O'Fallon Crosses the River to Reclaim Title

David Everett

 

O'Fallon Crosses the River to Reclaim Gold

Two years ago O'Fallon crossed the Mississippi to dominate the Forest Park XC Festival. Last year they fell a bit, finishing fourth. This year the Panthers would not be stopped. Now in its seventh year, the Forest Park XC Festival has become one of the biggest meets in the midwest attracting over 3600 athletes. The Panthers looked strong this year, finishing with only 66 points. They averaged just under 16 minutes for the 5K course, greatly helped by their top two runners, Patrick Perrier and Alex Riba. Doing so, theydefeated all of the top ranked Missouri high schools.

 The 1-2 duo of Patrick Perrier and Alex Riba looked great finished second and third behind Missouri 3200m Champ Noah Kauppila. With a mile to go, last years 3A runner up, Riba took the lead of a small pack of five with Kauppila ultimately making in the end.  Perriers time of 15:24.4 places him 15th nationally while Riba's 15:26.4 is currently 18th. Their third runner, Dorrian Gordon finished 12th running 16:03, Steven Chorma finished 25th in 16:28 and Brennan Koester was close behind finishing 27th. The scariest thing for other 3A teams: only one of their top seven is a senior this year. 

Their girls team also ran well finishing fifth among the top teams from Missouri. Their top girl was Sam Lapp who ran 19:21 and was closely followed by Sydney Neal, 27th, and Tami Cardenas. The boys team displayed their depth dominating the JV race with only 31 points. They had a pack of three runners, Ben Eickmeier, Alex Harrison, and Erik McMillan go 3-4-5 finishing from 17:28 to 17:36.  

The second place team from last year looks strong as ever this season. From here the Panthers will go to the Peoria Notre Dame Invitational next Saturday followed by another St. Louis meet the week after.



 

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