Here's to a fantastic season!
Cross Country is a team sport that takes much effort in season. Those whose excel at the sport must start far earlier than the first team practice. It was a great season, our most successful to date!
Here are a few season highlights:
- Our 6th year, 70 runners, 6-12th grade
- Most successful season in terms of team accomplishments
- 61 athletes set course/distance PRs (personal records) this season
- 204 course/distance PRs set throughout the season
- 30 set course PR/DPRs (distance personal records) at Nationals
- 129 medals (vs 71 last year)
- 19 team trophies and plaques
- = last two years combined
- 13 were for first place (4 by Varsity Girls and 4 by MS Boys)
- 3 National Champion Teams: Varsity Girls, JV Girls, 12U Boys
- 2 Individual National Champions (Grant Criswell - 12U Boys and Zeke Hagen - 14U Boys) and 3 runners-up (Micah Stiles - 12U Boys, Lily Campbell - JV Girls and James Wamsley - Varsity Boys)
Teams place in Top Two, and many medals secured at Nationals
Oct 28: Homeschool XC Nationals - Springfield, MO
The dedication of the Blue Knight athletes and coaches was proven at Homeschool Nationals held at Lake Springfield City Park on Saturday, October 28th. The Blue Knights brought home three 1st place team plaques and two 2nd place plaques. In the five years attending the event, this was the best overall showing by the Blue Knights at Nationals. The following chart demonstrates the team successes in Springfield.
| TEAM |
PLACEMENTS |
| Girls Varsity | 1st place - 48 points |
| Girls Junior Varsity | 1st place |
| Boys Varsity | 2nd place out of 8 teams |
| Boys Junior Varsity | 2nd place |
| Boys 12U | 1st place - 33 points |
The 12U boys defended their title by winning for the 2nd consecutive year at Nationals. The Varsity Ladies made history by becoming the first team for our club to take 1st place at the varsity level in Springfield. Not to be outdone, the JV girls also captured the top spot. In both of the girls’ HS races, the Blue Knights took home four medals. The Varsity and JV boys had their top team finishes of the year by climbing the podium and taking home 2nd place at each level. To win a plaque at each of the four HS divisions is not only unprecedented for our team but was unexpected since Nationals fielded the most runners and teams in 2023 since its inception.
Assistant Coach Mark Forbes said, “I think the success we saw today started back in June when Coach Jane held the Cross Country camp. Many kids attending learned a bunch and became motivated to take running more seriously. Coach Jane did an excellent job of encouraging and teaching about the sport.” As athletes bought into working at running the last year, the team benefitted with an outstanding season ending with Nationals. There were also many outstanding individual performances for the Blue Knights.
| INDIVIDUAL HIGH SCHOOL MEDAL WINNERS |
| James Wamsley | V Boys | 2nd |
| Reuben Anderson | V Boys | 8th |
| Lydia Myskowski | V Girls | 3rd |
| Tabby Bryant | V Girls | 7th |
| Sonya Myskowski | V Girls | 8th |
| Faith Brown | V Girls | 12th |
| Cameron Lange | JV Boys | 7th |
| Isaac Ward | JV Boys | 10th |
| Lilly Campbell | JV Girls | 2nd |
| Kaylie Szymanski | JV Girls | 4th |
| Kiera Stiles | JV Girls | 5th |
| Laura Blank | JV Girls | 6th |
| INDIVIDUAL 8U - 14U MEDAL WINNERS |
| Zeke Hagen | 14U Boys | 1st |
| Linsey Skogen | 12U Girls | 5th |
| Liberty Fletcher | 12U Girls | 6th |
| Grant Criswell | 12U Boys | 1st |
| Micah Stiles | 12U Boys | 2nd |
| Christian Anderson | 12U Boys | 4th |
| Terry Donelson | 12U Boys | 6th |
| Kaisa Anderson | 8U Girls | 5th |
Nine Blue Knights recorded their DPR (distance personal record) at Nationals. On the boys’ side,
Josh Ward,
Jonah Agliata,
Elijah Coumerilh,
Evan Adkisson, and
James Wamsley all lowered their personal best. Three freshman girls (
Kaylie Szymanski,
Kiera Stiles, and
Caroline Majors) went under their previous best times with DPRas.
Maddie DeVorss also improved her DPR on the difficult and hilly course.
JV girls show up strong at the Barracks
October 14: Hancock Invitational, Jefferson Barracks Park - St. Louis, MO
The BK high school XC teams returned to compete in the Hancock Invitational held at Jefferson Barracks park. One of the fun features of this meet is the open 5K that anyone can participate in, including a number of our middle school runners and even a few parents and BK alums. The BK were well represented in the coed open 5k with claiming the first four finishers, led by 8th grader
Zeke Hagen (17:59), BK alum
Adam Gresham (18:26), 6th grader
Micah Stiles (19:45) and 7th grader
Grant Criswell (20:01).
