ST. LOUIS -- The Blalocks are headed back to Jefferson City.

The Poplar Bluff runners qualified for the MSHSAA Class 4 state cross country championships Saturday as Travis Blalock finished fourth in the sectional meet at Jefferson Barracks Park, while Hannah Blalock was seventh.

"They both ran really well," Poplar Bluff coach Beth Lewis said. "Much better races than last week."

Hannah finished the 3.1-mile course in 19 minutes, 53.06 seconds, just 2 seconds behind fifth-place finisher Brittany Moreland of Cape Central. Emily Sisson of Parkway Central won the meet in 18:07.

Travis Blalock finished in 16:41, getting beat to the finish line by two runners in the closing meters.

The junior was fourth at last week's district meet with a time of 16:62 at Parkway Central, 12.6 seconds off the winning pace. Hannah Blalcok was fifth at the district meet with a time of 19:50.

At the Class 2 District 1 meet Saturday at Jefferson Barracks, Dexter's Brittney Waldener (23:06) finished ninth followed by teammate Hannah Barker (23:37) in 10th place. Jessica Litchfield (23:41) and Amelia Jibben (23:42) were 12th and 13th while Hannah Mathis (24:37) was 15th to qualify for state. The Lady Bearcats finished second behind Herculaneum 23-38 for the district title.

Luke Robinson was Dexter's top finisher in the boys race in 18th place.

The results for the Class 1 district meets were not available at press time.