Findley Repeats at Chile Pepper, First and Only MO Girl Under 18:00
Continuing the trend of proving the Webmaster's preseason rankings dead wrong, Victoria Findley, star senior from Blue Springs South, continued her run of dominance in this 2017 season with a repeat victory at the enormous Chile Pepper Cross Country Festival. Last year's victory was slightly faster (7 seconds to be exact), but this year's 17:40 should not make you scoff as it makes her the first and only girl under 18:00 this season and only pads her resume for this season. Further, she secured another victory over Washington senior Mikayla Reed, but this time Reed ran 18:12, 1 second faster than what she ran last season. As a result, we are on high alert as this may be the point where we see Reed round into her late season form and begin the run of dominance that she showed last season. The 2017 Chile Pepper result was almost identical to the 2016 result. Keep your eyes peeled. She also grabbed another victory over Liberty junior Madelynn Hill who continues to shine and break 19:00. She actually finished in 18:26, another PR, but 2 seconds behind Bolivar senior Kelie Henderson's 18:24. Henderson was the top Class 3 returner this year and Saturday's result shows that she should be in no danger of relinquishing her #1 ranking in Class 3, especially considering she is third fastest in the entire state at the moment. Blue Springs South senior Danielle Hotalling was actually right behind Hill this time as she came across in 18:27. Nationally ranked Keller (TX) averaged 18:18 and ran away with the team title and the first Missouri team came through in 7th, but it was Blue Springs South, followed by a resurgent Washington in 9th and an equally resurgent and similarly dangerous Central (St. Joseph) in 10th.