Matt Duncan hopes his third and final trip to Hough Park is his best.
Duncan, an all-state member of the Rolla High School boys’ cross country team, hopes to put it all together on Saturday morning at the Missouri Class 4 Championships.
The Class 4 state race will be held at Hough Park in Jefferson City. The Class 4 boys’ race -- the fourth of the morning -- is to begin at 10:45 a.m.
It will be Duncan’s third state meet. After placing 48th as a sophomore he earned all-state honors with a 22nd-place finish last fall.
He’s hoping the improvement continues.
“I’m right where I should be with training,” Duncan said. “I think a top-15 finish would be an excellent finish for me. Time-wise around 16:20 would be good for me.”
Duncan has had a solid senior year. He’s had a personal-best time of 15:41 in the Rolla Invitational earlier in the season. And he’s coming off a seventh-place performance in last week’s Class 4 Section 3 Meet at Ha Ha Tonka State Park in Camdenton.
“I believe he’s very ready,” said Bulldog cross country coach Don Knapp. “His workouts have been very good the past week. I think he’s ready to run a great race.”
Knapp is not surprised by Duncan’s strong senior season. Calling his senior standout a “strength” runner, Knapp says Duncan has put in all the required work...and then some.
“He’s done a little more volume training; significantly more during the summer,” Knapp said. “And he’s concentrated more on quality running this fall. Plus he’s another year more mature and a little stronger. He’s just a little more advanced.”
The hilly conditions that the state course offers figures to be a plus for Duncan.
“It’s a strength-runner type course,” Duncan said. “And I like a strength course better than a speed course.
“We have a pretty good mix of flat courses and more hilly courses on our schedule. District was an exceptional race for me. Sectional was tough. We have a really tough sectional and it was good to see those people to run with.”
There is a chance of rain the latter part of this week. Last year Duncan got to run on a dry state course. Two years ago the state meets were held in the mud.
Duncan says he’s ready for either.
“It affects everybody,” he said of possible rainy, muddy conditions. “The times may be slower, but the effort will be just as hard for everybody.”
Plus, all that experience in big meets should prove a big help come Saturday. “You gradually learn your pace,” he said of the state meets. “My sophomore year I went out way too fast. It’s just something you learn.”
Last year Duncan had a fine time of 16:33 at the state meet. Knapp thinks he can go lower than that this week.
“I think he can run as fast as last year and maybe a little faster,” Knapp said. “I think he can be in the middle to low 16s on that course. It’s so tight and so hard a finish...last year 10 seconds faster and you’re 10 placers higher.”