Zoe Riggs is enjoying another strong season with the Wright City girls cross country team, earning nine medals and winning three meets.

Now, the senior is setting her sights on ending her season with another all-state medal.

Riggs qualified for the Class 3 state meet for the second year in a row after placing 13th with a time of 20 minutes, 26 seconds at the District 3 championship meet on Oct. 30 at Linn High School. The top 30 individuals qualify for state and earn medals.

“I’m honored,” Riggs said. “I worked hard this season and I pushed myself. This is my senior year, so this is kind of like a thing where my goals are going to state, placing at state, pushing for it, getting PRs and setting records.”

Riggs will be the Wildcats’ lone representative at the state meet, which will be held on Nov. 6 at Gans Creek Course in Columbia. Her race is scheduled to start at 2:15 p.m.

Riggs will look to become the first Wright City runner since Megan Kowalik in the late 2000s to earn all-state medals in back-to-back years. A year ago, Riggs finished 17th to become the first Wildcat runner since Kowalik in 2007 to receive all-state notice in the girls division.

“It will mean a lot, but I like doing this for my friends, my family and for the high school so they can have someone to take to state,” Riggs said. “That’s a really big thing.”

Riggs was one of seven Wright City runners who competed at districts. In the girls race, junior Aireona Hagan placed 39th with a 23:10 and sophomore Kaedyn Johnson finished 91st with a 27:19. In the boys race, senior Trent Bruning – who competed at state last year – finished 79th with a 19:44, followed by junior Dylan Hickman (105th, 20:48) and senior Jackson Mazella (135th, 24:39).

Riggs said running at the very hilly course at Linn was not easy.

“It was pretty tough,” the Wright City senior said. “It’s definitely not a course that I’m used to. I like using the hills to push up them and I like the pretty views, but it was pretty miserable.”
Riggs won championships at Palmyra, Elsberry and Clopton this year, giving her a total of four victories in her two-year career at Wright City. She also had third-place finishes at the Eastern Missouri Conference and Orchard Farm meets.

“I just really pushed in my races,” Riggs said. “I try to make teammates push me, run with me and practice with me. That helped me enjoy running and get some more miles here and there.”

Riggs joined the Wright City cross country program last year. In addition to her all-state medal, she also picked up a victory at the Van-Far Invite and earned medals at the Palmyra, EMO, Bowling Green and district meets. She placed fourth at the district meet in Bowling Green to clinch her first state berth.

Riggs said she can’t believe her brief high school cross county career at Wright City will be coming to an end at the state meet.

“I know so many people who go into running dreading (the senior year) and not looking forward to it,” Riggs said. “But when it’s my last one, I just want to enjoy the season and not take it for granted that this is my last time running and everything. It’s crazy thinking that this is my last time placing at districts, then going to state.”