Warrenton senior Phillip Kackley earned a state medal in his lone trip to the Missouri State Cross Country Championships. 

Kackley ran to a 29th place finish at the Class 4 state meet Saturday at Gans Creek Cross Country Course in Columbia to earn a state medal and all-state recognition. The top 30 runners in the race earn all-state recognition. 

“I did a good race. I had a pretty fast first mile but it felt pretty comfortable,” Kackley said. “It was a good time… I was kind of expecting more out of this one but it is what it is. All-state is great. At the end, I just didn’t really have much energy left.” 

Kackley finished the 5K race in 16:07.40. The Warrenton senior earned a state medal by less than two seconds. St. Charles runner Elijah Case placed 31st and ran the race in 16:09.20. 

While running the race, Kackley thought he did not make the all-state cutoff. He was “pretty excited to see that I ended up getting it.” 

Warrenton Head Cross Country Coach Jeremy Collins said it was “awesome to see” Kackley run his way to a state medal. Collins noted Kackley turned in a time 12 seconds faster than his previous personal record. 

“He worked really hard,” Collins said. “And going into the meet, we knew that he had a chance and everything. He just ran a pretty good race and had a great finish to get 29th.” 

Warrenton senior Wyatt Claiborne also competed in the Class 4 boys race at the Missouri Cross Country Championships. Competing at the state level for the third time in his high school cross country career, Claiborne ran a personal record 16:25.50 and placed 46th. 

“He ran about two minutes faster this year than last year,” Collins said. And he also got PR by 22 seconds I believe. And so for him to end his senior year on a high note, that was just awesome. He really looked strong on the finish and everything. And so he just had his greatest race of his career on the last meet. So it was, it was awesome.”

Kackley said he and Claiborne “pushed each other throughout our entire high school career.” 

Warrenton freshman Alexis Ruff was the lone Warrior to compete in the Class 4 girls race at the Missouri Cross Country Championships. She logged a time of 21:42.20 and placed 113th. 

“At districts, she had a big time PR,” Collins said. “And then today she got a PR. So, just getting used to how it feels to run that fast and knowing that now you know that you can run this fast. She hopefully will get stronger and more conditioning and so next year it’s going to be really fun to see what she can do with more experience and as she runs over the summer.”