Semoball Awards: Griffin helped lead Van Buren to state cross country title

Van Buren's Katie Griffin was named Girls Cross Country Athlete of the Year at the 2022 Semoball Awards on Friday, July 8, 2022.

SEMOBALL/India Hampton

This story was updated with new information.

Van Buren’s Katie Griffin added one more honor before moving onto the next chapter in her athletic and academic career as she was named Girls Cross Country Athlete of the Year at the 2022 Semoball Awards.

Griffin had a stellar cross country season along with winning a state title in track and playing basketball for the Lady Dawgs.

“It’s really cool to win this award,” Griffin said. “I worked very hard for four years and to see it pay off like this means a lot.

“To see my high school experience come to a close with this is cool.”

Mercy is the presenting sponsor of the Semoball Awards, the area’s premier awards show recognizing student-athletes and coaches in Southeast Missouri.

Griffin finished fourth in the MSHSAA Class 1 state cross country championship race, helping Van Buren win the team title 79 points.

Griffin ran the 5,000-meter course at Gans Creek in Columbia in 20 minutes, 36.2 seconds for all-state honors. It was nearly a minute faster than her ninth-place finish as a junior and during her sophomore year when she placed 21st.

Van Buren placed fourth in the team standings the previous two years before scoring 43 points this past fall with four runners in the top 22.

Teammates Kinsley Murphy and Kastin Cleaver were also finalists for girls cross country Athlete of the Year.

Griffin placed second in the District 1 meet after winning the Big Springs Conference race along with six other first place finishes during the season.

“Winning the state championship as a team was huge for me personally,” Griffin said. “I loved spending time with my team and I’m glad we were able to win a state championship together. The experience will help me as I go forward in my college career.

“We got fourth the past couple of years at state,” Griffin continued. “But we worked a lot harder this past season to win the state championship as a team.”

Griffin will be running cross country and track for Missouri State University.

Griffin also won the MSHSAA Class 1 state championship in the 400 meters with a time of 58.80 seconds and received an all-state medal after finishing third in the 800 in 2:23.61. She also qualified for state in the 200, finishing 13th in the prelim at 27.52 seconds. Her time in the 400 final was 1.31 seconds faster than the prelim the previous day. Van Buren tied for 16th in the girls team standings at state with Griffin scoring all 16 points.

Griffin became the leader in career points on the girls basketball team, breaking the record at home on senior night against Koshkonong.