The California boys and girls cross country teams will each be represented at the state meet thanks to strong performances from runners Adam Burkett and Katie Imhoff at Saturday's district meet at Linn.
Burkett finished second at districts in 17 minutes, 31 seconds in the boys race, while Imhoff's time of 22:16 was good for 12th in the girls race. The top 15 finishers qualified for Saturday's state competition at Oak Hills Golf Center in Jefferson City. The Class 2 girls begin at 11:50 a.m., and the Class 2 boys start at 1:05 p.m.
Pintos head coach Kenny Goans was impressed with Burkett and Imhoff at districts.
"For the last three meets, I keep saying that Adam has ran his best race thus far this season, and it keeps happening," Goans said. "To place second in our district is not easy. He is peaking at a great time. Katie's mid-part of the race looked the strongest that I have seen this year."
Although the Pintos didn't have any other state qualifiers, Goans was happy with all his boys and girls.
"I was extremely proud of all the runners and their efforts at districts," he said. "Of our 13 runners, nine had their personal-best time of the year. I was especially pleased with Tyler Long, Hunter Carpenter and Jacob Collier, who crushed their times. The most disappointing part of the meet was the fact that Jasmine Wells, who also ran a personal best, missed going to state by four-hundredths of a second. She gave everything she had and fell just short."