Eli Broadbent and
Terry Donelson also finished in the top 10. Sophomore
Ellie Hoffman took 2nd place in the female division, followed by 8th grader
Heidi Anderson (5th place) and our own
Coach Anastasha in 6th place.
The Varsity Boys were led by junior
James Wamsley with a 17:54, good for a 17th place finish in another tough field to lead the BK team to a 13th place finish out of 22 teams. Sophomore
Reuben Anderson wasn’t far behind at 18:21 with a 32nd place finish, just missing a medal.
The JV boys finished in 7th place and were led by junior
Andrew Meyers with a 21:54, followed by
Cameron Lange,
Roman Gaugh,
Christopher Griffith, and freshman
Jonah Agliata, all contributing to the team score.
The Varsity Girls were led by senior
Lydia Myskowski with a 8th place finish (20:25) supported by fellow medal winners
Tabby Bryant (22nd),
Sonya Myskowski (24th) and
Anna Armesto (27th). Overall the varsity girls team finished in a very respectable 3rd place behind St. Joseph’s Academy and Nerinx Hall which later took 1st place and 4th place, respectively, in the Missouri State Class 4 Championship race only a few weeks later.
The JV girls took 1st place in their division and were led by freshman
Lynn Criswell (22:41) who also led the race, also finishing in 1st place. Other medal winners were
Lily Campbell (3rd),
Laura Blank (4th),
Kiera Stiles (7th),
Kaylie Szymanski (8th), and
Maddie DeVorss (13th).
Lady Knights Sweep Varsity and JV Titles
Oct 7: Potosi XC Invitational - Potosi, MO
After battling through very warm to hot meets in August and September, the Blue Knights found their first race of October to be nearly idyllic. The course held at Potosi park was mostly flat, mostly dry, and quite comfortable for running. The Potosi XC Invitational, the 6th meet of the year for squad BK, produced 28 medal winners, 3 team plaques, 1 all-time best and 26 PR’s. On the High School side, twenty-five Varsity and JV runners set their fastest time as a Blue Knight for a 5,000 meter XC race!!!
For the reader: If a runner listed below has a (place finish) after their name, this represents they medaled at Potosi. If a + follows their name, this represents a PR for the 5K distance as a Blue Knight.
The Middle School Boys contest had 160 runners representing 20 different schools. It was the largest field of the day for all races.
Zeke Hagen (1st),
Grant Criswell (2nd), and
Micah Stiles (5th) had superior efforts. As at the Fulton meet earlier in the season, each were the highest finisher in their respective school grade. (Hagen 8th grade, Criswell 7th grade, Stiles 6th grade).
Terry Donelson (18th),
Eli Broadbent (23rd), and
Christian Adkisson (24th) contributed to a 2nd place team finish against perennial powerhouse Festus. Hagen's performance broke the Potosi Course 3k record!
Lindsey Skogen (18th) and
Liberty Fletcher (22nd) led the MS Girls team in their race with 120 competitors. The two 7th graders ran the 3K course with times of 13:43 and 13:54.
Heidi Anderson and
Chesed Fletcher were the next two finishers for our team. Fletcher was in the top 10 of all 6th grader runners and set a new PR.
The JV women’s team took home the 1st place plaque. They also won quite a haul of medals taking home 9.
Faith Brown took 1st on the JV side by running a smart and steady race. She ran the 5,000 meters in a time of 22:16. The JV girls ran a strong race with
Lilly Campbell (4th)+,
Kaylie Szymanski (5th)+,
Laura Blank (6th)+ and
Kiera Stiles (7th)+ finishing in the top seven.
Hannah Gresham (13th)+,
Maddie Devorss (17th),
Abi Gresham (19th), and
Bella Prater (21st)+ all medaled.
Caroline Majors+ set her PR and took nearly a minute off her time. Symanski and Prater lowered their distant PR’s a good deal by 1:54 and 2:25 respectively!
The JV Boys raced the traditional 5,000 meter race at Potosi. Freshman
Connor McMaken (15th)+ led the team. In the process, McMaken lowered his distance PR by 1 minute 34 seconds and a nearly 7% improvement.
Andrew Meyers (20th)+,
Isaac Ward (21st),
Christopher Griffith (22nd)+, and
Remy Miller (30th)+ medaled. While
Noah Jacobs+,
Riley Little+,
Elijah Coumerilh+,
Jonah Agliata+ and
Josh Ward+ all set their PR’s for the 5K XC distance. Agliata, Miller, Jacobs, Griffith, and Coumerilh lowered their times by over a minute.
