Sports
Howell Central Runner Closes Out Cross Country Season at State
Francis Howell Central's Josh McKinley placed 29th at the State cross country meet.
Most athletes who excel often do due to strong goals.
Although Francis Howell Central’s Josh McKinley didn’t achieve all his goals at the State Class 4A Cross Country Meet in Jefferson City last weekend, he still managed an impressive finish—the senior placed 29th with a time of 16:51 .
“I was pretty satisfied with how I did, even though I didn’t get a medal,” McKinley said.
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The top 25 runners in each class are awarded a medal and a place on the all-state team.
“I think my sprints were fine,” McKinley said on his state race. “I finished the first mile at the 5:04 mark and the second mile at the 10:30 mark, but in the last mile, I didn’t have it in me.”
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No stranger to state competition, McKinley qualified for state in his sophomore and junior seasons.
“It helps that you know the course,” McKinley said. “You know where the tough parts are and I feel running on it in past seasons was an advantage. But I still didn’t medal like I wanted to.”
The senior said one of the highlights of his season was winning a district championship at the Class 4, District 4 Tournament McNair Park in St. Charles with a time of 16:55.
“I really didn’t do as well at (Gateway Athletic Conference South) conference as I wanted to,” he said. “I messed up and placed third.”
After winning a district championship McKinley placed third at the Class 4, Section 2 Sectional at McNair Park in St. Charles with a time of 16:49 to qualify for state.
“I knew who the top two runners were going to be,” he said. “And I also knew I had to keep pace with them. Doing that helped me stay at the front.”
McKinley starting running varsity cross country his freshman year and in that first season he set a goal of qualifying for the state tournament and placing well in that tournament. Also a distance runner on the track team, the senior said he’s looking forward to his last season with Howell Central this spring
A state qualifier in two sports, last year he went to the state track tournament in the 1,600-meters.
The senior has aspirations of continuing to run at the college level. He’s currently considering Kansas State University, a Division I school in Manhattan, KS.
“I really want to run at the Division I level,” he said. “But I’m also looking at Kansas State for the academics. They have a good engineering program and I want to be an engineer."