Cardinals finish third at state meet

By Jacob Meikel

Rainy and muddy conditions last weekend in Columbia didn’t thwart a hungry Benton boys cross country team from bringing hardware back to St. Joseph.

The team, having already won a conference title and district title in 2024, finished the season with a third place finish in the Class 3 State Meet over the weekend.

The Cardinals went into the meet last Saturday ranked ninth based on their district finish, giving the team comprised of upperclassmen and promising freshman runners a chance to outdo their ranking.

“If you ask any dude on our team, we knew what we were capable of,” junior Kruz Bigham said.

Kruz Bigham and fellow junior Conner Jones-Taylor finished in the top 20 individually at the Class 3 meet. Jones-Taylor finished the best of the group at fifth place. Jones-Taylor said he stayed conservative in his approach to the race, which turned out to be an effective method to his performance while having to fight rough running conditions. The junior felt confident in himself and his team heading into the biggest meet of the season.

“I think it means a lot for us. We thought it was a really big possibility, especially after getting switched to Class 3, and we were just hype all year. just looking forward to state,” Jones-Taylor said.

The program will graduate one senior from the program following their third place finish to the season, Tabor Bigham, who will continue his career at Missouri Western on its cross country program. Tabor Bigham’s path to the next level was an unlikely story, given this is just his second year competing in cross country.

“It’s just exciting that I get to move to the next level and see what I can do there,” Tabor Bigham said.