State Secret: Clayton Cross-Country Team Looks to Crack Top Four

Coach Curtis Werner thinks the post-season successes of the girls and boys cross-country teams this year are a sign of growth.

The boys won the District 4 Class 3A title at Warrenton High School on Saturday, the first district title for Clayton since 1999. The first-place finish sends the Greyhounds to the state cross-country meet in Jefferson City this Saturday. The top two teams in each Class 3A district qualify for state as a team. The girls finished third.

“We’re competing with schools like , Festus and , some of the big 3A schools in Missouri,” Werner said. “We’re finally getting in there" and competing.

Matthew Garrett, a junior, led the way for the Greyhounds in the district tournament with a fifth-place finish and a time of 17:56, Werner said. Senior Matthew Millett placed eighth (18:08), junior Jake Bernstein placed ninth (18:18) and sophomore Andy Hodapp placed 12th (18:28). Also for Clayton, senior Derrick Stone placed 15th (18:30), senior Dan Pipert placed 16th (18:31), and senior Caleb Grady placed 17th (18:31).

“It was about packing it up and packing it in, like the old House of Pain song,” Werner said on the strategy for the district meet. “They stayed together for a majority of the race and then it broke off after about the first mile.”

Naturally, Werner has big goals for the state meet.

“We want to place in the top four,” Werner said. “We want to be able to get up on the stage, that’s where we want to be.”     

To qualify for state as an individual in Class 3 competition, an athlete must finish in the top 15 in a district meet. Clayton senior Nicole Indovino placed eighth with a time of 20:21. This year marks the fourth time that Indovino has qualified for state.

“She’s never been all-state before, and we’d like to see her get an all-state plaque this year,” Werner said.

One has to place in the top 25 to be all-state. Werner, in his fifth year as head cross-country coach, said participation in off-season workouts helped his team reach new heights in the post-season.   

“We did a lot of winter running,” Werner said. "(Assistant) coach (Pat) Sullivan and I worked with them a lot in the winter, and (former Clayton cross-country) coach (Marion) Freeman worked with them a lot in the summer. It made a world of difference.”