The Jefferson City Lady Jays want a better showing.
After finishing 11th as a team in 2012, the Lady Jays hope to improve their standing entering today's Missouri State High School Activities Association Cross Country Championships at the Oak Hills Golf Center.
Jefferson City runs in the Class 4 race at 12:35 p.m.
"We feel like we should be a top-10 team, it'd be a real good day for us if we were in the top eight," Jefferson City cross country coach Brett Phillips said. "I think that's a very reasonable goal."
One obstacle standing in the way is the recent health of Jefferson City's top runner. Junior Kaley Ruff, a two-time all-state performer, only has four races under her belt after missing significant time with an abdominal pull and subsequent complications.
"She hopes to recapture the form where she was the last two years," Phillips said. "It takes time. That (13th-place finish at the sectional meet) was her best race of the year. We have to be realistic. Given her injury and where she is, she's racing really well right now. We think hopefully a goal for her is top-40. Knowing her, she's liable to peak just huge."
Stepping up lately has been senior Emily Deeken, who finished fifth at the sectional meet and 58th at last year's state meet. Phillips hopes for a top-25 finish out of Deeken today.
"I think that's reasonable for her," Phillips said. "It's not automatic, she's going to have to have a great race. A great race gets her in there. She's our team captain, she's our leader, she's had a heck of a year, she's been a stud for four years. She's what you want out of a Lady Jay."
Phillips is looking for top-50 finishes from Lindsey Biesemeyer and Tori Bonnot.
"Lindsey has massively improved," Phillips said. "She's a very, very hard worker.
"We feel like in Ruff, Biesemeyer and Bonnot we can get three kids in the top 50 if they race great. There's a very small margin for error at the state meet. They could also be in the 90s. We feel those kids are capable."
The fifth runner is Jaycie Sabala.
"She's had a heck of a year," Phillips said. "She's capable of being halfway through the field (around 80th). We think you always have a puncher's chance of being a pretty good team if you get your fifth runner halfway through the field, and we feel we can do that."
Madison Hart and Natalie Vance will round out Jefferson City's squad.
"They're good, solid kids who are going to push those other kids," Phillips said.
Jefferson City is prepared and ready. Now it's all about taking care of business.
"The kids have to be mentally ready to go to war for about 20 minutes, and really scrap and fight and finish," Phillips said. "They can't give up and can't give in. Every runner counts. That person in front of you is the kid that's going to beat your team, that's the person you have to pass."
Phillips puts Rock Bridge - the team the Lady Jays finished behind at the sectional meet - at the top of a short list of teams capable of winning the team title.
"We were competitive enough with Rock Bridge, who we feel is the frontrunner for the state title," Phillips said. "I think they're the best team out there."
Phillips added defending state champion Francis Howell, Lee's Summit West - a team that had won five straight team titles before last season - and Lee's Summit North and Eureka on that list as well.
"Your trophies are going to come out of those teams," Phillips said.
III
For the third time in four years, Jefferson City did not qualify for the state meet as a team on the boys side. In a bigger shocker, no individuals qualified for the Jays either.
"Obviously we were disappointed with the boys side," Phillips said. "We feel like we should have been the type of team to qualify and did not. It's incredibly frustrating because the standards we have for ourselves and this program and this community has for me is a heck of a lot higher than that."
Phillips believes Rock Bridge and West Plains are the favorites to take home the team title, while Lafayette, St. Louis University High and Liberty will fight for one of the top-four team trophies.