Knisley qualifies for state cross country meet

For the second straight year, Banner County's Courtney Knisley is headed to the state cross country meet.

The sophomore finished 15th individually with a time of 23:12.72 to nab the final qualifying spot at the D-6 District meet last week at the Pheasant Run Golf Course.

"We are excited for Courtney to have the opportunity to run at state cross country again this year," Banner County coach Kari Gifford said. "Every meet our runners have goals that they are trying to obtain. Courtney's goals included making it to state and improving her time on the district course from the previous year. While she was disappointed that she did not reach her time goal, it was good to see her overcome some adversity and really work hard to get that 15th qualifying spot."

Knisley qualified for state last year as a freshman as well.

On the boys side, Micah Wicker finished 64th in 22:39.91 and Josh Boston finished 70th in 23:22.88.

"Micah joined our cross country team just a few weeks ago," Gifford said. "He has shown a lot of improvement in just a short amount of time. He had to go from never running more than a mile at a time to being able to complete a three mile run without stopping.

"Josh has made big gains on his personal goals all season. He was a dedicated runner and was enjoyable to work with all season."