JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. -- Jennifer Morey earned all-state honors for a fourth straight year as the Van Buren senior finished fourth at the MSHSAA Class 1 state cross country championship meet Saturday.
Morey ran her fastest time at the 5,000-meter course at Oak Hills Golf Course in 21 minutes, 9.61 seconds, leading Van Buren to a seventh place finish as a team. It was also her top finish and third time in four years she placed in the top eight.
Van Buren's boys placed ninth as a team led by Tristan Kenney in 25th place.
East Carter's Kennedy Thies placed 22nd in the Class 2 race. The sophomore finished in 21:01.16, missing all-state honors by just over seven seconds.
In Class 1, Van Buren's girls broke a tie for seventh with Salisbury as both teams finished with 183 points. West Platte won the team title with 104 points while the Lady Dawgs finished 18 points behind fourth-place Liberal.
Ashley Riley of South Nodaway won the race in 19:55.53 while only one other runner broke 21 minutes before Morey followed St. Joseph Christian sophomore Audrey Maggart across the finish line 2.92 seconds later.
Cora Wiley placed 54th for Van Buren at 23:30 while Morgan Shockley was 68th at 23:52. Halee Bressler (24:00) placed 73rd followed by Arian Stafford (24:01) to finish the scoring. Jalynn Moran's time of 25:14 was 1:15 faster than Salisbury's sixth runner to break the tie. Zoie Gonzalez (25:31) finished 105th for Van Buren.
Kenney led the Bulldogs in 25th place at 17:56. Van Buren placed ninth out of 16 teams with 224 points as New Haven took the team title with 94.
Dominic Hill placed 55th in 18:44 while fellow sophomore Jacob Brown (19:00) was 72nd. Will Towner (19:53) placed 115th while Haden Barnes (20:02) was 118th. Wyatt Dougherty (20:08) finished 121st followed by Trey Nicholoson (20:08).
Ellington freshman Carson McNail finished in 18:58 for 70th.
In the girls race, Ellington's Hannah Fitzgerald (25:42) was 108th while Cynthia Redman (26:04) was 118th.
In Class 2, Isaac Thompson placed 38th as the East Carter junior finished in 18:00.81. Wyatt Elliott was 92nd in 18:49 while Drake Epperson finished in 19:40 for 136th.
Bloomfield freshman Nicolas Carter was 70th in 18:31 while senior Riley Burns (18:45) was 88th.
Greenville junior Kate Bangert finished 79th in 22:53.
In Class 3, Dexter senior Emily Ladd placed 54th in 21:16 while sophomore Margo Nea was 87th in 21:57.