Wright City sophomore Adalyn Ferrell qualified for the Class 3 state meet after setting a personal record time at the Class 3, District 3 meet this past Saturday. 

“I’m excited for her and I’m extremely happy with the team as a collective whole this year,” Head Coach Ryan Heyel said. “State is a big opportunity, especially with her being this early on in her high school career. I think the sky’s the limit with her.” 

Ferrell, who will be going to the state meet for the first time, has consistently set new PR’s throughout the season. During districts, she placed 23rd in 21 minutes, 25 seconds. 

“Your body can always run faster if you’re willing to make yourself go through the pain,” Ferrell said. “I always tell myself if I’m comfortable, then I’m not running fast enough.” 

Ferrell will run at the state meet this Saturday, Nov. 9 in Columbia at the Gans Creek Cross Country Course. 

Ferrell came into districts feeling a bit nervous since it was a new course for her, after she had not run in districts last year. Despite it being cold and muddy, Ferrell eventually found her groove. 

“Once I started running, I found a place for where I was at and I was pretty confident,” Ferrell said. 

As a freshman, Ferrell went to state for track and field. Despite this being her first time at the cross country state meet, she noted she feels a little bit less nervous. 

“My track nerves were probably a lot worse just because you’re somewhere where all eyes are on you. With cross country, it’s distance, so there’s not as many eyes on you,” Ferrell said. “It’s definitely a lot less nerve wracking, but still really nerve wracking.” 

With the state meet days away, Ferrell is hoping to run some easy miles, eat well and rest. She is also hoping this experience will help her see what she needs to improve in for the years ahead. 

“It will all be around the same competition at state, so now I have to step it up and run even better than I did,” Ferrell said. 

Heyel is also hoping to see Ferrell hit her peak performance and run another PR. 

“She ran a PR in districts, so I’m hoping we can see that happen again,” Heyel said. 

Heyel was also pleased with the team’s performance throughout the season.  

“We saw a steady decrease in time throughout the entirety of the season. For a lot of the students, districts was their time to really push themselves to try and hit that season best, and I think they did really well getting to that point,” Heyel said. 

Heyel also noted the team culture was phenomenal. 

“The kids were by each other’s side through and through. Right before the boys race, they were chasing the girls around on the course supporting them and cheering them on despite having to run their own race within five, 10 minutes,” Heyel said.