Before the Montgomery County girls cross country team was getting ready to run in the Eastern Missouri Conference championship meet on Oct. 15 at North Callaway High School, it wanted to honor Caleb Brodersen, a 15-year-old from Stover who was killed in a car accident the day before.

So several of the runners wrote, “Run For Caleb,” on their arms. Brodersen, who was a sophomore, competed in cross country and soccer at Stover High School.

“I talked to him a few weeks ago,” said MCHS senior Lyric Ford, who was a friend of Brodersen. “He was all for getting new PRs (personal records). So I said we should run for Caleb today.”

The Wildcats turned in a performance that would have made Brodersen proud. They won the EMO championship for the second year in a row after placing first with 26 points. Five runners placed in the top 15, including Ford, who won her third individual title with a school-record time of 18:16.

“It’s definitely an honor to win it again, especially at that time because I was aiming for an 18:30 and I was 14 seconds below that,” said Ford, who won the race by 2 minutes, 43 seconds. “That was definitely exciting, for sure.”

Senior Destiny Shaw placed fifth with a 22:29.59, junior Olivia Shaw came in eighth with a 22:45.26, freshman Taylor River finished ninth with a 22:47.53, senior Carie Schroer was 13th with a 23:38.12 and sophomore Madison West placed 25th with a 25:58.

The Wildcats competed without junior Malia Rodgers, who recently suffered a groin injury. She won the EMO individual title last year at Bowling Green.

Also, MCHS had a pair of runners who earned all-conference honors in the boys division. Sophomore Jadrian Thurmon finished sixth with a 17:36 and sophomore Zack Welker placed 10th in 18 minutes.

Last year, the MCHS girls team won its first EMO crown in program history. Ford said this year’s championship was pretty special to her, Schroer and Destiny Shaw, who have competed with the program since they were freshmen.

“We have come such a long way from where we were in our freshman year, for sure,” Ford said. “The growth is crazy. I don’t think we would be as good as we are if we didn’t have each other.”

Now, the seniors hope to finish strong as the Wildcats prepare for the postseason. They will compete in the Class 3 district meet in Fulton on Oct. 29.

Ford picked up her sixth medal in as many meets this season. She also won her fourth race, giving her a total of 11 wins in her high school cross country career.

Destiny Shaw earned her third straight all-conference award with her fifth-place finish, but she was more thrilled about her team’s performance.

“It’s an honor to be all-conference for three years,” the senior said. “But I don’t care that much about individual results. I just really like to help my team out.”

Schroer received her first all-conference award. She also set a personal-best record by eight seconds.

“It’s crazy,” Schroer said. “I never thought I would do it. This is insane. Coach (Chasity Rodgers) told me that I had a shot of doing it.”

Olivia Shaw played on her second EMO championship team this fall. Recently, the junior helped the volleyball team capture its fifth straight conference crown.