When the day was done, junior Morgan Metcalf smiled and clutched her trophy while standing close by her fellow Liberty competitors and winners.

“It was one of the best feelings I ever had,” Metcalf smiled as she reminisced on how she took first place in Principles of Marketing at DECA districts.

Metcalf, along with fellow juniors, Austyn Kloth, Ally Schany and senior Alec Miller were four of the 36 Liberty students to place in their events and will be moving onto state.  

“We put in a lot of work so it’s satisfying to see that and how it paid off,” Miller said.

Miller placed second, also in Principles of Marketing, coming in closely behind Metcalf. This was both Metcalf’s and Miller’s first time in a DECA competition.

“It’s amazing to see that we both qualified for state having not done this before,” he said.

Kloth, who expresses his love and joy for business and finances, worked hard and placed second in his category of Principles of Finance.

“There’s not one person there that I didn’t feel supported me at districts,” Kloth said.

Schany, who has previously made it to the International competition for DECA competitions, competed in Human Resources Management and placed sixth.

State takes place March 12-14 at the Lake of the Ozarks.