Durant’s girls cross country team placed 11th in the Class 5A State Meet Saturday while the Lions took home the Academic State Championship with a pair of individual state placers.
The Lady Lions were fueled by another strong effort from sophomore Avery Sager, who snagged an eighthplace individual finish in 20 minutes, 1.11 seconds.
Laynee Emert checked in 29th with a personal best mark of 21:25.36 with Rachel Cordell also notching a personal best time of 22:21.67 for 56th overall.
Durant picked up several other solid efforts with Katelyn Mauck clocking in at 22:40.61 for 69th place, Ella Sorrels was 97th with a time of 24:11.68, Brightyn Pilgreen notched a mark of 24:21.77 to take 98th and Kira Hoffman ran a personal best 24:46.73 for 102nd.
For the boys, Zach Ervin narrowly missed medaling, taking 19th in the boys individual standings with a personal best mark of 16:50.53. K.J. Lowery also added a personal best time of 17:04.17 to take 29th as well.
“We had a great group of kids this year that worked hard in practice and came a long way,” said Durant assistant coach Amanda Reynolds. “We will miss the leadership of seniors Rachel Cordell, Brightyn Pilgreen, Madison Roper and Elijah Parker, who have dedicated years to this family. We have some young runners on both teams who got experience running varsity and will only continue to get stronger and better. And we look forward to watching their careers, including freshman K.J. Lowery who came back from an injury to qualify for state.
“In the last 14 years, the girl’s team has made it to state 10 times. Avery Sager has been consistent this season and continues to lead the team and be a force to be reckoned with on the course. Laynee Emert showed tremendous improvement as well. Zach Ervin carried over his training from tack and really stepped up to lead the boys team this year.”
