It was a huge day for the St. James High School boys’ cross country team Saturday, Set. 26, as the Tigers captured the team title and had the top two finishers in the field of the White Division at the Gans Creek Classic, held on the site of the upcoming Missouri State Championships in Columbia.

With such a huge field, teams were divided into meets both Friday and Saturday, and into different divisions.

St. James won the White Division title with 99 points, easily ahead of runner-up Penney with 228 and third-place Maryville with 240.

Both of St. James’ top two finishers broke the previous Tiger school record. Junior Ashton Moreland was the meet medalist for the Tigers, winning the 5,000-meter race in a time of 16:28.1. And the second-place runner was also from St. James, as sophomore Kylar Hodge had a time of 16:38.4. Another top-10 finish for the Tigers came from sophomore Tristin Barton, who was sixth at 17:10.9.

In the girls’ meet Notre Dame de Sion won the team crown with 112 while Lafayette County was second with 137. St. James did not have a full team.

Savannah’s Raedyn Phillips was the girls’ medalist with 19:00.9. For the Lady Tigers, Tara Murphy was 43rd overall at 21:54.3.

“We couldn’t have asked for a better day (Saturday),” said St. James coach Bri Hodge. “The weather was perfect, cool with a little bit of a drizzle. The varsity girls all accomplished their goals for the meet, with Tara Murphy and Addy Hash getting their personal bests and Kate Strackeljahn running her season best. All the girls looked good, nice and relaxed while running and all smiles after the race. They looked the best I have seen them all year. Dylan Stricklin and Oliver Swee both PRed while Josh Rinehart had a season best in the JV race. They did a really good job of not taking off too fast and keeping a good pace throughout the race, so they could still have a kick at the end. Dylan and Tara are just freshmen and they are showing real promise for the next several years if they stick with it.

“All seven varsity boys PRed. Kylar took the lead a couple minutes in with Ashton right behind him, then Ashton took the lead. They stayed together the whole race and just kept pulling away from the pack and ended up both breaking the school record that Ashton set at state last year. Tristin had a goal of running under 17:30, and crushed it. He really turned it up. Ryder Byfield, Eric Bolte, Isaac Siders and Kypton Earney were huge assets, all running their personal-best. There is no way we would have won the meet without those four.

“I am truly elated at how well everyone did (Saturday), and I was so excited that we took first place as a team for the boys. More than that, though, what makes me the most proud is watching these kids grow into good people. They support each other and are more excited for their team and teammates’ accomplishments than they are their own.”

This week the Tiger runners were to host the St. James Invitational, to be held Tuesday at Maramec Spring Park.

Gans Creek Classic

Sept. 26 at Columbia

5,000-Meters

White Division

Boys

37 Full Teams

Top-10 Team Standings: 1. St. James 99, 2. Penney 228, 3. Maryville 240, 4. Lafayette County 251, 5. Savannah 260, 6. Wright City 269, 7. St. Francis Borgia 286, 8. Mansfield 293, 9. Knob Noster 324, 10. Odessa 330.

Individual Top-5: 1. Ashton Moreland, St. James, 16:28.1, 2. Kylar Hodge, St. James, 16:38.4; 3. Ryker Hackett, Maryville, 16:49.2; 4. Maddox Kennedy, Southern Boone, 16:52.6; 5. Domenic Williams, North Shelby, 16:58.4.

Other St. James Results: 6. Tristin Barton 17:10.9, 39. Ryder Byfield 18:22.4, 65. Eric Bolte 18:49.8, 118. Isaac Siders 19:42.9, 135. Kypton Earney 19:59.1.

Junior Varsity

St. James Results: 31. Dylan Stricklin 20:20.4, 115. Joshua Rinehart 22:12.8, 203. Oliver Swee 25:15.4.

Girls

25 Full Teams

Top-10 Team Standings: 1. Notre Dame de Sion 112, 2. Lafayette County 137, 3. Tarkio 141, 4. Knob Noster 156, 5. Summit Christian 160, 6. Moberly 176, 7. Springfield Catholic 210, 8. Savannah 240, 9. Odessa 268, 10. Mark Twain 291.

Individual Top-5: 1. Raedyn Phillips, Savannah, 19:00.9; 2. Amaya Shafer, St. Paul Lutheran, 19:19.9; 3. Katelynn Asbury, Centralia 19:24.2; 4. Kelly Frank, Notre Dame de Sion, 19:39.5; 5. Isabell Coffey, Monett, 19:40.3.

St. James Results: 43. Tara Murphy 21:54.3, 55. Katherine Strackeljahn 22:14.1, 91. Adalyne Hash 23:33.6.

Middle School

Sept. 22

Belle Invitational

Two-Mile

Boys

Team Standings: 1. Steelville 44, 2. Rolla 65, 3. Union 68, 4. Hermann 119, 5. New Haven 133, 6. Harrisburg 153, 7. Vienna 162, 8. St. James 192.

Medalist: 1. Parker Grubb, New Haven, 11:56.6.

St. James Results: 17. Jordan Copeland 13:13.1, 27. Jonathan Apollo 13:49.0, 90. Amos Crites 17:55.9, 101. Judah Davis 19:50.0, 109. Liam Tarvin 22:26.2.

Girls

Team Standings: 1. Vienna 63, 2. Union 66, 3. Steelville 80, 4. Rolla 91, 5. Bourbon 106, 6. Bland 137, 7. Harrisburg 143, 8. Hermann 162.

Medalist: 1. Chelsie Goodwin, Union, 13:45.2.

St. James Result: 66. Ivy Zou 20:11.1.