The Junction City High School girls cross country team has qualified for the Class 6A State meet. The Lady Jays finished third in the team competition at the 6A Regional on Saturday at Milford State Park.

JCHS senior Myrissa Humphrey led the way for the Lady Jays with a ninth place finish in the individual competition in 19:57.7. “It is a very big deal. I didn’t really have much of a goal other than to go to state, so definitely met that goal.” Humphreys said she gave it her all in the race. “I think I didn’t leave anything in the tank.”

Also for Junction City, Briona Jensen finished 17th in 21:02.6, Leah Ervin 19th in 21:21.0, Kailey Koomen 20th in 21:28.1, and Beth Arneson 24th in 21:57.8.

For the Blue Jay boys, Miguel Espinosa and Nick Arneson both qualified for state, which will be held at Rimrock Farm near Lawrence Oct. 31. Espinosa turned in a time of 17:21.0 and Arneson 17:35.0 at the regional.

Miguel Espinosa was excited. “I was thinking I wasn’t going, but it’s awesome going now, knowing officially.”

For Nick Arneson it’s the second year in a row he has qualified for state. It will be Arneson’s last cross country race of his high school career. “Yep, one last. Hopefully, hopefully I can place at this. That’s the hope.” For Espinosa and Humphreys the state meet competition will also be their final cross country race. All three of the JCHS runners are seniors.

In the team competition at Regional, Manhattan won the boys title with the low score of 35 points, followed by Lawrence Free State with 45, and Washburn Rural 74. The Blue Jays turned in a team score of 134 points to finish fifth out of eight teams. For the girls Manhattan was first with a score of 27 points, Lawrence Free State second with 48, and Junction City third with 89.