Christy leads Newton boys in annual cross country trip to St. Louis

ST. LOUIS, Missouri — Cooper Christy led a flock of Cardinals at the 20th Annual Forest Park Cross Country Festival on Saturday.

The Newton boys cross country team took its annual trip to St. Louis, Missouri, and finished 21st in the varsity Green Division.

“The boys ran great races but due to the high heat, they were about the same as earlier in the week,” Newton head boys cross country coach Steve Weeks said. “Getting 21st place in the competitive Green race is pretty solid considering the talented teams who were in attendance.”

Christy led the Cardinals in the boys’ Green Division 5K race. He finished 53rd in 17 minutes, 7.6 seconds.

Lance Zaabel (17:36.4) was 83rd, Abel Aldama (18:59.9) ended up 137th and Levi Zaabel (19:06.6) took 140th. Drew Lamont (19:15.4) returned from an illness to place 144th as the team’s final scoring runner.

David Wickett (19:34.1), Noah Tremel (20:20.5) and Ben Magana (20:29.5) were non-scoring runners in 152nd, 167th and 171st, respectively.

“(Christy) and (Lance Zaabel) got themselves out in the front crowd early and fought to stay with such a fast pack,” Weeks said. “The rest of the team got caught behind the mass and spent most of the race passing others and jockeying for position.

“In a trip that included a visit to the St Louis Arch and the St. Louis Zoo and a trip to Imo’s Pizza, the boys were happy with the race results they had.”

Host St. Louis University High School won the Green Division championship with 51 points. The team’s five scoring runners finished in the first 15 positions.

Kickapoo (140), Jackson (169), St. Louis University ‘B’ (187) and Webster Groves (211) completed the top five.

Newton was 21st in the 25-team field with 523 points.

Rockhurst’s Jack McGovern won the boys’ Green Division race in 15:05.4. Max Weber of Bethalto (Civic Memorial) was the runner-up in 15:09.9.