Before any Friday night snaps of the pigskin took place, the Hannibal Pirate cross country teams took the field in Mexico, MO at Green Estates Park.
The Pirate girls ran first, proudly donning their brand new pink Nike singlets for the first time.
Jocelyn Dorsey, the lone senior girl of the squad, was arguably the most excited athlete to wear pink. Approximately 800 meters into the 5K race she took the lead and did not look back. Dorsey went on to win, in convincing fashion, besting the second place girl, Maggie Ramsey of Mexico, by almost one full minute.
Jordan Puterbaugh was second to cross the finish line for the Pirates in eighth place overall, followed by Mikayla Harsell, Grace Munger and Ava Bonvillian, who placed 21st, 22nd and 23rd, respectively. Rounding out the Pirate girls were Matti Harvey and Kendall Kurz, who placed 33rd and 34th, and Riah Wigfall who came in 50th out of a field of about 70 total runners.
As a team, the Pirate girls brought home hardware by placing 2nd in a field of 18 teams.
On the boys side the team placed 3rd overall. The Pirate boys were led by David Munger, who crossed the finish line first for the Pirates and fifth overall.
Senior Sam Schisler smashed his old personal record (PR) by 24 seconds, and placed 23rd. Jonas Thompson crossed next, finishing 27th.
Zach Locke, who has presented himself as the fastest freshman of the squad, came in 32nd, followed closely by Tanner Allen, who placed 33rd. Jace Miller, who is another senior on the team, broke his PR by approximately 10 seconds and placed 39th.
Rounding out the Pirate boys were Gage Akright, Camden Gheens, Rhett Hayes and David Lightle. They placed 43rd, 46th, 52nd and 60th. The boys race had over 80 competitors.
The junior varsity race proved to be a thrilling one for the Pirates. Landen Begley and Daniel Kibbler battled throughout the race with Kibbler crossing the finish line first for the Pirates, and sixth overall. Begley crossed just four seconds later, placing seventh.
Kellen Howard finished 15th, Josh Jaworski placed 19th and also set a new PR by running exactly one minute faster than ever before. Rounding out the JV squad were Alejandro Gonzalez and Jacob Pendergrass, who placed 22nd and 30th overall.
The JV race had a total of 42 competitors. As a team, the JV boys also placed 2nd in a field of 7 teams.
Overall, this was another successful performance by the Pirate cross country team. Many of the runners ran their first high school 5K race, and several of the returning runners improved their personal bests.
Next up for the Pirates will be the Forest Park XC Festival on Sept. 9, which is held inside the 1,326 acre park on the west side of St. Louis. It is one of the biggest meets in the state and will feature some of the best runners in the state, as well. It will also be the first race for the Hannibal Middle School cross country team. High school will run on Saturday morning and middle school runs Saturday afternoon.
Source : Hannibal