St. Andrew’s cross country teams wins state

The St. Andrew’s Cross Country program earned a clean sweep in the MHSAA 2A state championship meets, winning both the girls’ and boys’ team titles. Eighth grader Lily Halter also won the individual girls’ state title, winning the 5K race with a 20:43 time, which was good for a whopping one-minute and eight-second margin of victory over the second place runner. 

The girls’ team finished with four runners in the top six finishers and seven of the top 17 finishers in the race that took place at Choctaw Trails in Clinton. 

Halter finished first, seventh grader Mary Cecilia Neely finished third, seventh grader Evelyn Spellings finished fourth, freshman Tinsley McLaughlin finished sixth, junior Caitlin Penton finished 14th, senior Claudia Maron finished 16th, and freshman Laurel Bergin finished 17th out of 77 total runners, respectively. 

East Union, Eupora, West Lincoln, and Sebastopol rounded out the top five of the team finishes in the girls’ competition.

On the boys’ side, St. Andrew’s finished with four of the top five individual runners, as well as seven of the top ten individual times. 

Freshman Jackson Jumper led the way for the Saints with an 18:01 time, which was good for a second place finish, senior Richard Burrow finished third, senior Finley Bergin finished fourth, sophomore William Skelton finished fifth, seventh grader Wesley Walker finished seventh, seventh grader Jude Bergin finished ninth, and freshman Aiden Chen finished tenth out of 84 runners from schools around the state, respectively.

East Union, Lloyd Star, New Site, and Walnut also finished in the top five of the team portion of the competition, which included twelve schools participating from around the state.