ST JAMES — Sweeping both varsity time titles last year in north of Hermann, Matt Candrl’s Owensville Dutchmen and Dutchgirl cross country teams looked to duplicate the feat last Tuesday at Maramec Spring Park south of St. James.

Coming into the annual Four Rivers Conference (FRC) Cross Country meet, Owensville was the three-time defending champions on the girl’s side and the five-time defending champions on the boy’s side.

Seeing four Dutchgirls in the top 10 earning All-FRC honors, Owensville claimed their fourth consecutive FRC team title scoring a meet-low 41 points.

Conquering Shaw Nature Reserve, Loutre Shore Golf Course and Owensville Golf Course, Dutchgirl senior Sophia Ashner looked to add Maramec Spring Park to her list of FRC courses won and become a four-time FRC individual champion.

Locked in a tight battle with Union sophomore Ella Coppinger, Ashner briefly had the lead with about 300 meters to go before Coppinger’s last kick gave the Lady Wildcat a winning time of 19:27.49 just ahead of Ashner’s second-place time of 19:30.54 on the flat, fast course south of St. James.

“I thought I had her in the end but she out kicked me,” Ashner said. “I’m happy I was able to help our team win the (Four Rivers) conference title for the fourth year in a row.”

Earning All-FRC honors along with Coppinger and Ashner in the varsity girl’s race were Hermann’s Morgan Miller (3rd, 19:32.42), OHS’ Kendra Hults (4th, 19:34.06), OHS’ Mekayla Gibson (5th, 19:42.90), Sullivan’s Emily Willman (6th, 19:46.00), Union’s Anna Brakefield (7th, 20:09.91), OHS’ Katie Candrl (8th, 20:29.11), Hermann’s Katy Menke (9th, 20:35.23) and Hermann’s Clara Scheible (10th, 20:35.40.)

Other Dutchgirl harriers helping Owensville to their fourth straight FRC team title were Macy McKinney (22nd, 21:59.37), Arissa Huff (34th, 23:28.16), Kyra Binkhoelter (41st, 24:14.77) and Molli Gross (49th, 25:05.03).

“Our girls did what it took to get it done and I’m proud of all of them,” Coach Candrl said. “I’m happy to see our seniors go out as four-time conference champions.”

Next up was the varsity boy’s race with Candrl’s Dutchmen going for an unprecedented sixth consecutive FRC team title.

Finishing behind Hermann at their invitational and in Owensville earlier this month, OHS hoped the third time would be the charm.

Seeing three Bearcats finish in the top five, Owensville’s streak came to an end with Hermann capturing their first-ever FRC team title in cross country.

“We ran the best we could today and you simply have to tip your hat to Hermann,” Coach Candrl said. “They ran a great race and they’ll be a force to reckon with in their Class 2 district.”

Nearly breaking the 16-minute mark, Hermann junior Dalton Gleeson won the individual title with a winning time of 16:18.43.

Joining Gleeson in the top 10 earning All-FRC honors were Hermann’s Carter Hemeyer (2nd, 16:29.80), Sullivan’s Isiah Huskey (3rd, 16:47.64), Union’s Dominick Beine (4th, 16:59.67), Hermann’s Jake Weber (5th, 17:02.46), OHS’ Austin Terry (6th, 17:11.96), Pacific’s Collin Haley (7th, 17:14.12), New Haven’s Austin Tegler (8th, 17:15.81), St. Clair’s Case Busse (9th, 17:18.81) and Pacific’s Nick Hunkins (10th, 17:20.36).

Fellow Dutchmen harriers helping OHS finish second in the varsity boy’s team standings behind Hermann were Bam Wizeman (11th, 17:23.80), Cameron O’Neal (12th, 17:24.14), Treyden Williams (23rd, 18:29.23), Freddy Zheng (30th, 19:01.07), Jacob Breedlove (31st, 19:06.98), Christian Lowes (36th, 19:42.58), Dylan Fudge (40th), 21:05.93), Justin Garner (45th, 22:11.86) and Edward DeLong (49th, 22:58.48).

Next on the course at Maramec Springs was the junior varsity girls.

Dating back to the fall of 2014, Owensville has won the JV girls team title four times.

Behind Kiera Finn’s first-place time of 22:44.81, Candrl’s JV Dutchgirls made five team titles and four in a row dating back to 2016.

Joining Finn with top-ten finishes and medals in the JV girls race were OHS’ Kyah Weirich (2nd, 22:47.39), St. James’ Erika Deardeuff (3rd, 23:06.05), St. Clair’s Ella Edsel (4th, 23:35.04), OHS’ Saylor Richardson (5th, 23:58.72), St. Clair’s Liliana Vernon (6th, 24:21.77), New Haven’s Hannah Borcherding (7th, 24:32.01), St. Clair’s Melodi Miller (8th, 24:37.65), St. Clair’s Riley Ostendorf (9th, 25:14.48) and OHS’ Isabelle Bruckerhoff (10th, 25:18.96).

Also helping the JV Dutchgirls top St. Clair in the team standings were Julianna Watkins (12th, 26:25.83) and Savannah McClure (24th, 29:38.69).

Topping Hermann by nine points the previous Tuesday on the R-2 campus, Candrl’s JV Dutchmen harriers looked to once again sit atop the team standings as FRC champions.

Unable to overcome three runners each from St. Clair and Hermann in the top 10, Owensville settled for third place as a team behind the Bulldogs and Bearcats.

St. Clair freshman Jonathan Brewer won the JV boys individual title with a first-place time of 18:57.30.

Joining Brewer in the top 10 and earning medals were St. James’ Zachary Deardeuff (2nd, 19:04.21), Hermann’s Kaleb Means (3rd, 19:05.93), OHS’ Harm Rademacher (4th, 19:08.74), Hermann’s Tavis Harris (5th, 19:12.34), St. Clair’s Logan Smith (6th, 19:25.49), St. Clair’s Aiden McCormack (7th, 19:28.16), Hermann’s Zach Meyer (8th, 19:33.64), Hermann’s Morgan Engemann (9th, 19:34.18) and OHS’ Braedn Stone (10th, 19:38.27).

JV Dutchmen also helping Owensville to a third-place team finish were Trevor Shockley (12th, 19:52.30), Noah Holtmeyer (17th, 20:41.39), Samuel Nicks (25th, 21:20.29), Samuel Hoffman (36th, 24:16.47) and Erik Shell (37th, 34:49.87).

A complete recap of Owensville Middle School cross country from the FRC meet at Maramec Spring Park south of St. James will be in next week’s Republican kicking off the month of November.