James Wamsley (7th) led the Varsity Boys with a time of 17:56. He medaled finishing in 7th out of 80 finishers.
Reuben Anderson (25th)+ not only medaled but lowered his PR by 27 seconds.
Reese Oxford+ continued his solid first year with the team by taking another 44 seconds off his PR.
Evan Adkisson+ and
Jeremiah Szymanski+ were Varsity team members lowering their 5K times by over 20 seconds.
Lydia Myskowski, arguably, had the best day of any Blue Knight at Potosi. She finished 2nd in the Varsity race with a strong kick and at the same time, set the all-time BK 5K Women’s record with a time of 20:33.94. She broke the record held the last 4 years by BK legend
Zoe Riggs. Riggs is now a college athlete at Southwest Baptist University.
Tabby Bryant (8th), who broke Riggs' 800 meter mark during Track, finished 2nd on the team.
Sonya Myskowski (9th)+,
Anna Arnesto (16th)+, and
Anya Stiles (26th)+ medaled and helped the team to a 1st place team finish out of 8 teams. This is the second time this year the Girls Varsity and JV teams both finished 1st.
Daniella Hillebrand+ joined 4 other Varsity runners establishing distance PR’s while wearing the BK uniform.
The Blue Knights will be back in action for the 3rd consecutive Saturday meet when they compete at Jefferson Barracks Park on October 14th.
When the hottest meet is on the last day of September.Sept 30: Frank Schultz Hillsboro XC Invitational - Hillsboro, MO
On a day that felt more like late July instead of the last day of September, the Blue Knights Varsity, Junior Varsity (JV), and Middle School (MS) teams participated in the Frank Schultz Hillsboro XC Invitational. The rolling hill course proved to be quite a challenge for all runners. Several top state ranked teams were also competing, including Eureka, Seckman, John Burroughs, and Hillsboro. The Blue Knights want to challenge themselves with tough courses and competition in order to be ready for the National meet in a little less than a month.
Lydia Myskowski (6th place) was the lone BK Varsity medalist on the day. The senior averaged a 6:50 minute pace for a stellar time of 21:11. Five BK Varsity Women placed in the 12 spots from 19 to 31.
Tabby Bryant and
Sonya Myskowski finished less than 2 seconds apart with 19th and 20th place finishes. Less than 20 seconds later,
Anna Arnesto set her distance PR by running a 22:39 for 22nd place.
Lynn Criswell finished next for the BK team for 27th.
Daniella Hillebrand continued her strong senior year by taking off over 2 minutes from her previous best time at Hillsboro and a 31st place finish. Freshman
Lilly Campbell chipped in with a Varsity effort for a 3rd place team finish out of the 10 teams with five scoring runners.
The JV Girls team worked together to finish 2nd with a score of 66 points.
Anya Stiles led the JV with a 5th place finish with a time of 23:47.
Faith Brown was next with an 8th place finish. Stiles and Brown both medaled in the race.
Kiera Stiles and
Laura Blank also medaled with 11th and 12th place finishes. Eureka High School won both the Varsity and JV races with every runner of their top six finishing no lower than 15th. The Blue Knights ladies’ teams did quite well considering the level of the competition.
The MS Girls team continued the winning ways of Varsity and JV with a 3rd place finish out of seven teams on the day.
Liberty Fletcher,
Lindsey Skogen, and
Heidi Anderson all medaled with 5th, 9th, and 16th place finishes. Liberty ran a 13:21 for the team lead.
The JV Girls ran up a perfect scoretaking eight of the top 10 spots!Sept 25: Elsberry Invitational - Elsberry, MO
The course was our first hilly course of the season and is always challenging, more so on a hot day in the mid-80s. The team did great, bringing home first place in the Varsity Girls, JV Girls, and Middle School (MS) Boys races.
The first race of the afternoon was the MS Girls race. The team was led by
Liberty Fletcher (4th),
Linsey Skogen (6th),
Heidi Anderson (10th) and
Briella Anderson (17th), all medaling. The team finished 2nd out of four teams.
The next to race were the MS Boys, who finished in 1st place out of six teams. The team was led by
Zeke Hagan with a time of 12:04.97 and a 1st place finish.
Grant Criswell (3rd),
Micah Stiles (4th),
Christian Adkisson (13th) and
Terry Donelson (14th) contributed to the winning team score and medaled.
The Varsity Girls continued their strong season with a 1st place finish out of four teams.
