Fatima senior Brianna Haller won just one cross country race this season.
She saved that victory for the most important meet of the season.
Haller retained her title as the Class 2 girls state champion Saturday at Oak Hills Golf Center, winning the individual state championship for a fourth consecutive season with a time of 18:50.44.
Haller became the third person in Missouri state cross country history to win four individual titles, joining Stoutland's Jamie Vest (2001-04) and Ste. Genevieve's Taylor Werner (2012-15).
"Anybody that spends very much time around Brianna knows why she's a state champion," Fatima coach Marc Bridges said. "She has the heart of a champion, and that's what it really comes down to. She makes a conscious decision to be first, and that's really all it takes sometimes."
The Fatima girls also kept the Class 2 team championship in their possession for a fifth straight season.
The Lady Comets finished with five all-state medalists in the girls race to score 45 points in the team standings, more than doubling up their nearest opponent. Holden finished second with 95 points, followed by Bowling Green in third with 107 and North Callaway in fourth with 136.
"It's a tradition. Every year, that's the ultimate goal," Haller said. "We want to work toward winning state again. It's just a really good feeling, especially when you figure out that your team is the one that got you there."
Haller went head-to-head with Allie Gibbs for much of the race, keeping within a few steps of the Steelville junior early on.
"I knew for the first mile, I would be behind her because she usually starts her miles pretty fast," Haller said. "But after the first mile, I'm like, 'OK, I've got to stay on her hip.' I tried passing her a couple of times, but then she passed me right back, so I thought I would just make my move later."
At the two-mile mark, Haller trailed Gibbs by three-tenths of a second. By the three-mile mark, Haller had blown past her by 24 seconds.
Haller's winning time came up just short of her personal-best time of 18:49.37, which she set during her state title run in 2015.
While Gibbs finished runner-up for a second straight season with a time of 19:18.99, Fatima sophomore Kendall Haller set a personal-best time of 19:45.87 to take third place.
The Haller sisters both finished in the top three the previous weekend at districts as well. Brianna Haller said she went to the emergency room following last weekend's race due to dehydration, but her younger sister made sure she ran neck-and-neck with her during the race. They finished less than a second apart, with Brianna placing ahead of Kendall.
"Last week at districts, she stayed behind me," Brianna Haller said. "She could have gone past me and beat me, but she wanted to make sure that I was OK."
Junior Alyssa Struemph also set a personal-best, taking sixth place with a time of 20:04.29 to become a three-time all-state medalist.
"Alyssa's been very solid all season long, and she's really stepped into that No. 3 spot," Bridges said. "She's clearly one of the best runners in Class 2."
Rounding out the all-state medalists for Fatima were sophomores Kailey Woody and Alexis Fischer. Woody placed 23rd in 21:01.19, while Fischer claimed the final all-state spot with a 25th-place finish in 21:04.59.
"Those two girls were both all-state last year, and they really willed themselves into that position," Bridges said.
Junior Katelyn Vanderfeltz took 35th in 21:36.86 and sophomore Sierra Sankey was 80th in 22:53.88 to round out Fatima's performance at state.
Next season, Fatima returns six of its seven state runners and has several others waiting in line to try and match the girls state record with a sixth straight state championship.
"One year, we set certain expectations, and the next year, you feel like you have to raise the expectations a bit," Bridges said. "So far, we've been able to do that.
"With the girls we have coming back next season, I'm sure they don't want to be outdone by this year's team. They'll probably set some pretty high expectations for themselves."
III
Tipton senior Aubree Schuster led the area individuals in the Class 2 girls race, crossing the finish line in 42nd place with a time of 21:53.41.
South Callaway senior Elizabeth Luebbert placed 59th out of 164 runners in 22:23.95, while Linn junior Audrey Froning finished 101st in 23:28.53.
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