Before she even reached high school, Warren Central’s K.K. McCarley established herself as one of the state’s top distance runners.

Saturday, she’ll try to continue climbing the ladder toward a state championship.

McCarley, who was an all-Class 6A runner last year as an eighth-grader, is one of about 30 Warren County runners who will compete at the state cross country meet at Choctaw Trails in Clinton.

The meet begins at 10 a.m. with the Class 3A races. St. Aloysius will run in the Class 1A meet beginning at noon, while Vicksburg and Warren Central will run in the Class 6A meet at 1 p.m.

McCarley has had five top-five finishes in her freshman season, including a win at the Vicksburg-Warren School District Meet. She was second last week at the Division 2-6A meet, where she nearly equaled her personal best of 15:53.

First-year WC cross country coach Beth Krapac said McCarley’s 15:57 at the division meet showed she is in good form heading into the Class 6A state meet. She was 11th in last year’s meet. The top 14 finishers make the All-State team.

“K.K. broke 16 minutes and finished second at the division meet,” Krapac said. “She definitely has a chance to get back into the top 14. She has a great work ethic.”

McCarley will be chasing Madison Central standout Rebecca Buteau, who posted a time of 14:37 in the division meet. Buteau was fifth in last year’s state meet.

Pushing McCarley will be teammates Hannah Register, Caitlyn Case and Kylie McMaster. Register was third in last month’s Over the River Run. She followed that with a personal-best at the Madison Trail. She finished 50th in last year’s state meet.

The Warren Central boys are led by Stephen Wagner, who will try to improve on his 38th-place finish at last year’s Class 6A meet. This season, Wagner has three top-12 performances and was eighth at the division meet.

“I feel for sure he can break the 18:02 he ran at the division meet,” Krapac said.

St. Al will be led by senior Mary Hannah Campbell in the 1A girls race. She was 47th last year at state, but ran a season best 20:46.20 last week at the division meet and placed ninth.

The St. Al boys are paced by Mack Davidson, who led the Flashes to a second-place team finish at the division meet. Davidson, who won the 800 and 1,600-meter runs at the Class 1A state track meet in May, has a personal best time of 17:47.12 time in the 5,000 meters. It was good enough for third place at the MC Watson Ford meet.

Luke Eckstein, who was ninth at the Over the River Run, will join Jacob Breeden and Ken Cook as the Flashes’ top scorers at the state meet.