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The 2010 Forest Park Cross Country Festival is this weekend and the meet that has become one of the largest and most competitive in the entire Midwest promises to live up to all the hype once again. The following article breaks down the featured races and tells you who to look out for on Saturday as teams and individuals battle for early season bragging rights and the right to be called a Forest Park Cross Country Festival Champion!
The fifth annual Forest Park Cross Country Festival will be the biggest yet with more than 90 schools and more than 2,800 athletes scheduled to compete. If all goes well the thousands of spectators on hand should see not only the biggest but also the fastest and deepest fields in meet history.
The must-see races in 2010 will once again be the GO! St. Louis green division varsity races which feature the defending individual and team champions for both boys and girls. A year ago it was Jefferson City's Briana Watson who led a record 20 ladies under the 20-minute barrier when she took home top honors in 18:59.8. She will have her work cut out for her as she defends her title on Saturday against one of the best runners in the Midwest, Colleen Quigley of Nerinx Hall. Quigley, who did not compete at last year's Festival, had a breakout year in 2009-2010 finishing third at the State Cross Country Meet, 14th at the Foot Locker Midwest Regional and runner-up in the 1600 and 3200 at the State Track Meet last spring. Other top contenders include Krista Menghini from St. Joseph's Academy, Kickapoo's Liz Reida, Herculaneum's Kaitlyn Fischer and MICDS' Grace Bridwell who was second to Watson in 2009.
On the team side look out for a possible five-team battle for the top spot between Eureka, Lindbergh, Herculaneum, Lee's Summit North and the defending champs from Kickapoo. Eureka returns their entire top seven from 2009 as does Lindbergh. Herculaneum dominated the Class 2 State Meet a year ago and they'll no doubt relish the opportunity to show their goods against the bigger schools on Saturday. Lee's Summit North may be a darkhorse but they aren't coming all the way from Kansas City for nothing. Look for the Lady Broncos to put up a good fight led by their one-two punch of Tessa Riley and Taylor Hynes.
The boys team race has belonged to only one squad for the last three years at Forest Park and that's the hosts from Saint Louis University High School. SLUH won the 2009 Festival in commanding fashion with a 70-point win over Marquette University High School from Milwaukee. The two Jesuit powerhouses will go at it once again on Saturday but they'll have to contend with Columbia Rock Bridge for top honors. The Rock Bridge crew is led by one of the favorites for the individual title; junior Caleb Wilfong. They were third a year ago but many are picking them as a possible State Title contenders in 2010 and if that's the case then the home crowd from SLUH might need to be counting yellow jerseys on Saturday.
Wilfong's jersey, in particular, should be visible up front as it was in 2009 when he finished a surprising fourth as a sophomore. The odds-on favorite though is the meet's defending champion Caleb Hoover from College Heights Christian. Hoover ran 15:35.2 a year ago to kick off a season that ended with a State Title and in between featured too many course records to count. In most meets Hoover winning should be a sure thing in 2010 but that won't be the case on Saturday. In addition to Wilfong he'll have to contend with 4:13 miler Daniel Everett from Westminster Christian Academy, double State Track runner-up David Lambus from University City, home-town favorite Tim Rackers from SLUH and the man who's been turning heads so far this season in Kansas City; Zach Herriott from Rockhurst. Then there's O'Fallon (IL) star Mike Scolarici who was seventh at the extremely tough Illinois Class 3A State Meet in 2009. Many on the Missouri side of the river may not know Scolarici but for those who do seeing him cross the line first on Saturday would not be a surprise.
While the GO! St. Louis varsity races will be talked about the most leading up to the meet, and rightfully so, there are thirteen total races at the Forest Park Cross Country Festival and each always has its own drama. The meet has seen fantastic come-from-behind wins in the freshman and middle-school divisions and the junior varsity races provide just as much great team drama as you will see at the varsity level. Even the open race, which kicks off the event at 7:30am and features coaches, parents, brothers and sisters as well as the public will be a race-to-watch with Big River Racing Team members Adam MacDowell and Carter Snow scheduled to compete.
Check www.bigriverrunning.com after the meet for full results and momilesplit.com for race videos and athlete interviews. A live internet broadcast of the meet will be available at prepcasts.com and there will be a live preview show on Wednesday night September 8th at 7pm also on prepcasts.
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