Montgomery County’s top running duo of Emma Rodgers and Jadrian Thurmon shined again on Oct. 5 at the North Callaway Invitational.

Rodgers won the individual championship in the girls division and Thurmon came in third in the boys race at the North Callaway meet, which was held at the North Callaway High School campus. They were the only Wildcats to earn medals at the high school meet.
Rodgers finished with a time of 21:46 and won the girls race by 13 seconds. Thurmon ran a 17:38 in the boys race.

After five meets, Rodgers and Thurmon have a combined seven medals. Rodgers picked up her fourth medal and her second victory of the season after coming out on top at North Callaway, while Thurmon received his third medal of the year.

Five weeks ago, Rodgers began her high school cross country career with a win at the Mexico Invitational. The freshman said she was thrilled to get another victory at North Callaway.

“It was really nice because we had a few really tough meets,” said Rodgers, who was one of three MCHS girls participating in the North Callaway race. “My placing wasn’t really that great, but it was nice to get another win after those giant meets.”

Rodgers competed at the North Callaway Invitational for the second year in a row. She placed second in the middle school girls race when she was an eighth-grade student at Montgomery County Middle School.

In addition to her victories at Mexico and North Callaway, Rodgers also placed 24th in the Forest Park Invitational in St. Louis with a season-best time of 20:22 and sixth in the Gans Creek Classic in Columbia. She also ran a 20:27 at the Missouri Southern Stampede in Joplin.

Rodgers said the big meets such as the Missouri Southern Stampede, Forest Park Invitational and Missouri Southern Stampede prepared her for smaller meets such as the North Callaway Invitational.

“They’re really helping me because for me, when I see all of those people, it’s stressing me out,” Rodgers said. “Then, when I come here (at North Callaway), I like, ‘OK, it’s not that many people.’”

Rodgers said Thurmon has been helpful to her all season long.

“He’s a great teammate,” Rodgers said. “He is always helping us out. He gives us advice all of the time. It’s great. It’s nice having a leader to help the younger ones out.”

Thurmon began his senior season on Aug. 30 with a second-place finish at the Mexico Invitational. He had 37th-place finishes in the next two weeks at Forest Park and Missouri Southern. On Sept. 28, he won the white division of the Gans Creek Classic.

“Overall, my season has gone pretty well,” Thurmon said.

Now, he’s looking to turn in a strong showing at the Eastern Missouri Conference meet on Oct. 19 at North Callaway. He earned all-conference honors in each of the last two years.

“I’m hoping to win this year,” Thurmon said. “My times have been pretty consistent aside from today, being in the low to mid-16s. I’m hoping to break the school record that day as well. I’ll just go out there and attack. If no one wants to come with me, then I’ll do it alone. That’s what I got to do. It’s going to be really hard to try to break the school record on the state course because it’s not going to be flat.”

The MCHS boys placed fourth in the team standings with 98 points.

Sophomore Jacob Roesner came up four places short of a medal, finishing 19th with a 20:23.

Also, MCMS seventh-grade student Avery Finke earned a medal in the middle school girls race, placing 14th with a 14:28.