Only four girls ran in the Conference Championship today. Katelen Patterson finished 18th of the 41 competitors with a time of 24:00.9. Katey Moerschel followed placing 21st and Halley Parkin was not far behind finishing 23rd. Autumn Summers placed 40th with a course best time. Since injuries kept Dani Pair and April Stodgel out of the race, the girls did not have a complete team to compete with and were therefore unable to defend their 2nd place finish from last season.
Seven boys represented Excelsior Springs. These included the five who ran varsity all season - Brent Shelor, Ben Hartwig, Logan Stock, Seth Edwards, and Lane Rogers - with the addition of Alex Argyle and Arthur Meehan. The only personal record of the day came from Argyle, who finished with his seventh of the season. Shelor, Stock, Edwards, and Rogers recorded their best times on the course. The team finished right in the middle finishing 4th of 7 complete teams, an improvement over last season when they finished 5th, even with Christian Carter placing first and becoming the Conference Champion.
Now it is time to focus on the Class 3 District 8 Championship which will be held at Platte Ridge Park in Platte County. This is a course the Tigers are familiar with which could help them record better times. They have about nine days to prepare for the most important race of the season, the one where their finish place determines whether they move on to State or not.