Area athletes competed at the state cross country meet on Friday and Saturday at Old Settler’s Park in Round Rock.
Six individuals and one team from the area ran against the best in the state to finish out their season on top, but one came back with a medal.
Medals are given to the top 10 individual runners in each classification and the top three teams.
Bellevue freshman Mattie Broussard finished fifth overall with a time of 12:17.
She is the first runner from Bellevue to medal since 2009, but her fifth place is the highest ever for the program, boys or girls.
The next best result was from Bowie senior Isaac Renteria. He finished 25th with a time of 16:46. It was his fourth straight year running at the state meet, but his first time competing in the 3A race.
The previous three years, Renteria ran at Gold-Burg in 1A, where he finished 48th, 41st and then came back with a medal last year in ninth place.
Upping the challenge for himself may not have resulted in a medal this year, but it was his fastest time at the state meet out of all four trips.
Nocona junior Bayler Smith represented her program at state for the third year in a row in the 2A girl’s race, but it was her first time running alone and not with a team. She finished 46th with a time of 13:04.
Prairie Valley had two individual runners competing in the 1A races.
For sophomore Josh Stout, he improved upon his performance as a freshman at state last year, shaving off almost a minute and half as he got 29th with a time of 18:19.
Senior Linzie Priddy ran her final race for the Lady Bulldogs and made her third appearance at the state meet. She got 84th place with a time of 14:07.
Saint Jo had one individual runner and one team compete at the state meet.
Sophomore Savannah Hill ran at state for the first time and finished 55th with a time of 13:48.
The Saint Jo boy’s team finished ninth overall out of 16 teams in the 1A race. Elijah Young was the team’s top runner, getting 45th with a time 18:39.
The Panthers top five runners that scored points also included Barrett Johnson (54th), Jayden Curry (82nd), Julian Luna (91st) and Trent Gaston (117th).

To read the full story and see pictures of all of the runners, pick up a copy of the mid-week edition of the Bowie News.