The state cross country meet at Jefferson City will feature two boys and two girls from the Colts teams as senior Brian Krumrey finished 15th, junior Scott Coulson finished 29th, senior Kayla Friesen was 15th and junior Allison Bain finished 24th at Sectionals at Parkway Central on Oct. 27 to qualify for the state meet.
Krumrey competed for his final time at home but was able to set his own seasonal record despite a recall at the start of the race that brought all the boys back to the line for a second start.
“The false start helped, “ Krumrey said. “The taste of what the start was going to be like helped me going into the turn. I ran in a better place today than I even did last week.”
Krumrey said he is looking forward to another good race at the state meet on Nov. 3. “It’ll be great to be there one last time,” he said.
Coulson was able to achieve a career personal record and will be running at the state meet for his first time.
“It was really, really, really hard. I really had to push myself to qualify,” Coulson said. “There was a lot more competition than last week, but in some ways it was good because I could feel the adrenaline a lot more.”
Coulson hopes to gain the experience of a state meet going into next season. “I want to just see how I can do and what it will feel like to run with the best of the best and with people who are better runners than me,” he said. “I’m pumped.”
For Friesen, the race took a lot of triumph to get to the state meet. “The race itself felt awful. The first mile I felt as strong as Districts, but I just couldn’t get into it.”
Friesen is looking forward to having a teammate with her at Saturday’s meet. “It will make the race and state experience so much fun,” she said. “I always feel more confident when there’s someone else there.”