Zoe Riggs wrapped up her first season with the Wright City girls cross country team in style on Nov. 5.

The junior became the school’s first all-state medalist in 13 years after finishing 17th with a time of 20 minutes, 37 seconds in the Class 3 state girls cross country meet at Gans Creek Cross Country Course in Columbia. Riggs received her medal from coach Billy Garrett after the race.

“To represent Wright City and be the first girl since 2007 who placed at state, I’m very honored,” Riggs said. “God is so good to me. I don’t deserve any of this.”

Megan Kowalik was the last Wright City runner to earn all-state honors in the girls division, placing third in the Class 2 state meet at Jefferson City in 2007. Garrett said he was thrilled to see Riggs break that 13-year drought for the Wright City girls.

“It was great seeing her get all-state,” Garrett said. “She’s been working hard all summer and all season, so it was really good seeing that. She went out pretty quick like we expected and was able to finish out in 17th.

Trent Bruning was the other Wright City runner who raced at state. He came up 10 places short of an all-state medal, placing 35th with a personal-best time of 17:31.

Bruning competed at state for the second year in a row. He finished 113th in 18 minutes in the 2019 state meet.

“He really brought down his time and improved by about 60 places from last year,” Garrett said. “Hopefully, he can keep that up and bring it down next year.”

Riggs became the first Wright City girls runner to compete at the state meet since Erin Tomshin in 2016. She qualified for Columbia by placing fourth in the District 3 championship meet on Oct. 31 at Bowling Green.

The junior said she enjoyed competing at the Gans Creek course for the first time.

“It’s not too bad,” Riggs said. “It actually went by super fast. I didn’t like how the first lap was less than the second. The first one went by so fast. Then, I was just cruising. I knew that this was my last lap and I was just ready. It was actually pretty nice because it’s nice and big, so I wasn’t cut off too many times. I just enjoyed what it looked like. It was very professional.”

Riggs was in ninth place at the halfway point of the race. She said she was determined to leave Columbia with a medal.

“I wanted to get all-state,” Riggs said. “The biggest thing was I wanted to break 20 (minutes), so I was just right there. I had to do each 1K in under four minutes and I did the first one at a 3:30. I was way fast on my first two 1Ks. Then, I tried to maintain and break that 20.”

Garrett said he already has high hopes for Riggs and Bruning in 2021.

“It should be great having both of them back next year,” the Wright City coach said. “Trent has two years experience here on the state course, so that should help him out. With Zoe coming back and being here (at state) before, hopefully she won’t be as nervous before the start of that race.”