Helias' Shea reaches some of her cross country goals


Kaitlyn Shea of Helias (1457) earned Class 3 all-state honors for the third straight year Saturday at the Oak Hills Golf Center in Jefferson City.
Kaitlyn Shea of Helias (1457) earned Class 3 all-state honors for the third straight year Saturday at the Oak Hills Golf Center in Jefferson City.

Kaitlyn Shea achieved half of her goals for the state cross country championships.

"I wanted to get top 10 and break 20 minutes," Shea said Saturday afternoon after she finished 12th in 19:47.92 in the Missouri Class 3 meet at the Oak Hills Golf Center. "I broke 20, so that was good."

Good enough to establish a Helias girls record at the state championships. Shea, the first Lady Crusader to finish in less than 20 minutes at state, broke the mark of 20:04 set by Becca Miller when she finished fifth in 2003.

"I had a lot of faith in myself and I worked really hard this season," Shea said.

Shea was ninth after the first mile and 11th at the two-mile mark.

It was the third medal in three tries for Shea, a junior who was 16th last year and 14th as a freshman.

Next year, Shea can join Miller as a four-time state medalist for the Lady Crusaders.

"I really want to finish in the top 10 and get our entire team up on the stand with a trophy," Shea said. "I know we can do it next year."

Shea was joined as a medalist by freshman Kayla Yanskey, who was 24th in 20:17.46. Not bad for a runner who didn't decide to come out for cross country until the day before practice started.

"She worked hard and got there," Helias coach Mary Haskamp said. "It's great when a freshman can finish all-state."

The Lady Crusaders brought hopes of a top-four team finish and a trophy into Saturday, but finished ninth with 255 poiints. After the two medalists, Helias' next finisher was Baylee Francka, who was battling illness and finished 89th.

Other Helias finishers included Molly Light (123rd), Lizzy Stumpe (138th), Kylie Frank (146th) and Ali Boudreau (149th).

Pre-race favorite Ste. Genevieve captured team honors, finishing with five all-state runners and 46 team points. Taylor Warner of Ste. Genevieve won individual honors with a state-record time of 17:31.30.

Festus was second with 62 points, followed by Notre Dame de Sion (74) and MICDS (134).

On the boys side, Helias teammates Matt Lorang and Evan Block both ran personal-record times in the Class 3 race Saturday.

Lorang finished 45th (17:32.55) and Block was 52nd (17:37.10) to better their best times by more than 10 seconds.

"Their finishes are not shabby in a field of 170 runners," Haskamp said. "I'm happy for them and proud of them."

Potosi finished with 71 points to take the team title. Also getting trophies were Festus (90), Warrensburg (124) and Liberty North (137).

Accompanying photo:

Kaitlyn Shea of Helias runs

See also:

Cross Country: Class 1-4 state championship results