Three seniors on the Montgomery County cross country team hope to end their careers on a high note this fall.

Katlyn Kolling, Baileigh Nichols and Taylor River make up the senior class for the Wildcats, who have just eight runners for the 2025 season. They all have a combined nine years of experience.

None of them has ever competed at the state meet. But if any one of them qualifies for Columbia this fall, a long streak will continue. MCHS had a senior compete at the state meet in each of the last five years. Connor Galarza (2020), Dawson McCown (2021), Lyric Ford (2022), Malia Rodgers (2023) and Jadrian Thurmon (2024) participated at state in their senior seasons with the Wildcats.

River said she was excited about coming back for her fourth and final year with the Wildcats. She first started running cross country when she was in eighth grade.

“I’m nervous about it, but I’m pretty excited that cross country is starting again,” River said. “I really like cross country. I like the team this year.”

The Wildcats were scheduled to begin their season on Aug. 29 at the Fort Zumwalt North Twilight Invitational in St. Charles. They will return to St. Charles on Sept. 5 for the First Capitol Meet. The team also has meets at Linn (Sept. 13), Wellsville-Middletown (Sept. 22), Gans Creek (Sept. 27), Orchard Farm (Oct. 9), Bowling Green (Oct. 24) and will compete at the EMO conference meet on Oct. 18 at Bowling Green. The district meet is scheduled for Nov. 1 and the Class 3 state meet is Nov. 7.

River, Kolling and Nichols lead a girls cross country team that has six runners. Juniors Austyn Robinson and Olivia Spurgeon and freshman Anna Johnson round out the squad.

“We have a good team,” River said. “A lot of us have run together for multiple years, so we’re pretty close knit. It’s a good little group. I think we’ll do good this year.”

All three seniors have different goals this season. River wants to have an injury-free senior season after dealing with injuries the last two years. Kolling, who is back for her third year with the Wildcats, wants to improve on her times from last year. Nichols, who competed in her sophomore year, wants to make up for lost time after not running last year.

When she was a freshman, River began her high school cross country career on a high note. She earned all-Eastern Missouri Conference honors after placing ninth with a personal-best time of 22:47 at the EMO meet at Bowling Green and helped her team win its second straight league title.

But the following year, River suffered stress fractures in both of her shins. She ran just three meets in the 2023 season.

The injuries carried over into her junior season. River competed in just four meets.

“That was a pretty long recovery,” River said. “I was in a wheelchair for a while. But I recovered well enough.”

Last year, Kolling ran in six meets. She earned a medal at the Wellsville-Middletown Invitational after placing fourth. She ran a season-best time of 25:57 at the EMO meet.

Kolling’s personal-best time is a 25:32 in the junior varsity division of the Bowling Green Invitational in 2023. She said she wants to surpass that this year.

“I definitely want to get faster,” Kolling said. “I want to get into the 24s if I could, but I also want to work on mentally getting stronger because I let that get to me a lot.”

Nichols ran five meets in her sophomore year. Her best time was a 25:31 at the EMO meet. She said she is trying to get back in shape after taking last year off.

“I feel really slow right now because I haven’t run in forever,” Nichols said.
There are no seniors on the boys cross country team. The squad lost Thurmon, Beckham Cothren and Brendan Craven to graduation last year.