Kelly runners earn all-state honors

Kelly cross country runners Cody Kern and Tara Johnson both earned all-state honors Saturday at the Class 2 State Cross Country meet held in Jefferson City. (Photo by David Jenkins, Staff)

JEFFERSON CITY -- The Kelly cross country duo of junior Cody Kern and senior Tara Johnson battled cold weather and a biting wind en route to earning all-state honors at the Class 2 State Cross Country meet on Saturday.

Kern, finished 12th with a time of 17:40 while Johnson finished 14th with a time of 21:30. It is the second year in a row that the runners finished with all-state honors as both finished 17th last season. As a sophomore Johnson finished 68th and Kern finished 67th as a freshman.

"I tried my best," Johnson said. "You always want to go better, but I gave it all I could. I was actually 5 seconds slower this year than last year, but with the weather conditions, what can you do?"

Chaffee's Sarah Reischman also finished with all-state honors, crossing the finish line in 19th place with a time of 22:17. She became the first state medalist for the second-year Chaffee program.

"It's amazing," Reischman said through tears before heading to the award ceremony. "It makes me want to laugh, it makes me want to cry; pretty much everything. It's my last year and I never thought I would get all-state."

In the team competition, the Dexter Lady Bearcats finished 14th with 244 points. Individually, Lizzie Kohlbaker earned all-state honors with a 12th place finish after finishing with a time of 21:26.

Toby Carrig of the Southeast Missourian contributed to this report.