The 2011 Cross Country season had some large shoes to fill as it began a quest for running excellence. Several talented runners had graduated, and SPX was fortunate that new ones lurked on the horizon. What evolved was indeed amazing and inspirational as the boys returned to the state for the 7th straight year and the girls for the 2nd straight and third in five years. The team won 161 medals. The boys and girls both won 3 invitationals; the boys and girls both finished 2nd in the conference; the boys and girls both won a district championship for the first time together. The boys finished 2nd in the state for the second time in 3 years and brought home their 3rd straight plaque. The girls finished 5th for the second straight year, tying the school's best finish. Pius had 4 All-Conference, 5 All-District, 2 All-State, and 4 KC Coaches Class 1A-3A All-Metro. Freshman Katie Lofland won the district championship and finished 4th in the state, the best state finish in girls CC history. The Coaches voted the Pius Boys 3rd best team and the girls 6th best team.

In 2010, another exciting and unprecedented chapter in CC history unfolded. The boys earned a 6th consecutive trip to the state meet, and the girls team, young and inexperienced but potentially very talented, revisited the state meet for the first time since 2007. Boys finished 3rd, girls 5th, their best finish together in the school's history. Pius had its first state champion -- Drew Keefer (16:07). David Stodden won the Conference meet for the 2nd straight year while setting a school record in the process (15:58) We had 4 All-Conference runners, 8 All-District runners, 4 All-State runners, and 4 runners selected to the 1A-3A Coaches All-Metro Team. The coaches also voted Pius' Boys Team 1st in the Metro and the girls team 5th. Coach Murph was selected as "Coach of the Year" for the 2nd time in three years. Team won 102 medals.

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A BRIEF HISTORY of the SPX Harrier Tradition:

Boys cross country at SPX began its ascent in 1983 when John Poole and Mark Mosbacher finished 2nd and 5th in the #1-3A state cross country meet; at the times there were only two classes--class 1A-3A and class 4A. In 1987, 2A evolved.

Presently, there are 4 classes in cross country, equally divided. Pius is 2A.

You may navigate the 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010, and 2011 CC seasons by checking the links from the respective season and seeing the results.

2004 Final Results, Honors

2005 Final Results, Honors

2006 Final Results, Honors

2007 Final Results, Honors

2008 Final Results, Honors

2009 Final Results, Honors

2010 Final Results, Honors

2011 Final Results, Honors

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Boys: Individual State Qualifiers

1993--Justin Iske

1994--Michael Amador, Kevin Sirridge

1995--Matt Iske, Brian Devling

1996--Michael Amador

1997--Michael Amador, Scott Walterbach

1998--Michael Hernandez, Kevin Grooms

1999--Kevin Grooms

2001--Brian Walterbach, Tim Esparza

2003--Chris Garcia, Scott Sellmeyer

2004--Eric Grooms, Scott Sellmeyer

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Boys: Top Individual State Medalists

1A - 3A

1983 2nd John Poole

1983 5th Mark Mosbacher

Class 2A

1987 12th Matt Lary

1999 22nd Kevin Grooms

2000 11th Kevin Grooms

2006 9th Steven Alagna

2008 9th David Stodden ..... 18th Daniel McConnell

2009 4th David Stodden ..... 18th Drew Keefer

2010 1st Drew Keefer ..... 3rd David Stodden ..... 15th James Winkler

2011 12th James Winkler

Other Top 60 Finishes:

2006 26th Alex Lopez

2007 26th Chris Cahill

2008 27th Chris Cahill ..... 30th Francis Orallo ..... 32nd Drew Keefer

2010 56th Christian Stodden

2011 32nd Christian Stodden ..... 54th Joe Ibarra ..... 56th Michael Anderson

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Boys: STATE TEAM Finishes:

2000 5th

2005 10th

2006 4th -- Plaque

2007 10th

2008 2nd -- Plaque (best finish in school history)

2009 6th

2010 3rd -- Plaque

2011 2nd -- Plaque

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Girls: Individual Qualifiers

2000--Nancy Pinkston

2001--Rebecca Tumanut, Melissa Ruhlman

2002--Melissa Ruhlman

2003--Melissa Ruhlman

2006--Hilary Torres, Shelby Danielsen

2008--Hilary Torres, Mary Westerman

2009--Hilary Torres, Randi Toyne, Julia Winkler

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Girls: Top Individual Medalists in State Tournament

1988 7th Jamie Welsh

1988 8th Mary Kaul

1989 8th Jamie Welsh

1990 8th Amy Godbey

2007 25th Shelby Danielsen

2009 20th Hilary Torres

2010 5th Kiden Pitia

2011 4th Katie Lofland

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1991 24th Sarah Carr..... 25th Jamie Welsh

2001 47th Melissa Ruhlman

2002 43rd Melissa Ruhlman

2003 26th Melissa Ruhlman

2006 27th Hilary Torres

2008 56th Mary Westerman

2010 37th Katie Gengler ..... 50th Randi Toyne ..... 56th Katie Ross

2011 37th Katie Ross ..... 38th Randi Toyne ..... 54th Molly Gengler

Team Finishes: Girls

1991 14th

2007 13th

2010 5th -- [best finish in school's history]

2011 5th

"Don't measure yourself by what you have accomplished, but by what you should have accomplished with your ability." John Wooden

John Wooden coached the UCLA men’s basketball team to ten national titles, including seven in a row between 1967 and 1973. Yet, he never implored his team to beat another team. Coach Wooden believed that the score was irrelevant to whether or not you won or lost. He told his players that only they would know whether or not they had won, because winning was determined by whether or not they had given everything they had to give. He told them there was no honor in outscoring another team simply because the other team was lousy or because they got lucky. Likewise, there was no shame in coming up short on the scoreboard if you had given it your all. A good piece of advice from the late John Wooden.

Because everyone plays the game of life with advantages and disadvantages others do not have, we must begin measuring our success based upon our own abilities. You can do with your ability only what you want.

"Interestingly, the typical high school athlete only taps 40% of his or her athletic ability." John Underwood, President, "The Life of an Athlete" (an organization that promotes athletes making good choices about nutrition, drugs, alcohol, sleep, and social contacts).

Running Courses and Their Maps

2011 Lettering Requirements

2011 Schedule (revised)

2011 Directions to Meets

For the 2011 CC season, the girls' captains will be Randi Toyne, and the boys' captains are Michael Anderson and James Winkler.

http://www.athletic.net [site for posted results from meets]

http://www.mshsaa.org {site for state championship results by team and individual runner]

2011 Season So Far:

St. Mary's Invitational: Boys 1st, Girls 1st, 23 team medals

Ray-Pec Invitational: Boys 1st, Girls 6th, 13 team medals

Turner Invitational: Boys 4th, Girls 4th, 8 team medals

Odessa Invitational: Boys 1st, Girls 1st, 22 team medals

Smithville Invitational: Boys 4th, Girls 3rd, 8 team medals

Cass-Midway Invitational: Boys 3rd, Girls 1st, 22 team medals

Savannah Invitational: Boys 2nd, Girls tied for 2nd (3rd on tiebreaker), 18 team medals

Kearney Invitational: Boys 6th, Girls 8th, 15 team medals

West Platte Invitational: Boys 2nd, Girls 3rd, 8 medals

Conference Meet: Boys 2nd, girls 2nd, 5 medals, 5 All-Conference

District Meet: Boys 1st, girls 1st, 7 medals, 7 All-District

State Meet: Boys 2nd, Girls 5th, 2 medals, 2 All-State (James Winkler, Katie Lofland)