COLUMBIA, Mo. — Savannah Lingle’s final race for North Platte further extended her legacy.
She not only earned a second all-state medal she played a big part in the Panthers bringing home a state runner-up trophy at the Class 1 MSHSAA State Cross Country Championships on Saturday, Nov. 9 in Columbia.
“We have been pushing to get this all season and we all wanted it bad,” said Lingle, who held the plaque, which was used in no less than 100 photos in the aftermath of the award ceremony. “It is pretty amazing setting history again and bringing both teams this season for cross country for the first time. Being able to medal two of our girls and this trophy … it was the greatest.”
How do you celebrate the first state trophy for the program?
The group loaded up in a bus and headed to Central State Dairy in Columbia for ice cream.
Maybe it will be a tradition. The Panthers return six of the seven runners that took second with 84 points, coming in behind Blue Eye’s 56. Blue Eye repeated as state champions, while the sister tandem of Riley and Avery Arnold repeated as state champion and runner-up, respectively, while Braylynn Siercks was fifth for Blue Eye.
The Panthers had two all-staters in Lingle and Jessa Cassity, a freshman, who took 17th place.
CODY THORN/Citizen photo
North Platte’s Savannah Lingle took ninth place in the Class 1 race at the MSHSAA State Cross Country Championships held on Saturday, Nov. 8 in Columbia, Mo.
Last fall Lingle took 20th place to become the first-ever girls’ all-state runner but she reset the best finish in program history by taking ninth on Gans Creek Cross Country course, the new location after nearly 40 years in Jefferson City.
Lingle’s goal was a top-10 finish and finishing in under 22 minutes and did both, crossing in 21:04.2. She was in the top 10 throughout the race, holding steady at sixth through the first 2K of the 5K course.
Lingle, who has asthma, didn’t need her inhaler until after the 1-mile mark on what was a flatter course — that Mizzou cross country uses — than the previous location at Oak Hill Golf Course at Hough Park.
Cassity took 17th place with a time of 21:25 and was the fifth freshman to cross the finish line, while Lingle was the third senior.
Cassity moved up from 21st place to get a top-20 showing.
The Panthers had a close call from Maddie O’Neill, who took 27th place, two spots away from a top-25 all-state medal. Through the 3K-marker she sat at 25 but finished in a time of 21:53.5.
The other runners that finished after O’Neill were all underclassmen: Jenna Cassity, Alaina Scroggins, Carly Hinton and Shelby Lingle, the last three are freshmen.
“It was a huge day for Savannah, she is our only senior on both sides,” North Platte coach Brendan Cary said. “We have had a lot of good leadership over the years and we had a lot of faces here today. We got kids that have been gone for four or six years and they are coming back to watch us run today. They brought that much into the program that they come back and support us. We really are a family and you spend a lot of time and a lot of miles together.”
North Platte runners Maddie O’Neil, left, and Savannah Lingle, admire the runner-up plaque the team earned at the Class 1 MSHSAA Cross Country Championships on Saturday, Nov. 8 in Columbia, Mo.
CODY THORN/Citizen photo
“I can offer training but I can’t make them run the miles. I can’t make them put in the work and I can’t make them mentally do things they need to do to be successful.”
The boys finished in the top eight in Class 1 and set a new program superlative.
Freshman Josh Schaffart failed to earn a medal but he became the highest-placing Panther and recorded the fastest time at the state meet on Saturday.
He ran 17.53.3 and took 32nd, seven spots away from a spot on the all-state podium.
Two others finished in the top 100: Jakob Scroggins in 65th and Danny Fleshman in 81st.
The entire group of seven are slated to return for the Panthers. Also back will be Taylor Davis, Jace Stubbs, Gabriel Goodlet and Wes Meadows.
The team took eighth place with 206 points.