Capital City finds first-season cross country success

A runner-up finish at districts for the boys team and a pair of state qualifiers for the girls team.

Not a bad first year for the Capital City cross country program.

"I've been pleased with how everything's gone," Capital City coach Magnus Holmstrom said. "Maybe exceeded expectations a little bit. I don't know if we really thought about getting to the state meet as a team before the season started. That's been a nice kind of surprise a little bit that we got that far the first year."

The two Capital City girls, freshman Yumia Robben and sophomore Alyson Linhardt, will run at 11:30 a.m. today in the Class 3 state championship race at Gans Creek Course Country Course in Columbia.

The boys will compete as a team, taking off from the starting line at 12:35 p.m.

Pacing the Cavaliers all season have been sophomores Ben Lear, Peyton Vogt and Braden Voss.

All three finished in the top nine at the District 4 meet last week at Linn, earning all-district status.

"You can see some of those sophomore boys, especially, taking a little bit of leadership on the team," Holmstrom said. "They're all really good kids. You can trust them and they do what they're supposed to be doing."

Since the class and district assignments weren't announced until just before the second meet of the season, possible postseason achievements weren't on the teams' radar during the preseason.

"Once we saw what district we were in and what schools we were running against, we kind of set some goals," Holmstrom said. "We knew that we had a chance of being top two for sure and then started looking at it a little bit different. And that was our goal going into the district was trying to qualify as a team."

The boys made it through by a point ahead of School of the Osage while the girls missed qualifying as a team with a fourth-place result.

It been a solid season for a program of freshmen and sophomores.

"Training-wise is just kind of building a base at this point," Holmstrom said. "Running miles and getting a good base, aerobic base when they're young. But racing-wise, how to run a 5K and pacing yourself, trying not to go too hard, trying not to go out too slow.

"One thing we focused on every race is go out in the first loop as a pack and then try to be kind of relaxed. And then the second loop, we want to try to finish a little harder. They've been showing that pretty well."

Capital City's remaining varsity runners have shuffled around spots 4-7 for much of the season.

Oliver Sapp, a sophomore, ran one of his best times of the season in the district meet to finished 24th (18:41.40), fourth among the Cavaliers.

"He's been one that's just been getting better and better and better," Holmstrom said. "And you can tell how he's learning how to race and learning how to push himself a little bit."

Fellow sophomore Will Carver, who Holmstrom said is new to the sport, was the sixth-fastest runner for Capital City at districts.

"He's been one that's just come a long ways being on varsity."

Capital City will have a pair of freshmen compete today: Colin Voss and Parker Noble.

"One of the goals in the beginning of the year was getting that mentality, work hard mentality," Holmstrom said. "We work pretty hard and they're starting to see the fruits of it."

Capital City would like to finish in the top half of the 16-team field.

"I think realistically, top 10 for sure," Holmstrom said. "If we have a really good day, I think we can be top eight."

Robben and Linhardt have led the girls team all season.

Robben has wins at Camdenton and Fatima this season, and placed fourth at the district meet.

"I think she could be top 15 for sure, maybe 10," Holmstrom said. "She's looking really good in practices. And Alyson, too, should be knocking at the door of that top 25."

Linhardt has been strong during the last month of the season, taking fourth at Russellville, second at Fatima and 11th at districts.

"I'm excited to see what they can do Saturday," Holmstrom said.

III

The School of the Osage girls will compete as a team today after taking second in the Class 3 District 4 standings behind MICDS.

Baylee Johnson led the Lady Indians, finishing 10th, while Sara Wolf was also all-district, placing 13th. Other state qualifiers for Osage include Sarah Porter (16th), Nevaeh Henley (18th), Madison Kessler (30th), Grace Martin (43rd) and Abby Maschhoff (47th).

Chase Grosvenor and John Markovitz will represent the Osage boys after finishing first and 10th, respectively, at the district meet.

California's Caden Kirksey placed sixth to qualify for state.

For the Blair Oaks Lady Falcons, Kati Schoeneberg was seventh last week and will compete today.