by Leigh Campbell
The STA cross-country team advanced to State after two second place finishes at Districts and Sectionals. Both races were led by senior Courtney Coppinger, sophomore Ann Campbell, sophomore Hayden Lee, freshman Emily Laird, junior Lindsey Valdiviez and in sectionals Lane Maguire also competed. State will be this Saturday Nov. 3 in Jefferson City.
“The meet went good because we got second place overall,” Laird said about districts. “The course was hard because of all the hills.”
The STA squad is ranked in the top 10 Missouri girls teams by Big River Running Co. Despite their high ranking, they were beaten by Lee’s Summit West High School’s nearly perfect score in Districts and by six points in Sectionals.
“They are really good,” Lee said. “They almost got a perfect score, which is basically almost putting all of your runners in the top five.”
In Districts the team was led by fourth place finisher Courtney Coppinger, ninth place finisher Ann Campbell, tenth place finisher Hayden Lee, 16th place finisher Emily Laird, 20th place finisher Brit Maguire and 21st place finisher Lindsey Valdiviez. Senior Lane Maguire did not finish. In Sectionals the team was led by Coppinger’s second place finish, Campbell’s sixth place finish, Lane’s seventh place finish, Lee’s eighth place finish, Laird’s 28th place finish, Valdiviez’s 33rd place finish and Brit’s 48th place finish according to momilesplit.com.