Both girls and boys cross country teams headed for state championships

Webb City High School will hold a send-off celebration at 7:45 a.m. Thursday for the cross country teams going to the state championships at Columbia.

The girls team, led by Brooke Hedger’s third-place finish, won third at the district Class 5 District 2 meet Saturday at Bolivar.

Coach Dustin Miller says the girls were “confident and ran really hard. I’m proud of their attitude and effort. They were a true reflection of the Webb City spirit.”

He added that Hedger is aiming for a top-10 finish as an individual. The team has qualified to compete at state for the fifth time in a row since the program began six years ago.

The boys team qualified for state for the 10th time in the last 11 years. It will be their 11th time at sate in program history.

“The boys have been banged up on the back half of the season, and we are hoping to gain our confidence back and compete like we did earlier this year,” says Miller.

Webb City boys placed fourth at district behind Raymore-Peculiar (23 points), Nixa and Kickapoo. Andrew Dawson led the team by placing 15th.

Girls district results:

Team – second with 84 points (total of top five runners), behind Kickapoo, 79.

• Brooke Hedger, junior, third, 18:55.21
• Olivia Klotz, sophomore, 16th
• Araceli Perez, sophomore, 20th
• Emma McKinzie, sophomore, 22nd
• Aspen Ritchie, freshman, 23rd
• Brooke Collard, junior, 31st
• Amielia Antillon, sophomore, 54th

Girls JV

• Kristina Bundy, junior, fourth, 21.53.04
• Rachel Miller, senior, eighth
• Emma Golubski, sophomore, 19th

Boys district results:

• Team – fourth with 138 points
• Andrew Dawson, junior, 15th, 16:22.48
• Noah Lankard, junior, 19th
• Aaron Dawson, freshman, 28th
• Rylan Davis, junior, 35th
• Kason Dickens, freshman, 41st
• James Dalrymple, freshman, 46th
• James Baldassaro, sophomore, 56th

Boys JV

• Carter Tandy 11 6th 17:51.47
• Luke Aaron Azura 9 20th
• Silas Luzadder 11 2th