The state cross country meet is scheduled for Nov. 5-6 at Old Settler’s Park in Round Rock.
From Montague County five individual runners from 1A schools will compete against the best the state has to offer.
From Saint Jo, Collin Thomas and Devin Stewart both qualified for the meet. From Prairie Valley, Eli Croxton and Linzie Priddy both qualified. From Gold-Burg, Isaac Renteria qualified.
All five finished among the top 10 individuals in their race at the regional meet on Oct. 26.
How it works is the top four teams qualify together, so any runner who is on that team does not count among the individual qualifiers.
This mattered in the boy’s race as Thomas was one of only two runners not from a school that qualified together. Thomas, making his third straight appearance at the state meet, finished fifth while running a season best 17:49. His best finish at the state meet came last year when he finished 14th.
Prairie Valley’s Croxton finished 16th overall but was the fifth individual runner to qualify. The junior is making his first trip to the state meet and ran an 18:43.
Only a couple of spots back in 19th place, but the sixth individual qualifier, Gold-Burg freshman Renteria ran 18:48.
Grabbing the 10th and final individual spot was Saint Jo freshman Stewart, who finished 26th overall and ran a 19:06.
The girls race was different among the top. Only two girls from among the four teams that qualified, finished in the top 10. Even if there would have been none, Prairie Valley freshman Priddy would have been fine. She finished ninth overall, or seventh among individual qualifiers, with a time of 13:02.
Priddy has a good mindset that her final race of the season on Friday is not the end.
“I keep reminding myself that I am just a freshman and no matter how the race turns out, it is just the beginning for me,” Priddy said.

To read the full story, pick up a copy of the mid-week edition of the Bowie News.