Lydia Myskowski and
Tabby Bryant finished 1st and 2nd, respectively. They were followed by
Sonya Myskowski (6th),
Lynn Criswell (7th),
Anna Armesto (9th),
Faith Brown (11th), and
Anya Stiles (13th), with the entire team earning individual medals.
The Varsity Boys team was led by
James Wamsley (19:43; 9th) and
Reuben Anderson (14th), both medaling. Rounding the score were
Joel Barfield,
Mason Tallo and
Evan Adkisson. The team finished in 5th place out of six teams.
The JV Girls ran up a perfect score, taking 1st place.
Daniella Hillebrand,
Lily Campbell,
Kiera Stiles,
Maddie DeVorss,
Kaylie Syzmanski and
Hannah Gresham took the top six spots.
Abi Gresham and
Caroline Majors rounded out the top 10, all medaling.
The JV Boys finished 3rd out of four teams and were led by
Connor McMaken,
Cameron Lange,
Roman Gaugh,
Remy Miller and
Isaac Ward.
Blue Knights Varsity and JV Girls Race to First Place Finishes at Fulton XC Meet
Sept 16: Fulton XC Invitational - Fulton, MO
The Blue Knights mid-September race took place at Fulton High School on September 16th. A little rain greeted runners, as well as the blessing of cooler temperatures. The Middle School (MS), Junior Varsity (JV), and Varsity teams all competed for the Blue Knights.
The MS Boys, led by medalists
Grant Criswell (5th place),
Micah Stiles (12th), and
Terry Donelson (20th), finished 2nd out of 16 teams in the 3200 meter race. Criswell was the highest finishing 7th grader and Stiles the highest finishing 6th grader.
Eli Broadbent and
CJ Armesto contributed to the Blue Knights with top 50 finishes. The MS boys' race at Fulton had the largest field with 165 competitors from 24 teams.
The MS Girls had a 3rd place finish on the day. The Blue Knight Girls were led by the
Fletcher (
Liberty and
Chesed) and
Anderson (
Heidi and
Briella) sisters.
Lindsey Skogen helped the two sibling pairs with a 14th place medal finish. Liberty (10th place) and Heidi (25th place) also medaled in the contest.
Ester Owens and
Marianne Blank contributed to the team with strong races to secure the 3rd place team finish.
The JV Boys raced the traditional 5,000 meter race on the Fulton course.
Andrew Meyers led the team with a 38th placed finish with a time of 22:21. Freshman
Connor McMaken and sophomore
Reese Oxford finished 2nd and 3rd for the team. For Oxford, he improved his 5K time by 3 minutes and 47 seconds.
Christopher Griffith,
Remy Miller, and
Riley Little all set PRs for this distance at Fulton. Considering the course was a bit longer due to some construction, any PR on the day was a nice accomplishment.
James Wamsley led the Varsity Boys with a time of 18:22. He medaled, finishing in 12th out of 115 finishers.
Reuben Anderson worked his way to a 35th place finish, which was 5th best among all sophomores. Anderson has averaged a 31-second drop per mile on his pace time after diligently training year-round.
The highlight of the day for the Blue Knights came in the high school girls' races. Both Varsity and JV teams took home 1st place trophies in their respective divisions!
Daniella Hillebrand took 1st in the JV race with a personal best time of 24:48. She lowered her best 5K time by over 45 seconds. Freshmen
Lilly Campbell and
Kiera Stiles took 2nd and 3rd to complete the perfect finishing start for the Blue Knights.
Laura Blank medaled with a 6th place finish, and then
Kaylie Szymanski followed immediately next to complete the first place team score of 15. Szymanski set a PR by seconds with her medal performance.
The Blue Knights weren’t finished winning hardware on the day. Six of the Blue Knights ladies running the Varsity race medaled by finishing in the top 25. The team total score of 49 allowed them to take home the 1st place trophy from Fulton. The six medal winners for the BK ladies included:
Lydia Myskowski (5th),
Tabby Bryant (8th),
Sonya Myskowski (11th),
Anna Arnesto (12th),
Lynn Criswell (19th) and
Faith Brown (22nd).
Anya Stiles raced to a top 40 finish out of 103 Varsity finishers.
The Blue Knights look to add to their trophy case with the next meet scheduled for Elsberry High School on September 25th.
BK 8th Grader Zeke Hagen sets new course 3k recordSept 9: Forest Park XC Festival - Forest Park, St. Louis, MOOn Saturday, September 9, the Blue Knights participated in their largest meet of the season. The Forest Park XC Festival brings in runners from more than 60 teams and multiple states each year, running 14 races.
While the middle school race was run last, they provided a lot of excitement for BK fans. The Boys MS team took home the first place trophy, topping perennial powerhouse Festus by 1 point.
