Three Warren County cross country runners ran in Saturday's state meet. Wright City’s Adalyn Ferrell and Warrenton’s Matt Craven traveled to the state meet for the first time in their careers, while Warrenton’s Alexis Ruff returned for the second year in a row. 

The state meet was held at the Gans Creek Cross Country Course in Columbia.

Ferrell was the first runner of the day to participate in the Class 3 meet. During her race, she did encounter some very rainy weather but pushed through for a 72nd–place finish in 22 minutes, one second. 

Ferrell ended her sophomore season with a 21:25 personal record time. 

In the second to last meet of the day, sophomores Ruff and Craven ran in the Class 4 meet. Ruff placed 134th in 23:49, while Craven finished 141st in 19:20. 

The downpour did stop in time for both of their races, but the course was torn up and cones were put out for runners to avoid certain areas. 

Head Coach Jeremy Collins noted that despite Ruff suffering injuries throughout the end of the season, she gave it everything she had and was tough. 

“It wasn’t the race she was hoping for, but I’m proud of her and everything that she has accomplished this year,” Collins said. 

Craven was also sick coming into the race after dealing with pneumonia the week going into state. However, like Ruff, Craven gave everything he had. 

“It was a good experience just to see what he could do,” Collins said. 

The day before the meet, runners were able to walk the course and get a feel of what the race would be. 

“The race is a lot different than a lot of the other races just because you’re running against the best in the state and so the race is a lot quicker and people go out a lot faster,” Collins said. 

Collins made sure to tell his runners this before the race. He also told them to not leave anything in the tank and simply do their best, and if they do, they should be proud of themselves. 

“It was a good experience for both of them and hopefully just more motivation to keep improving during their last two years of high school,” Collin said. 

While none of the three state qualifiers medaled at state, all three are only sophomores. Collins is hoping both Ruff and Craven will use their experience as motivation to keep returning and improving. 

Specifically, Collins noted that with Ruff’s two experiences at state, he is hoping she will use what she has learned going into her junior and senior year. 

“Hopefully this will give her a little more insight on what she needs to focus on and do to just keep improving her times and placing, especially at districts and state,” Collins said. “With Matt, once you get to the state meet and see what the best runners are doing, it’s like, okay, how can I improve and what parts of the race do I need to improve on?”