Fatima’s cross-country teams accomplished their missions at Saturday’s Class 2, District 3 meet to advance to the state meet at Gans Creek in Columbia on Saturday.

With four individuals medaling in the boys’ race, Fatima advanced the entire team with a second-place finish.

“The boys team had several members plagued by colds this week with some congestion, so I was glad to see them come out and compete as well as they did,” said Coach Marc Bridges.

Michael Gabelsberger earned fifth (17:08), Zach Kloeppel was 16th (18:12), Brady Horton finished 20th (18:18), and Wyatt Dake claimed 24th (18:29) to lead the team.

“Michael was our top runner again and Zach really stepped up to finish as our second runner to keep the score close,” said Bridges. “I feel like the boys are right on the verge of having great races this week at state.”

Zach Eisterhold (31, 18:40) was next to cross for Fatima, followed by Trenton Orscheln (34, 19:00), and Evan Klouzek (60, 19:58).

On the girls’ side, Fatima finished third as a team with three individual medalists.

Brie Massman led the charge with a second-place run in 20:52, as Melissa Verslues was third (21:00), and Heidi Struemph earned seventh place (21:39).

“The girls team put three in the top 10, but Karly Bock finishing 34th (23:44) was really the boost we needed to push the girls team through,” said Bridges. “Karly was ranked 60th in the district meet but her focus and determination served her well as she pushed hard in the second half of the race to improve her position and our team score. Our girls have a chance to have a good outing at state this week, I look forward to seeing what they can accomplish.”

Rose Backes finished 79th in 26:59, followed by Jaidyn McCann (82, 27:36), and Journey Markway (98, 29:56).

Fatima’s boys run at 11 and the girls will compete at 11:45 on Saturday.