A familiar face is back.
The Blair Oaks Lady Falcons return to the Missouri State High School Activities Association Cross Country Championships after a one-year hiatus, as a miss in 2012 broke a string of eight straight appearances.
Now Blair Oaks looks to make some more noise in the Class 2 race at 10:15 a.m. today at the Oak Hills Golf Center.
"If we have an average day I think we can be top-eight," Blair Oaks coach Marc Keys said. "It's hard not to be optimistic, but if every individual runs their best race we can talk about top-four. Why not? You're there, why not take advantage of it?"
It's an interesting mix that brings Blair Oaks back to the state championships - two seniors and five freshmen.
"I knew (returning to state) was a possibility in the first weeks of the season when I saw how good (the freshmen) were," Keys said. "That was very satisfying to see them work hard and learn about the sport. It was very nice to have two very good senior leaders that have had some experience. I think the seniors were excited to see how talented the freshmen were."
Those two seniors - Alyson Jones and Megan Graessle - both have state experience. Jones enters her third appearance, finishing 52nd in 2012 and 48th in 2011, while Graessle is coming off a 71st-place finish last season.
Jones and Graessle have be joined all season by Taylor Scott and Rachel Isenberg.
"We have four girls who are very close, they've traded spots all during the year," Keys said. "I think our core group of four, if they can finish within about 20 seconds of each other, which is a pretty tight pack between 30th and 50th, if that's possible, then our fifth person needs to be top-100, maybe top-80."
That fifth person will come out of a group that includes Sarah Ferrell, Shaley Eichholz and Sarah Casey.
"If we can do that, it's certainly a possibility (to capture top-four finish and a team trophy)," Keys said.
Even if the Lady Falcons are unable to capture a team trophy, Keys feels confident a few girls can take home all-state honors for finishing in the top 25.
"I know Megan and Alyson certainly have a chance," he said. "Two of the other freshmen have been right next to the girls this season. All four of them are very close to all-state. If someone can be all-state, that's just icing on the cake."
Keys placed the favorite label on Fatima - the team that beat Blair Oaks in the district meet - with Springfield Catholic, Herculaneum and Stockton also in the running.
"Those are the names year in, year out," he said.
III
The Blair Oaks boys fell just shy of qualifying for state as a team, but send a trio of runners into today's 9 a.m. race.
Sophomore Nick Yaeger, junior Jason Otto and senior Brad Thomas will give it their best shot.
All three bring back state experience, as Yaeger (43rd), Otto (48th) and Thomas (51st) all performed admirably a year ago compared to their goal for finishing in the top-50.
"This year we're going to step it up and say, "OK, everybody in the top 25,'" Keys said. "That's a fun thing to do. They can take some risks because they don't have any team responsibilities. Lay it out there and see what you've got, have a good time."
While there's no pressure of needing to score for the team, Keys acknowledged sometimes there's an adverse effect.
"When things start to go bad you have an extra motivation, "I have to push through this for my team,'" he said. "If you're there for an individual and things aren't going so well, it's easier to slow down. That's just human nature."
Fatima again appears to be one of the favorites.
"I don't think they are as much of a favorite as the girls are, but they're still a solid team," Keys said. "It will be exciting to watch that to see if both the boys and the girls can win state."