Ethan Seyer of Oak Ridge High School made it to state for cross country three years in a row.

The valedictorian said he's going to remember the races, and the way it felt to compete against other driven runners.

"There's been some pretty cool racing moments," he said. "It's like when you've finally beat somebody you've never beat or like winning districts twice -- those were both pretty good races."

Last summer, he ran 50 miles a week for 10 weeks.

"That was my number," he said. "Cause I wanted to hit 500 miles last summer, which I did."

Seyer said he couldn't wait to run for the team, going back to when he was in first grade, the year Oak Ridge's cross country program was established.

"I got to see all the older kids do it, so it's always something I wanted to do, and I went out and did it," he said. "My mom ran cross country, so she helped push me."

Seyer spent all of his time outside school either running or helping out on the family farm.

"Basically, my day was wake up, run, go to school, run again, come home and work," he said. "It's kind of what we do."

He said being top of the class was easy as long as he made sure everything was done.

"A lot of people ask, ‘Did you have to work for it?' Well, yeah, I mean, you have to," he said. "I went like crazy when I was at school, and we went hard because I knew I didn't really have the time when I got home," he said.

Seyer and his dad, along with his uncle and cousin, basically run it all, he said. They farm about 1,000 acres and own about 700 of those.

"My whole family was taught from the time we were born, you go hard all the time," he said. "There's not really a down moment. And it was expected out of us to do it just right. As my grandpa always said, ‘If you don't have time to do it right the first time, you're definitely not going to have time to do it right the next time, so you might as well do it right the first time.'"

Seyer played basketball and baseball, was a member of FTA, FBLA, pep club and NHS. He's also been a 4-H Club camp counselor for the last several years.

Seyer will attend Southeast Missouri State University this fall for nursing.

"It's going to be different," he said. "Like everybody says, we go from the top of the food chain back to the bottom, and it's going to be interesting."

Seyer doesn't plan on running in college, but his coach asked if he'd help to train the high school cross country team this year. Seyer said he'll help out on days he doesn't have class.

Kaitlin Northern

Zalma High School 2013 Valedictorian - Kaitlin Northern (Laura Simon)

Since eighth grade, Kaitlin Northern had her sights set on graduating as valedictorian.

"I'm just really stubborn," she said. "And whenever I set my mind to do something, I'm like, ‘You know what? That's what I want to do.'"

Zalma's top senior will attend Southeast Missouri State University for pre-pharmacy before applying to the University of Missouri for pharmacy school.

"I just like chemistry," she said. "I've always liked science. My mom suggested pharmacy school, so I was like, ‘Yeah, I could be a pharmacist.'"

Speech and debate were staples of Northern's schooling. She began in seventh grade, traveling with the team to compete against other schools. Northern loved every minute of it.

"I've done prose, poetry, duet and storytelling," she said.

This past year, she and a partner went to state for duet acting, which is her favorite. The piece was "Chicken Bones for the Teenage Soup." They won first place at districts for the performance.

"It's fun to play off of the other person and put on a show," she said.

Northern was also in choir, FCCLA, softball, yearbook staff and Beta Club.

She also balanced grades and organizations with working at McDonald's. But procrastination and late nights hammering out schoolwork were her thing.

"I don't have good time management at all," she said, laughing.

When she's stressed, and that doesn't happen often, Northern said she just kind of shuts down for a little bit. She sits back and takes deep, cleansing breaths. Then she'll listen to music, or she'll read.

"If it's a good book, I'll read it," she said. "Anything and everything."

Northern looks forward to being free, able to do what she wants when she wants to.

"I'm not really looking forward to stressful homework," she said. "But it should be a little fun."

She's visited Southeast, enrolled and lined up her classes.

"Everybody was super friendly and helpful," she said. "It's close to home, so it'll be easier to transition. It just seemed like the place to be."

botto@semissourian.com