Ashton Moreland insists his best competition this season has come in practice, surrounded by some equally impressive teammates.

However, he admitted his sprint to the finish line last week at the Tigers’ St. James Invitational was challenging, indeed.

With a meet-medalist performance, Moreland powered the St. James High boys’ cross country squad to a second-straight team championship in the annual St. James Invitational, held Tuesday, Sept. 29 at Maramec Spring Park.

The host Tigers easily won the team title with 46 points while New Haven was second with 100 and Steelville third with 104. There were 12 full teams in the field.

In an exciting sprint to the finish Moreland held off Belle freshman Jackson Prater. Moreland finished the 5,000-meter course with a time of 16:40.6 and Prater at 16:41.0. Pacific’s Dax Harrison was third at 16:44 followed by St. James runners Tristin Barton fourth at 17:15.6 and Kylar Hodge fifth at 17:19.7.

Rounding out the Tiger score was Eric Bolte 14th overall and Isaac Siders 25th.

“It was the closest finish of the year,” said Moreland, who has been overall medalist in his last three races. “(The course at Maramec Spring Park) is not hilly, but most of it is by the river and it’s gravel, and I slipped a whole lot. But it’s a nice run overall.”

Moreland says he is not trying to pace himself as the season goes on - he wants to win every time out.

“(Prater) is a freshman and he ran a great race. I try to PR in each meet; you try as hard as you can. Me and Kylar have had good competition in practice every day. And Tristin is just doing great now, too.”

In the girls’ meet Pacific was the team champion with 55 points while St. Francis Borgia was runner-up with 69. Salem’s Zoey Elliott was the comfortable overall winner of the girls’ race at 20:57.1. St. James had three runners in the girls’ field, and senior Katherine Strackeljahn won a top-10 individual medal, finishing eighth overall at 22:48.7.

There was also a large field in the 1.6-mile boys’ and girls’ middle school races.

“For the second year in a row the varsity boys won the meet, and I think they are dead-set on keeping that a tradition,” said STJ coach Bri Hodge. “Ashton came in first, with Jackson Prater right on his tail. Tristin Barton looked good and had a great race, coming in fourth, followed by Kylar. Tristin is really starting to get back in his element and is running great times. Eric Bolte and Isaac Siders both PRed. Both of those guys have been blowing it up this season. Isaac is down almost a minute from his first 5k and I don’t see him slowing down anytime soon. He has run a personal-best in every meet. Eric is running for the first time ever and is almost three minutes faster than his first time, also setting a personal-best every single meet so far.

“Kypton Earney has been right with these guys, running very consistent times and progressively getting better. Freshman Dylan Stricklin is another really looking good. He has been PRing almost every meet. Josh Rinehart is the heart of our team and is working his way to another PR. Oliver Swee had a goal to beat 25:00 at our home meet and I think he has realized that he is capable of so much more than he thought. He has taken six minutes off his time since the first race.

“Kate Strackeljahn medaled and is really looking good when she runs; relaxed and enjoying the run more every race. Addy Hash did a great job of pacing herself and is improving every day.”

This week the Tigers were to compete in the Hermann Invitational Tuesday.

St. James Invitational

Sept. 29 at Maramec Spring Park

High School

5,000-Meters

Boys

Team Standings: 1. St. James 46, 2. New Haven 100, 3. Steelville 104, 4. Belle 121, 5. Pacific 123, 6. St. Francis Borgia 138, Valley 179, 8. Dixon 191, 9, Plato 205, 10. Sullivan 218, 11. Salem 307, 12. Cuba 336.

Individual Top-5: 1. Ashton Moreland, St. James, 16:40.6; 2. Jackson Prater, Belle, 16:41.0; 3. Dax Harrison, Pacific, 16:44.2; 4. Tristin Barton, St. James, 17:15.6; 5. Kylar Hodge, St. James, 17:19.7.

Other St. James Results: 14. Eric Bolte 18:37.9, 25. Isaac Siders 19:36.8, 28. Kypton Earney 19:39.0, 41. Dylan Stricklin 20:31.5, 62. Ryder Byfield 21:48.9, 72. Joshua Rinehart 22:17.5, 101. Oliver Swee 24:58.8.

Girls

Team Standings: 1. Pacific 55, 2. St. Francis Borgia 69, 3. Plato 88, 4. Sullivan 107, 5. Belle 131, 6. Incarnate Word 146, 7. Linn 148, 8. Salem 189.

Individual Top-5: 1. Zoey Elliott, Salem, 20:57.1; 2. Vanessa Nolie, Sullivan, 21:36.5; 3. Aidan Lawler, Pacific, 21:46.2; 4. Cecilia Ewersmann, Incarnate Word, 21:59.3; 5. Bella Yourchisin, Plato, 21:59.4.

St. James Results: 8. Katherine Strackeljahn 22:48.7, 19. Adalyne Hash 23:59.5, 30. Tara Murphy 24:31.4.

Middle School

1.6-Mile

Boys

Team Standings: 1. Steelville 34, 2. Owensville 69, 3. Pacific 74, 4. Union 92, 5. New Haven 99, 6. Licking 146.

Medalist: 1. Landon Harrison, Pacific, 8:36.5.

St. James Results: 6. Jordan Copeland 9:11.6, 29. Jonathan Apollo 10:16.6, 79. Judah Davis 14:07.4, 87. Liam Tarvin 15:49.6.

Girls

Team Standings: 1. Union 70, 2. Bourbon 75, 3. Pacific 78, 4. Owensville 80, 5. Steelville 87, 6. Bland 121, 7. Cuba 124.

Medalist: 1. Chelsie Goodwin, Union, 10:01.0.

St. James Result: 55. Ivy Zou 14:03.0.