The Warrenton girls cross country team led Warren County at Friday’s meet in Warrenton.

The Warriors finished seventh in their division with an average time of 25 minutes, 32.23 seconds.

Freshman Lexi Frederick (22:06.40) and senior Andrea Poole (22:25.54) led Warrenton with fifth- and 13th-place finishes, respectively.

“It was impressive how both of them ran on Friday,” Warrenton Head Coach Jeremy Collins said. “They both moved up as the race went along and they finished well. They had a lot of good competition and they were able to run with them.”

Poole was not only the lone upperclassman to compete for the Warriors Friday, she was the only non-freshman runner.

Karlie Patterson (27:05.28), Anahi Saldana (27:40.88), Hannah Hoelscher (28:23.03) and Madalyn Kulhlmann (29:08.44) are all freshmen.

“I’m excited about it,” Collins said of his team’s youth. “They have really worked hard this year and it is exciting to think about how much they can improve if they keep working hard.”

Warrenton isn’t just young on the girls’ side.

Freshmen Corbin Estes (19:53.20) and Paul Sanders (20:31.55) finished 27th and 41st, respectively.

Sophomore Nathan Nordwald continued to impress with a second-place finish, coming in at 17:56.60.

“Nathan had a great race,” Collins said. “Going into the third mile he was in fourth place, but he was hurting.  He was able to focus on the runners ahead of him and he passed two runners, and with 400 meters to go he had a great finish and held on to second place.  It may have been his best race of the year so far.”

Estes finished second on the team.

“Corbin has been working really hard this season,” Collins said. “He is a tough kid and I think before too long he is going to have a breakout race.”

Wright City is relying more on upperclassmen this season.

The Wildcat boys team finished ninth overall and nine seconds behind Warrenton.

Junior Stephan Norwood (19:32.19) led the Wildcats with a 21st-place finish.

“Stephan always surprises me,” Wright City Head Coach Sue Wright said. “He has so much potential. Sometimes we see it and sometime we do not, but he works very hard.”

Senior Jake Mueller was right behind Norwood, finishing 24th overall in 19:45.56.

Wright said she has been working with Mueller since track season on finding untapped potential.

“He always works very hard, I just think he has more than he thinks he has,” Wright said. “I always say it is 10 percent physical and 90 percent mental.  With all the runners on the team we are working on the mental. You have to know you have more inside that you think you have.”

Seniors Wyatt Deroy (20:05.63) and Brice Reash (20:25.26) finished 31st and 40th overall, respectively.

Junior Kyle Bruning was seven seconds behind Reash, finishing 42nd.

Sophomore Tristan Riley (20:44.72) and senior Tanner Riley (21:26.36) rounded out the scoring with 44th- and 56th-place finishes.

Senior Erin Tomschin, the lone Wright City girl to run, finished 11th overall with a time of  22:33.26.

The Wildcats return to action Monday at Elsberry.

“They are working very hard and we are improving each and everyday,” Wright said. “The horizon looks good.”