Jordan Bossaller may have some company in the coming years.

Currently the most recent Belle High School cross country runner to earn All-State honors, Bland Middle School (BMS) eighth grader Jackson Prater is setting himself up for quite the successful high school cross country career.

Going into the Missouri Middle School Cross Country Championships back on Saturday, Oct. 25 in Wheatland, Prater had only lost one race all season while winning the rest of them.

Topping the field by more than 40 seconds in the Class 1-2 boys race, Prater won an unofficial state title with a first-place time of 11:10.20.

Fellow Bland Bear Michael Felton also garnered unofficial All-State honors placing fourth in the race with a time of 11:57.90.

Other Bear harriers helping Bland to a seventh-place team finish out of 22 scoring teams with 237 points included Alden Zabel (76th, 13:56.20), Ryker Huebner (122nd, 15:04.00), Tharon Kent (126th, 15:07.20), Treyton Huebner (169th, 16:10.80) and Braxton Elrod (212th, 17:45.80).

A trio of Lady Bears also competed in the Class 1-2 Middle School Girls race at the Lucas Oil Speedway in Wheatland.

Marianne Francis led the Lady Bear trio placing 130th in a time of 17:20.15.

She was followed by Skyler Stevens (150th, 18:05.12) and Cora Langston (166th, 18:47.05).

“I’m so proud of all of my middle school runners for their hard work this season,” BMS head cross country coach Samantha Ridenhour said. “I’m looking forward to see what our eighth graders can do next year in their first year as high school runners after  having so much success in middle school.”