Hours of running, up hill and down, paid off on Saturday as Eagles senior Alexa Newkirk turned in an All State performance.

Newkirk completed the 3.2 mile course in 19.43:27, good for 11th place overall in the Missouri Class 3 State Girls Cross Country race in Jefferson City.

Eagles runner Alexa Newkirk leads the runners at the state meet early in the race.

Eagles runner Alexa Newkirk leads the runners at the state meet early in the race.

Eagles sophomore Cassey Poole finished in 60th position in 21.01.45. There were a total of 169 runners in the race.

“She ran a smart race,” Eagles coach Crystal Branch said of Newkirk. “She knew she needed to start out fast and she did – she was leading at the first part of the race.”

Branch said Newkirk’s time was one of the fastest she turned in this year – on the toughest course she ran this season.

“There are just lots of hills,” Branch said, “that course is just really hard. And the competition is even tougher.

~ Find the rest of this story in today’s Journal ~

By Bruce Wallace