Zeke Hagen won the race and set a new all-time Forest Park XC Festival MS 3k record of 10:37.1 topping the previous record which had stood for 8 years. He was followed by 2nd place finisher
Grant Criswell,
Micah Stiles (8th place),
Christian Adkisson (11th), and
Terry Donelson (14th). The MS Girls team made off with a 3rd place plaque, led by
Lindsey Skogen (8th),
Heidi Anderson (9th),
Liberty Fletcher (10th),
Briella Anderson (23rd) and
Ester Owens (28th).
The Varsity Girls team was moved up to the Gold Division and put out another strong performance, placing 4th out of 15 teams. With an averaged 22:00 time across the top 5 runners, they set a Blue Knights team record for this course. Senior
Lydia Myskowski and junior
Tabby Bryant set BK course records of 20:58.4 and 21:24.3, respectively, followed by freshman
Sonya Myskowski at 21:51.6, a BK freshman course record. All three medaled. Rounding out the top 5 were freshman
Lynn Criswell and sophomore
Faith Brown, both finishing their 5k under 23 minutes.
Junior
James Wamsley led the Varsity Boys team to an 8th place finish out of 16 teams in the White Division, setting a 5k PR at 17:39.1. Also breaking the 20 minute mark were sophomores
Reuben Anderson and
Nathan Schellman, with PRs of 19:12 and 19:44.2, respectively. Rounding out the top 5 were juniors
Mason Tallo and
Joel Barfield, both finishing in under 21 minutes. Freshman
Evan Adkisson, set a BK freshman course record at 21:06.8, also a PR for him.
The Girls JV team was led by
Laura Blank who medaled and the Boys JV team was led by
Noah Kusmanoff. The BK XC program emphasizes doing your best. Out of the 18 HS runners who had previously run the course at Forest Park, 17 came away setting new course PRs (personal records).
Next up, the HS and MS teams travel to Fulton, MO, for their first ever participation in the Fulton XC Invitational on Saturday, Sept 16.
The Blue Knights High School Cross Country team started their season at the Fleet Feet Classic.Aug 29: High school FleetFeet XC Classic - Arnold City Park, Arnold, MOHeld at Arnold City Park, several of the best teams in the region come to compete in this kick-off meet featuring a 2 mile run for Varsity and Junior Varsity teams. Also unique compared to most meets, the Classic allows for 10 team members to run in the Varsity race.
The Blue Knights had many strong performances both individually and in team competition. On the girls side, the Blue Knights Varsity team took home 3rd place place out of 18 scoring teams. This is the highest any Blue Knights XC team has ever finished at such a large meet. The BK ladies crew even finished ahead of perennial power Lutheran-St. Charles and defending State Champions St. Charles West.
Tabby Bryant (17th),
Lydia Myskowski (20th) and
Anna Arnesto (30th) all medaled (top 30 finish) leading the Varsity girls to the podium finish.
Faith Brown (32nd) and
Sonya Myskowski (34th) barely missed out on medals, but their strong races added to the team total of 110. All 5 broke the BK course record for Arnold Park.
The evidence that the BK High School girls have a deep team may be best demonstrated with the 2nd five girls on Varsity at this meet. The quintet of
Lynn Criswell,
Anya Stiles,
Lily Campbell,
Kiera Stiles, and
Laura Blank had a combined time of 74:27. This total would have been the 9th fastest combined time for the 18 scoring teams. Cross Country is a team sport and the BK girls really showed up and out at this first meet of the year.
On the Junior Varsity level,
Danielle Hillabrand not only led the team with a time of 15:28, she set her personal record (PR) by 30 seconds on the course. She would not be the only BK to achieve this feat at the meet.
Eight of the boys (both V and JV) set PR’s at Arnold.
James Wamsley led the team with a medaled finish of 25th place out of 186 V runners. Wamsley set the BK record for the course with a time of 10:44.
Reuben Anderson set the BK Sophomore record for the course with a time of 11:35:7.
Nathan Schellman finished 3rd on the team and set his course PR by over 4 minutes and 30 seconds!! Juniors
Mason Tallo and
Joel Barfield raced to 4th and 5th place finishes on the team. Like the first 3 finishers on his team, Barfield set a PR.
Evan Adkinsson set the BK Freshman record on the course with a time of 12:53. Other PR course performances included
Jeremiah Szymanski,
Noah Kusmanoff,
Andrew Meyers, and
Cameron Lange.
The next meet for the Blue Knights (both High School and Middle School) will be on Saturday, September 9th at the biggest meet of the year: the Forest Park Cross Country Festival.