The OHS boys and girls cross country teams pushed through the heat to start off their season at the Lutheran South meet at Jefferson Barracks park on Friday, Sept. 5.

New runners Dylan Ochoa (9) and Matt Pinner (9) finished in the top seven of the team, boosting both the team’s overall time and confidence.

“We [have] a lot of young kids,” boys head coach Kevin Niedringhaus said. “But we did alright.”

Despite running in over 100-degree heat, the boys finished their 5k race with an average time of 20 minutes and 44 seconds, putting them in eighth place out of the 20 schools that participated.

“It’s early in the season, but I think we can still make it out of districts as a team.” said varsity runner Griffin Bailey (12), who finished first out of the Oakville boys in the meet.

The girls team performed exceptionally well, considering the weather,  finishing in fourth place out of 11 schools. Girls head coach Emily Baker believes they can still improve, but she was satisfied at the girls’ performances. Varsity runners Bridget Costello (9), Emily Bayer (9), Jamie Pybas (10), Maddie Powers (11), and Magalie Thauvette (10) all finished in the top 35 out of 119 runners, finishing close together as well.

With the experience behind them, both the boys and girls teams are preparing for the Cross Country Festival at Forest Park on Saturday, Sept. 13. The meet involves all kinds of schools from around Missouri. According to varsity girls runner Jamie Pybas (10), it will be “a very interesting meet.”