Festus builds on success with another Class 3 title

 
JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. – Festus regained its spot atop the Class 3 podium with a dominant boys performance Saturday at the MSHSAA Cross Country Championships.
 
The Tigers put four runners in the top nine and tallied a low score of 24 points, which is the fifth lowest boys’ score all time regardless of class. It also marks Festus’ third title in six years to go with three runner-up finishes including last year’s second-place showing.
 
“They fought for each other, and we had high expectations and they responded,” Festus coach Bryant Wright said. “These guys, that’s what they race for.”
 
Festus started the scoring strong with Michael Karls and Tyler Gillam providing a 1-2 punch up front. Karls passed Ste. Genevieve’s Ben Naeger in the final half mile to capture the individual title in 15:23.80, less than two seconds off the state record of 15:22.34 set by Marquette’s Noah Kauppila last year. Gillam crossed the finish line third (15:59).
 
Naeger moved to the front of the field after the first mile, and Karls waited until after the Firehouse Hill climb to make his move.
 
 
“(Naeger) came out and I was terrified. He looked so good. I made sure we had him in our sights,” Karls said. “I didn’t really know if we’d be able to get him, but I knew we couldn’t let him get too far away if we wanted to have a chance.
 
“On the downhill with the wind at our back, that’s where I caught him. I’ve always had confidence in my last 800, so I just tried to go as soon as I passed him instead of waiting any more. It was fun, and he’s such a great competitor.”
 
Naeger said he tried to build as big of a gap as he could because he knew Karls had a strong kick. Once Karls went by him on the downhill, Naeger said he knew he was racing for second place.
 
“It really can break you,” said Naeger, who finished second in 15:32. “I won’t really say it broke me though, because I know how great of a runner he is, and I’m not upset with that.”
 
Gillam, who won last year’s Class 3 title, did not have quite the race he anticipated.
 
“We were trying to go for the record, but I felt terrible today,” Gillam said. “I don’t know what happened. I just couldn’t do anything. My legs just didn’t have it in them; I don’t know why.
 
“Ben came up on us and took the lead; I couldn’t respond. I just couldn’t go. They lost me in the back loop. I guess I got a little complacent or something, but I looked up and they were too far ahead. It was just bad after that.”
 
Junior Jacob Schweiss kept the scoring going with a fifth-place finish (16:22), and senior Andrew Whitener crossed in ninth (16:33).
“(Whitener) came on for us at the end of the season,” Wright said. “He decided to step it up, and that’s an incredible race for this kid. I told him all year he could it, and he finally did. I’m so proud of him, and he did it for his teammates.”
 
As the Tigers have built a recent dynasty, Wright said it has become easier for the program to keep building on itself. The current team looks to recent graduates like Cole Allison and Drew White as examples of what it takes to perform at the highest levels, and then they all try to replicate that. Now it is Karls and Gillam that have become the role models.
 
“It shows they’re working hard and that they want to be like the people that have come before them,” Wright said. “The level of expectation is so high that even to make our top seven is pretty incredible feat. Our kids don’t know any different. They don’t know how good they really are because they’re comparing themselves to other people who have been great.
 
“If Michael Karls goes out and does a hard workout then it must work because he is where he is, and if Drew White did it then it must work for him. I think in some sense it makes it a little easier because I don’t have to convince any kid that he can be good. They just know that if we can work as hard as we can, do what these guys do, listen to them, then it’s going to work out for them.”