The Wright City boys’ cross country team has epitomized teamwork so far this young season.

The latest evidence came last Saturday at the 41st annual Fulton Invitational.

Running against programs of differing sizes, Wright City finished ninth out of 15 teams but, perhaps most impressively, the Wildcats finished with the third-smallest spread – or finishing time between the first and last runner – at 1 minute, 54 seconds between runners.

Wildcats’ Coach David Schnell praised the team's effort, which has seen its share of variety.

“The boys are really starting to work well together in races,” Schnell said. “They always seem to find one another and work together to move up throughout the race. We've had three races, and in all three we've had a different top finisher.”

Sophomore Clayton Kennon was the top finisher in a time of 20 minutes, 8.30 seconds.

Other finishes included sophomore Frankie Zykan (20:21.80) in 38th, freshman Wilder Hall (21:26.40) in 54th, sophomore Zane Webster (21:27.60) in 55th and freshman Nolan Laughary (22:05.2) in 63rd.

“Clayton was our top returner coming into the year and had his best race on Saturday,” Schnell said. “Nolan showed what he is capable of at Forest Park when he went sub-20. Wilder paced us at Van-Far and did really well on Saturday after working through some illness throughout the week. All three of our sophomores – Frankie, Zane and Clayton – were over two minutes faster at Fulton than they were last year. I am incredibly proud of the improvement they've shown since last year and I think this group of guys has quite a bit more to show this year. As the times continue to drop, being able to race as a pack has the potential for some serious improvements in our team score down the line.” 

Schnell said that the results were about more than numbers, though.

The team gained valuable experience it can use moving forward.

“We were the youngest team out there on Saturday, and getting this varsity-level experience will be so helpful for this group over the next few years,” Schnell said. “They're a very hungry group and they've let me know they are not satisfied with their performances this year so far.” 

On the girls’ side, sophomore Victoria Riggs continued her literal run of dominance.

Her time of 21:41.70 placed her third among the field.

“She's been able to race against some of the top girls in our district these past couple of weeks and I've been very happy with how she's held her own against them,” Schnell said. “I know going in she wanted to beat her time from Forest Park, but Fulton has never been what I consider a fast course with the amount of hard turns you have to make on each loop.”

Schnell said that, for as impressive as her run was, what she did after the race was equally valuable.

“Her post-race cool-down was her running all over that course, cheering on our JV boys team,” Schnell said. “It's really great seeing the team gel as the year progresses. She also continues to show what a great teammate she is.”

Schnell said that it should be interesting to see what Riggs does next week when she runs at the site of the MSHSAA state cross country meet later this season.

That’s when she, along with some friends, will run at the Gans Creek Invitational.

“She had to run solo this week since many of her teammates were out for different reasons on Saturday,” Schnell said. “So, hopefully, we can get a full team around her this week at Gans Creek.”

Wright City wasn’t the only Warren County team to run at Fulton.

Liberty Christian junior James Guinn (22:45.70) finished 71st and senior Ryan Hoffmann (23:42.50) finished 82nd.