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The 2024 Missouri high school cross country season wrapped up this weekend in Gans Creek Cross Country Course when the MSHSAA hosted the Class 1 to Class 5 finals between Friday and Saturday. 

The festivities held featured sunny conditions on Friday and pouring down rain and mud on Saturday. The weekend saw some new champions and some repeat winners — both individually and in the team standings.

Here is every 2024 MSHSAA state champion from the cross country championships:

FRIDAY

CLASS 5 GIRLS

Top 3 finishers 

1. Bella Navaro-Sanchez, Wentzville Liberty

2. Lucy Wright, Liberty North 

3. Savannah Amann, St. Joseph’s Academy 

Team champion: Eureka

The state trophy was No. 10 for the Lady Wildcats but it was the first championship. Four previous times, Eureka finished as the runners-up. The team had three all-staters: Madison Schepis, Sofia Hoerchler and Daphne Bishop, who was seventh. 

CLASS 5 BOYS

Top 3 finishers 

1. Henry Acorn, Rockhurst

2. Graham Stevener, Kirkwood

3. Luke Sievers, Columbia Rock Bridge

Team champion: Rockhurst

The Hawklets had the champion, a fifth-place finisher in Andrew Davis and Jack McGovern, a freshman, placed ninth. The trophy was the seventh for the Kansas City Jesuit school. This was the thrid title since 2016 for the Hawklets.

CLASS 1 GIRLS

Top 3 finishers 

1. Sonya Brunner, Jefferson City Calvary Lutheran

2. Faith Clark, Mansfield

3. Mya Wray, Platte Valley 

Team champion: Dora 

The Lady Falcons won the school’s first title in the sport by a seven-point margin ahead of Chadwick, last year’s state champion. Sophomore Isabelle Martin paced Dora by placing 17th. 

CLASS 1 BOYS

Top 3 finishers 

1. Nolyn Corder, Mansfield

2. Landen Chapman, Paris 

3. Michael Parrigon, Joplin McAuley Catholic

Team champion: McAuley Catholic

The Warriors had five all-staters – top 30 – and secured the school’s first-ever state championship in not only cross country, but any sports for boys or girls. Parrigon played in a district soccer playoff game the night before the state meet.

SATURDAY

CLASS 4 BOYS

Top 3 finishers 

1. Carson Driemeier, Festus 

2. Liam Adair, Smithville

3. Tate Uding, Festus

Team champion: West Plains

Despite Festus having two in the top three, the state power Zizzers won the title by 22 points. The top five all placed in the top 30, headlined by senior Kyler Gunter in 13th. This was state trophy No. 38 overall and 14th first-place finish.

CLASS 4 GIRLS

Top 3 finishers 

1. Kayleigh Norris, Harrisonville

2. Gabrielle Moresi, Parkway Central

3. Lucy Boyer, Festus

Team champion: Festus

The Lady Tigers won the championship by 10 points, keeping West Plains from sweeping the title. This was the third crown for the St. Louis-area school, all since 2014. 

CLASS 3 GIRLS

Top 3 finishers 

1. Brianna Krueger, St. Charles West

2. Kelly Frank, Kansas City Notre Dame de Sion 

3. Ilene Limberg, Owensville

Team champion: St. Charles West

For the third year in a row, the Lady Warriors took home a state title. The last Class 3 school to do that was Kearney, from 2009-2011. Since MSHSAA to more than three champions in 1998, no Class 3 has won four in a row. 

CLASS 3 BOYS

Top 3 finishers 

1. Brian Burns, Southern Boone 

2. Wyatt Klaiber, El Dorado Springs

3. Sean Burns, Southern Boone

Team champion: Centralia

The Panthers took home a state title, a year after a third-place finish was the school’s first-ever trophy for the program last year. Carter Moss and Nolan Spickert finished 12th and 13th, respectively for the champions, who won by 10 points. 

CLASS 2 GIRLS

Top 3 finishers 

1. Addison Smith, Lexington

2. Clara Trent, Springfield New Covenant Academy

3. Chloe Heckman, North Platte

Team champion: Lexington 

After Smith’s title, Phoebe Engelbrecht (10th) and Tessa Lovell (11th) were also all-staters – and all three are underclassmen. Over the past 6 years, there’s been six different champions in Class 2. This was the Minutewomen’s third straight trophy and first title. 

CLASS 2 BOYS

Top 3 finishers 

1. Chael Lichte, Lexington

2. Brandon Hammett, Butler

3. Colton McMillan, Joplin New Heights Christian Academy

Team champion: Woodland

The southeast Missouri won a title for the second year in a row – which happened after Stockton won the two previous titles before them. The Cardinals had all-state times from Calvin Layton, Hayden Vangennip and Drew Garner.

— Cody Thorn | @sblivemo

“Hot in Herre” rapper Nelly is no longer feeling the heat from Missouri prosecutors three months after he was arrested on suspicion of possession of ecstasy.

The Times confirmed Wednesday that the St. Louis County Prosecuting Attorney’s Office will not charge the Grammy-winning musician. “We don’t believe the facts in this case warrant the issuing of charges,” a spokesperson told The Times in a statement.

A legal representative for Nelly (real name Cornell Iral Haynes Jr.) did not immediately respond to The Times’ request for comment.

The 50-year-old rapper, also known for hits “Dilemma” and “Ride Wit Me,” was arrested Aug. 7 in his home state at a St. Louis-area casino where he was allegedly carrying four ecstasy pills. He was held and released by police in Maryland Heights, a city northwest of St. Louis. At the time, the Missouri State Highway Patrol database also listed a citation for operating a vehicle without proper proof of insurance. Nelly initially received this citation in June 2018 in Maryland Heights. A judge issued a warrant in December 2023, and it remained outstanding.

Attorney Scott Rosenblum said in August that his client had won several casino jackpots and when he sought to collect them, the officer who would have supervised the transaction “needlessly” ran a search for warrants.

Once the officer found the outstanding warrant, he cuffed Nelly’s hands behind his back and, Rosenblum said, “felt compelled” to “parade him through the casino in front of other customers.” He also alleged at the time that the officer had no probable cause to justify the search and expressed confidence that the case would “go nowhere.”

Nelly dodged the charges a little less than three months after he and singer Ashanti welcomed a baby boy, Kareem Kenkaide. After dating on and off for 11 years and then splitting in 2013, the “Body on Me” collaborators rekindled their romance in September 2023.

The musicians secretly married in December 2023, according to a Missouri database.

“I’ve been waiting to be a mom for a long time now but nothing could prepare me for EVERYTHING motherhood brings!” Ashanti wrote in August on Instagram, adding, “I’m so proud of my body for giving me my baby, baby, baby, baby, boy.”

Nelly shares two grown children — Chanelle and Cornell Haynes III — with ex-girlfriend Channetta Valentine. He also adopted his late sister Jackie’s two children after she died of leukemia in 2005.

“Having kids is always a blessing and seeing how dope Ashanti is as a mother is awesome,” he said in a statement shared with The Times in August.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.