COLUMBIA — Placing second individually and as a team at their district meet in Linn, Vienna’s Caleb Horman and the Lady Eagle cross country team advanced to Saturday’s Missouri State High School Activities Association (MSHSAA) Cross Country Championships at the Gans Creek Recreation Area in Columbia.

In the first of eight races on the day, the Class 1 Boys were up first with Vienna junior Caleb Horman looking to improve on his 30th-place finish as a sophomore last year at Oak Hills Golf Center in Jefferson City.

Getting a good start out the box, Horman stayed among the top 10 the entire race before crossing the finish line in a 10th-place time of 17:18.3.

“I knew Caleb would have a good change of finishing all state but a top-10 finish was awesome,” Vienna head cross country coach David Martin said. “I am proud of Caleb and the rest of the boys for working so hard this year.”

Following the Class 2 boys race, Vienna’s Lady Eagles hit the course as a team in the Class 1 Girls race.

Placing second in the Class 1, District 4 meet at the Osage County Fairgrounds in Linn the previous weekend, the freshmen quintet of Cameren Doyel, Kiera Hollis, Andrea Novak, Madeleine Novak and Alia Terwilliger earned an experience they would never forget.

Paced by Doyel’s 84th-place time of 24:00.6, the Lady Eagles finished in 15th place in the Class 1 girls team standings.

Finishing behind Doyel were Terwilliger in a 148th-place time of 28:24.1, Andrea Novak in a 153rd-place time of 28:45.7, Hollis in a 157th-place time of 30:15.5 and Madeleine Novak with a 159th-place time of 31:12.0.

“Our girls team got some good experience at state on Saturday,” Martin said. “Being freshmen, they were energized to do well even in spite of never having been on such a big stage.”

Aside from Horman and the Vienna Lady Eagles, the Gasconade Valley Conference (GVC) was well represented during the 2019 MSHSAA Cross Country Championships.

Viburnum junior Haley Auten cracked the top 100 in the Class 1 girls race with a 98th-place time of 24:23.7.

Horman was not the only GVC athlete to earn All-State honors in the Class 1 boys race.

Viburnum junior Tristan Webb posted a 16th-place time of 17:33.8.

Moving up to Class 2, Bourbon and Cuba had individuals qualify while Steelville’s Cardinals and Lady Cardinals both punched their respective tickets to state as teams.

Helping the Cardinals place second as a team in the Class 2 Boys race were freshman Conner Diaz (16th, 16:51.5) and junior Ty Merseal (25th, 17:01.6).

Also helping Steelville bring home a state trophy were freshman Larry Shoemake (39th, 17:16.8), senior Justin Reiner (44th, 17:20.9), freshman Vance Smelser (69th, 17:42.4), junior Luke Sutton (82nd, 18:00.2) and junior Cole Hurd (130th, 18:47.7).

Cuba senior Logan Ray also represented the GVC posting a 115th-place time of 18:29.3.

After winning a GVC Individual title in Viburnum, Bourbon senior Kyeligh Webb paced conference runners with an 80th-place time of 22:10.2.

Placing 15th in the Class 2 girls team standings, Steelville’s Lady Cardinals were led by freshman Courtney Diaz’s 89th-place time of 22:25.3.

Fellow freshman Daylan Pryor also crossed the finish line in a 93rd-place time of 22:28.1.

Right behind Pryor was Cuba sophomore Melayna Brown with a 94th-place time of 22:28.9.

Also helping Steelville finish 15th as a team were sophomore Lauren Davis (135th, 23:41.2), sophomore Breann Church (136th, 23:41.8), sophomore Haylee Woodall (169th, 27:49.7) and freshman Halana Hurd (171st, 31:29.6).

Two weeks ago in the GVC Cross Country meet at Viburnum Golf and Country Club, Belle freshman Trenton Burnett (4th, 18:49.72) and Horman (6th, 19:07.96) earned All-GVC honors for their top-seven finishes.

During the varsity girls race in Viburnum, Doyel earned the seventh-and-final All-GVC spot with a seventh-place time of 26:42.79 breaking up what otherwise could have been a Crawford County sweep of the top seven between runners from Bourbon, Steelville and Cuba.