Pattonville’s boys and girls cross country teams now have more of a home-field advantage thanks to a collaboration between Pattonville and the City of Bridgeton.

The two entities worked together to revitalize some trails in O’Connor Park, a 37-acre park located at Bondurante and Helmet in Bridgeton, northwest of I-270 off Woodford Way Drive.

The park is on the edge of the airport buyout area in a hilly location, providing a challenging venue for runners. Aside from the new trails, the park includes a pavilion, ball field, playground, tennis courts, multipurpose field and a multipurpose court.

Pattonville’s teams use the park for practices and plan to host Pattonville-sponsored meets there.

Recently, the members of the boys and girls cross country teams at PHS hosted middle school students from the after-school cross country programs at Pattonville’s middle schools (Holman, Pattonville Heights and Remington) for a Pattonville middle school cross country meet at O’Connor Park.

Previously, the high school teams practiced their runs through neighborhoods near the high school, the high school track or Creve Coeur Lake.

While they will still use some of these venues, O’Connor Park provides them a more challenging arena for practice and competition in a setting close to school.

To see a photo gallery of the recent middle school cross country event, go to events.psdr3.org.

Editor's Note: This article was a release from the Pattonville School District.