DeSoto Girls XC Finishes 2nd at State, Highest in School History

(DESOTO) Kayla Vogelsang and Lillie Kaempfe led the charge for a DeSoto girls cross country 2nd place team finish at state in Class 3 last weekend in Columbia.

A week after the team’s best finish in program history, Head Coach Aarong Young is still feeling pretty good.

Sophomore Vogelsang earned her 2nd All-State medal after a time of 19:26, good enough for 12th place. Senior Kaempfe earned her 2nd All-State medal as well, placing 21st after a time of 19:35.

For Kaempfe, this season was her 4th trip to state and Coach Young says that she too is on “cloud nine” following her All-State finish in her final year at DeSoto.

A cool story about Coach Young and Lillie is that back in August, Lillie Kaempfe signed up for the Army reserves in St. Louis and had invited Coach Young to witness her doing so. As far as college is concerned for Kaempfe, Coach Young kept that a secret but indicated that her signing will be taking place sometime next week.

Then there is Kayla Vogelsang, who once again finished 12th and made it onto the All-State team.

DeSoto’s 2nd place finish as a team this season was the highest in program history, beating out last year’s 4th place group that at the time held the record. Other than Dominique Mitkos, every girl on this year’s squad was on last year’s as well.

Full Aaron Young Interview