Congratulations to Julie Steilen on being selected to the KC Star's All-Metro Honorable Mention team.

The cross country team placed 5th at the MSHSAA Class 3 State Championship. Sophomore Julie Steilen led the teamwith her 15th place finish earning All-State Honors.

Congratulations to the cross country team on winning the MSHSAA Class 3 District 7 Championship over the weekend.  This is the 15th time in the last 17 years they have been district champions. Julie Steilen was the individual champion. Congratulations to the following on All-District Honors: Julie Steilen (1st), Lauren Blando (3rd), Meghan Kearney (5th), Ellie Stingley (13th) and Caroline Thompson (14th).

Congratulations to the cross country team as they won both the jv and varsity races at their last regular season meet, the Richmond Invitational. The Storm also had the individual winner of both races, Julie Steilen in the varsity and Olivia Dugan in the jv.  The district meet is next Saturday, Oct. 27 at Ray-Pec High School.

The cross country team won both varsity and jv competitions at the Warrensburg Invitational in impressive fashion. The varsity scored 28 points and the jv scored a perfect 15 points.

The varsity and jv cross country teams both place 4th in the Kearney invitational over the weekend.

9/20/12 Grandview - The jv team was led to a 2nd place finish by juniors Natalie Moran and Mackenzie Manning both placing in the top 10 (6th and 8th, respectively). The Storm place 6 others in the top 25 (Olivia Dugan 15th, Brittany Koppers 16th, Sarah King 19th, Natalie Ismert 21st, Madeline Hollenbeck 23rd and Abbie Young 25th). The varsity team also placed 2nd behind an outstanding performance by Julie Steilen. Julie placed 2nd running her second fastest time ever at 20:16, while Lauren Blando was 12th, Molly McCarthy was 13th, Anna Demetree was 19th, Meghan Kearney was 21st, Caroline Thompson was 31st and Ellie Stingley was 34th. There were a total of 13 girls that ran season bests at Grandivew.

9/15/12 Blue Springs - For the second straight week the cross country team had great weather, this week on the tougher course at Lake Jacomo. This week the jv girls got things started. Caroline Thompson, in her first race of the year, ran a tough race beating two Lee's Summit North girls to the finish for the win. The jv team placed second behind a strong LSN team. Other medalists in the jv race: Anna Lillis (4th), Olivia Dugan (7th), Brittany Koppers (10th), Katie Pendergast (13th), Natalie Ismert (15th), Abbie Young (17th), Madeline Hollenbeck (22nd). Also, running in the jv race: Mickaela Gill (29th), Serena Coyler (32nd), Kaitlin Wagner (46th), Milan Cucchiara (47th), Mary Horn (55th), Addy Harris (58th), Alex Aye (61st), Phoebe Schoeck (66) and Abby Hamilton (73rd).

The varsity was once again led by Julie Steilen. Julie had a fantastic race finishing 4th in her second fastest time ever. Freshmen Lauren Blando and Anna Demetree once again finished within a second of each other, placing 13th and 14th respectively, in their first ever varsity race. Molly McCarthy was the Storm's number four runner placing 22nd overall. Ellie Stingley, the Storm's final scorer, placed 26th just missing a medal by one position in her first ever varsity race. Right behind Ellie was Natalie Moran (30th) and Mackenzie Manning (35th).

Even though the course was definitely tougher this week, 8 of the 18 girls that ran both last week and this week ran faster this week. Great job!

9/8/12 Ray-Pec Invitational - Unlike last week, this week the team had beautiful weather. The schools were divide into large class and small class, in which Sion was competing. The varsity got the day started and was led by Julie Steilen (5th). Julie ran an outstanding time of 19:56 and has joined the rather exclusive 'Under 20 Club' and has earned an 'Under 20' shirt. Julie was joined on the awards stand earning individual medals by fellow sophomores Meghan Kearney (7th) and Molly McCarthy (15th). Rounding out the varsity team were juniors Mackinzie Manning (31st) and Natalie Moran (33).

The jv team, like the freshmen last week, came away from the meet with a perfect score of 15. The jv team was led by freshmen Lauren Blando and Anna Demetree, as they ran most of the race side by side again this week. This week, however, it was Lauren winning for the first time while Anna placed 2nd. Both girls ran under 22:00 minutes which means they have earned 'Under 22' shirts. The next 5 finishes were running in their first high school 5k; Ellie Stingley (3rd), Olivia Dugan (4th), Anna Lillis (5th), Sarah King (6th) and Katie Pendergast (8th). Rounding out the team were Natalie Ismert (9th), Abbie Young (12th), Madeline Hollenbeck (13th), Mikaela Gill (24th), Kaitlin Wagner (35th), Milan Cucchiara (42nd), Mary Horn (46th) and Alex Aye (47th). Every single girl that ran in this meet last year, and also ran today, improved on last year's time. Alex Aye earns bragging rights as the most improved from last year by lowering her time by 2:50. Congratulations to Alex and the whole team on a great effort!

9/1/12 Liberty Invitational - The first race of the season featured the freshman (and the remnants of Hurrican Isaac). As a team they couldn't have done any better, scoring a perfect 15 points (see picture below). Anna Demetree and Lauren Blando were side by side most of the race. In the end Anna edged Lauren for a win in her first high school race. Following Anna and Lauren were Olivia Dugan (3rd), Anna Lillis (4th), Katie Pendergast (5th), Madeline Hollenbeck (9th), Sarah King (10th), Kaitlin Wagner (24th) and Milan Cucchiara (27th).

The Storm's top finisher in the jv race was also running in her first race ever. Ellie Stingley (SO) placed 8th in the jv race with a great effort on a course that continued to get more sloppy as the day went on. Ellie was followed by Natalie Ismert (16th), Abbie Young (30th), Allie Martinsen (57th), Phoebe Schoeck (61st) in her first race ever, Alex Aye (76th), and Mary Horn (85th). By the time the varsity ran at 10:45, after 6 races, the course was a disaster. In some places it was hard to stand up, let alone run. The varsity team placed 6th overall and 3rd in the small school division. The Storm was led in the varsity race by two sophomores placing in the top 10, Julie Steilen (7th) and Meaghan Kearney (9th). They were followed by Molly McCarthy (41st), Natalie Moran (49th), Brittany Koppers (55th) and Mackenzie Manning (58th). Everyone did a great job given the conditions!

8/25/12 Time Trial - The cross country team had great weather for their time trial Saturday morning. They were led by Julie Steilen and Meghan Kearney.