Dexter's Lizzie Kohlbaker with All-State medal and award certificate

In there first ever trip to the MSHSAA cross country finals, Lizzie Kohlbaker finished 12th overall to earn All-State honors and a young Lady Bearcats team finished a respectable 14th on a tough course under even tougher conditions.

Kohlbaker "ran the race of her life" and paced the Lady 'Cats with a time of 21:26 that placed her in the top 25, the criteria needed for being selected All-State. "She went out to win and that it what she did," Dexter coach Jill King said.

Pictured above are members of Dexter's cross country team before they ran Saturday morning at the MSHSAA state meet in Jefferson City.

"It was 34 (degrees) and windy," King added. "That was a new condition for us to run in and it was pretty miserable. Lizzie's time was good on this course."

It was the first time a Dexter team had advanced to the state meet, according to King, who noted, "We got 14th as a team and that's not too bad for there first time. I was proud of them all. All the girls ran such a good race and it is a great feeling just knowing I get them all back next year.

Other Dexter runners and how they finished at the meet included Brittney Waldner (74th, 23:17), Amelia Jibben (81st, 23:24), Jessica Litchfield (102nd, 23:47) Hannah Baker (117th, 24:18) and then Hannah Mathis, who ran the run with an injury.

"This girl (Hannah Mathis) had the most guts of them all," King noted. "She ran with a stress fracture and could barely walk when she crossed the line. Now that takes guts and team dedication. I was so proud of her for what she accomplished this season and was able to gut it out when it counted the most."

Mathis finished 135th with a time of 24:59, followed by Madisson Baker at 145th, 26:17, to round out the team scoring.

"This will be their goal again next year, to go back to state," King said. "I have such a great group of girls that really want to get better and work hard. It is such an honor to have them on the team."