The Warrenton girls and boys cross country teams started their season on Aug. 30 at the Mexico Fall Invitational. In the first race of the day, Alexis Ruff and Madeline Schoppenhorst competed. 

Ruff placed seventh in the 5k course with a time of 23 minutes and 38 seconds and Schoppenhorst placed 17th with a time of 24:58. 

Head Coach Jeremy Collins mentioned this was Schoppenhorst’s first high school race and he can see her taking off more time as the season goes on. 

He also added that Ruff’s time improved from last year on a probably more difficult course.  

Ruff was a state qualifier last year and is hoping to return to the state meet again. 

“She has a year of experience and seems to be a little stronger this year, so we are hoping she continues to build on last year and keep improving,” Collins said. 

The boys had five runners competing. Three were returners and two were first-time runners. Jacob Beckemeyer placed 16th with a time of 19:16. Matt Craven came in right after Beckemeyer in 17th in 19:18. 

Senior Dylan Coleman, who is in his first year of running cross country, placed 31st in 20:07. 

Collins is looking forward to seeing what Coleman can do after coming off of a successful track season. 

Noah Cline raced in a time of 21:27 placing 47th and Trenton Hummel finished 58th in 22:27. 

The team placed sixth overall out of nine teams. Collins is expecting to see a lot of improvement from last season as they continue in the fall and gain more experience. 

Collins added that he will be looking to establish the team’s top seven runners as the season goes on. He believes he can get their top three runners under 18 minutes, with two or three runners in the low 18 minute range. 

“We have a tough group of guys who are going to work hard and put in the effort,” Collins said. “When those are the ingredients they display, great things can happen as a team.”