Seven area runners advance to state cross country meet

Notre Dame's Lauren Eftink runs in the Class 4 District Cross Country Meet at Arnold City Park, in Arnold, Mo., Saturday, Oct. 31, 2020. (Alex Wallner/Standard Democrat)

ARNOLD, Mo. — Seven Southeast Missouri runners advanced to the state finals after their performances at the Boys and Girls Class 4 District Cross Country Meet at Arnold City Park Saturday.

Notre Dame’s Laura Eftink and Haley Smith finished fifth and sixth, respectively. Eftink completed her run in 20:12, while Smith finished two seconds after, at 20:14.

“Overall, our times were good,” Notre Dame head coach Richie Bohn said. “Three of our runners ran personal bests today. The times were good; the competition was just really tough today. We wanted to get our girls' team through to state, but this has always been a very tough district. Today, the competition was just extremely tough. I'm proud of their performance and how they ran. We just ran into some tough teams today."

For Perryville, Tegan Bishop and Courtney Wright finished seventh and eighth, respectively. Bishop ran a 20:16.1, while Wright finished in 20:16.5.

“This season, Tegan has come on strong under the guidance of Courtney,” Perryville head coach Shadrick Shafer said. “The two of them have spent every practice pushing each other to be faster, and it's paid off big over the last month. Two weeks ago, at the JCAA Conference Race at Festus, Tegan and Courtney finished 4th and 5th with times of 20:51 and 20:53, respectively. The girls' team also saw personal success down the roster on Saturday, with every single girl setting a new personal record or season best.”

Rounding out the state qualifiers were a pair of Cape Central runners.

Lindsey Caldwell finished in 20:16 for ninth place, while Mckensi Williams ran in 20:17 to move on to the state finals.

Farmington placed the top two individual runners.

Breanna Mathes finished first, with a time of 19:54, while Alayna Sparr crossed the finish line at 20 minutes.

The Knights also finished first as a team, with 59 total points.

Cape Central’s Nathan Caldwell was the lone runner to continue his season in the boys' meet. He finished ninth after a time of 16:58.

Festus took home the district title with 19 points. The first four runners to cross the finish line were all Tigers, as Ian Schram finished first, Nathan Wolk second, Jacob Meyers third, and Cullen Krieg fourth.