By Todd Kraft

Special to the Journal

FLORISSANT – The Trojans boys and girls’ cross country teams competed in the MSHSAA Class 5 District 3 Cross Country Championships Saturday, Nov. 1 at Sioux Passage Park.

The Sioux Passage Park 5K Course is known to be one of the most challenging cross-country courses in Missouri. The start of the course is 300 meters of uphill climb followed by up and down elevation and a variety of terrain.

“This course is a challenge for all the runner’s physical and mental toughness,” Head Coach Ashley Weber said. “It also creates a longer recovery time we have to address for both our runners competing at the state meet next Friday.”

Troy Buchanan will have two runners competing at the state cross country meet Nov. 7 at the Gans Creek Cross Country Course in Columbia.

Sophomore Oliver Livingston qualified for the state championship race by finishing 14th. Livingston ran a strong race and finished with a time of 17:33. He was one of only four sophomores to finish in the top 30, qualifying to run at State.

“Oliver went out strong and was running in 11th place for a good part of the course. He settled in right where he needed to be and finished strong to qualify for state for the second year in a row,” Weber said. “I’m proud of his performance today and now we’ll get ready this week for next Friday’s race.”

Senior Zane Wortmann finished in 74th place (19:56), sophomore Logan Schone finished in 76th place (19:58) and sophomore Hunter Parker finished in 100th place (22:10).

For the Trojan girls’ team, senior Jocelyn Haynes will represent Troy Buchanan at the state meet for the fourth consecutive year. Haynes finished in 5th place at Saturday’s district race, running a time of 20:17.

Haynes now has her eyes firmly set on reaching her season-long goal of finishing with a Top 10 finish at State. Achieving this goal would earn her all-state honors for the fourth consecutive year.

“My biggest goal this year is to get Top 10 at state and improve my time. Last year I finished 18th and my freshman year I was 17th,” Haynes said.

Haynes is a veteran runner and ran a strategic race today with the state race in mind.

“Jocelyn understands the challenges presented by today’s extremely hilly course,” Weber said. “We’ve prepared for this meet all season and she did what she needed to do. She ran a 19:00 at Gans Creek earlier this year—that’s the state course. We’re looking forward to lowering that time next Friday.”

Senior Brooke Gilbert narrowly missed qualifying for the state meet. Gilbert finished 32nd with a time 22:23. Senior Faith Meyer was 53rd with a time of 23:56, sophomore Julia Rust was 58th with a time of 24:05, sophomore Reagan Arnold finished 59th with at time of 24:06, and sophomore finished 75th with a time of 25:14.

The Trojan girls team finished in 8th place in the highly competitive District 3 meet.

Haynes and Livingston will run at the State Cross Country Championship Friday at the Gans Creek Cross Country Course. Livingston will run in the boys Class 5 championship race at 1 p.m. and Haynes will run in the girls Class 5 championship race at 1:45 p.m.

For more information visit: www.mshsaa.org/Content/CrossCountry/InformationCentral.aspx