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WENTZVILLE — North Point senior cross country runner Hunter Stahl went on a family vacation to California over the summer. 

Grizzlies coach Kyle Deeken wouldn't have been surprised if Stahl's offseason training was put on pause, or at least significantly curtailed. 

It turned out to be quite the opposite.

"The mileage that he put in this summer is just absolutely filthy," Deeken said. "He was running towards the end of summer, 70 to 75 miles a week. When he was in California, he still got in 50 miles."

The North Point coach built the program from the ground up when the school was opened in 2021, and to see Stahl grow from a good runner to an all-state finisher puts a smile on his face.

Without question, Stahl is the best cross-country runner to have walked the halls at North Point, holding the school record on a 5-kilometer course with a time of 15 minutes and 36.9 seconds.

That time marks him as a top-10 returning runner in Class 5. Stahl's time marks him as one of four area athletes who have broken the 16-minute barrier on a 5K course, joining SLUH's Jackson Miller, Lafayette's Ezekiel Hagen and Fort Zumwalt West's William Doyle. 

"I don't like to think of it as pressure," said Stahl, who finished 22nd in last year's Class 5 state meet. "I think of it more as an opportunity that I'm grateful that I have."

His "filthy" mileage total in the offseason was spawned out of what he deemed a disappointing spring season on the track. 

"He felt slighted after track season because it didn't end up the way he wanted it to," Deeken said. "It started out well, but he thought he didn't finish well — well, not as well as he wanted."

Stahl missed out on an all-state finish in the 3200-meter run with an 11th-place finish at the Class 5 state meet in May. 

Instead of lamenting about the missed opportunities, he immediately went to work.

"Coming off of a couple of seasons that didn't end exactly how I wanted them to, I just felt the need to continuously improve and try to be the best version of myself I can," Stahl said. "Obviously not accomplishing my goals fueled on fire."

Deeken, who has trained high-level athletes and used to be part of the staff at Missouri Milesplit, has seen the intense levels of training those athletes endure.

And Stahl is making his own mark.

"Some of the workouts he's been doing, I've never seen before in my career as a coach," Deeken said. "I mean, I've had some great athletes, but I've never seen some of the work he's been doing. It's rarefied air."

The number of elite runners in the St. Louis area like Doyle, Miller, and Festus' Carson Driemeier just motivates Stahl even more. 

"It's just that determination, like the constant mindset to outwork people," Stahl said. "It's just built into my brain at this point. It's just no one likes to lose."

Stahl opened the season Friday with a runner-up finish in the Fort Zumwalt North Invitational with a time of 15:39.4.

While he is the unquestioned leader of the team, Stahl points to his teammates as being a huge part of his training sessions. 

"I have my teammate, Mitch (Lerner), he runs with me a lot, so that definitely helps," Stahl said. "Running by myself all the time would not be ideal."

Deeken has joked that he has had to rein in Stahl from burning out too fast as the season.

But when asked if there are any concerns about whether he will peak too early in the season, Stahl has put all his faith in his coaches.

"Honestly, that's where I put my trust in the coach," Stahl said. "I have faith. I know because he's coached me really well to get to this point. So I have full faith in him."

Stahl intends to continue his running career in college. He is keeping his college choices close to his chest. 

But before he hangs up the orange and blue for a final time, Stahl, with the offseason behind him, is ready for his last year as a Grizzly. 

"He's just so driven, and his engine is out of this world," Deeken said. "He's so aerobically fit right now. There are very few athletes I could put ahead of him right now."