The Big One @ Sand Plum Nature Trail (Pt. 3)
A broken fibula and a Stanton County sweep
2A Girls @ Sand Plum Nature Trail
The Stanton County girls are the defending back-to-back champions of 2A, and have been crowned state champions twelve times in the programs history. In her junior year, Chesney Peterson has more than solidified herself as the greatest to ever wear the jersey. Since starting her high school career, Peterson has 42 wins out of 47 races. Four of those 5 non wins were her freshman year and the other one came in the Trials of Miles meet in May where she finished 3rd behind Riley Beach now at Iowa State and Anjali Hocker Singh this years 6A Champion. Peterson isn’t just dominant at the 2A level, her times put her at the top of the state as a whole. Her 800m (2:15.90) time from the Spring was the fastest the state saw, and her 1600m (5:00.72) and 3200m (10:47.92) put her in third among all classifications. Even her cross country times put her towards the top, as she ranks 17th (18:38.80) this year and her sophomore time (18:15.80) had her in 7th. On Saturday, Peterson clocked an 18:38.80, winning by forty-nine seconds ahead of the next finisher. This was Peterson’s twenty-first consecutive win overall, and her eighteenth straight win on the grass, dating back to the start of her sophomore season. With three high school seasons left, I personally don’t see her losing many (if any) more races while wearing a Stanton County uniform.
What better way to finish your first high school season than by taking 2nd behind one of the greatest runners in the state. Payton Wurtz (19:27.90) of Wabaunsee went under twenty minutes for the first time in her career, setting a forty-six second personal best! Wurtz is still going to have to deal with Peterson for another year and a half, but I’ve got a feeling she’ll be the next big dog of 2A. Taking 3rd in her final state meet of her career was West Elk’s Josie Ware ran her fastest of the season in the meet that mattered most, running 19:41.10. This was Ware’s fourth All-State medal and her second top five finish at state cross country. Another pair of seniors in Ellie Van Zelfden of Remington and Emersyn Funk of Hillsboro both closed out their senior seasons in the top five. Van Zelfden took 4th and Funk took 5th, running 19:59.50 and 20:04.30. This was Van Zelfden’s second time under twenty-one and a forty-four second personal best to break the twenty minute barrier for the first time in her career. It was also a personal best from Funk, running twenty-five seconds faster than she had all year. This was Van Zelfden’s first time earning All-State cross country honors while Funk earned her second after a 15th place finish a year ago.
Stanton County’s Suzanne Farnham (20:04.70) took 6th in her junior year, followed by Gracie Enochs (20:06.30) of Smith Center, Emma Cubit (20:07.50) of Central Heights, McLouth’s Reagan Clark (20:09.10) and Salina-Sacred Heart’s Maddie Ehrlich (20:13.20) in 10th. On Saturday Farnham earned her third straight top eight finish at the state meet, after a 4th and 8th her first two seasons.
A quick little fun fact, Farnham’s highest finish in a state meet to date was in May when she took 2nd in the pole vault. Talk about a multi-talented athlete! Meanwhile, Enochs had a great day as well as she ran a new personal best and jumped up forty-two spots from her finish last year. For Cubit, this was the first state experience in her career, and she got started with a bang! She ran a huge fifty-one second career best to finish off her freshman season. After a 6th place finish her freshman year, Clark bookended her career with a 9th place finish in her last hurrah. Finally, Ehrlich rounded out the top ten with her second consecutive All-State finish after a 17th place in last year’s edition.
To earn a state medal in 2A this year, you had to either run 21:00 or faster, the fastest since the state made the move to the 5000m. The next batch of state medalists started off with Lucy Brown (20:21.90) of Remington, followed by Isabella Baier (20:24.60) of Hoxie, Mclouth’s Nina Hedden (20:26.00), Taryn Compton (20:06.30) of Central Heights, Wabaunsee’s Rebekah Stuhlatz (20:34.00), Serrena Armknecht (20:47.60) from Smith Center, Ashlyn Harbaugh (20:56.40) from Bennington, Oakley’s Daysha Allison (20:56.60) and Heidi Grimmett (20:58.30) and Breanna Ross (21:00.50) of Marion and Erie.
The team title could have been closer, but not really. Only four points separated 1st and 3rd, and 4th wasn’t far behind only trailing 1st by fifteen. After winning by thirty-five points last year and twenty-five the year before, Stanton County could call their victory this year a little nerve-wracking. Having the state champ score one point for your team is always a significant boost, but when the teams chasing you are extremely talented, even that is barely enough. Stanton County was off to a hot start, with Peterson and Farnham going 1-6, but their next three runners scored 18, 26 and 35 points, which most days would be more than enough to win with ease. Remington matched Stanton County’s top heavy finishers with seniors Van Zelfden and Brown taking 4th and 11th. Their next three scored 19, 21 and 36, which was almost enough to ruin Stanton County’s day. Meanwhile, Salina-Sacred Heart put all five of their scoring runners in front of both Stanton County’s and Remington’s five, but at the end of the day lacked a duo up front, with Ehrlich being the sole Knight in the top twenty. Once the dust settled, Stanton County won their third straight title just ahead of Remington and Salina-Sacred Heart, 84-87-88. Central Heights (99) took a close 4th, comfortably ahead of McLouth (135), Wabaunsee (143), Berean Academy (151) and Oakley (156) who took 5th-8th. Pittsburg-St. Mary’s Colgan (169) , Hutchinson-Trinity Catholic (233) , Valley Falls (310) and Chase County (317) rounded out the rest of the field.
2A Boys @ Sand Plum Nature Trail
The 2A Boys race saw more Stanton County dominance, as they claimed the individual championship along with the program’s tenth state title. Kamryn Golub topped his 3rd place finish from a year ago, earning his first career state title in his second year of high school cross country. Golub ends his junior season with a personal best of 16:08.00 and winning 6 of his 8 races this year. The Stanton County standout was joined by two of his teammates in the top twenty, with Spencer Schmidt taking 4th in 16:48.40 and Ryan Wenman in 10th with a 17:03.20. The state champs rounded out their top five with Uziel Carrasco (18:14.00) in 42nd and Colton Adams (18:18.50) in 44th. Golub is the lone Stanton County runner in the top five who is not a senior, making for an interesting 2022 title defense.
Alfonso Rubio of Mission Valley ended his junior year with his third straight runner-up finish, but this time it was at the biggest meet of the year. Rubio improved from his 6th place finish last year while running his fastest time of the season in 16:28.30. Fourteen seconds back was Salina-Sacred Heart’s Brady Wells who is finishing up his freshman campaign. Wells clocked a big season best of 16:42.10, going under seventeen for the first time in his young career. Schmidt from Stanton County was six seconds back, followed by Jonah Godina of Hutchinson-Trinity Catholic, who just barely edged out Cooper Hamlin of Northern Heights 16:54.30-16:54.40. Godina improved from his 15th place finish last year along with Hamlin who took 20th last year in his first state appearance.
7th-12th place finished all within four seconds of one another between 16:59.50 and 17:03.30. Kansas City Christian sophomore Spencer Mumford led the way in 7th with a personal best of 16:59.50, just three tenths of a second ahead of Brendan Kiser (16:59.80) from Hutchinson-Trinity Catholic. The pack of Asher Miller of Ellinwood, Wenman of Stanton County and Berean Academy duo Eli Nord and Andrew Harder all finished within three quarters of a second of each other. Miller crossed in 17:02.60, Wenman in 17:03.20, and the Berean duo each ran 17:03.30. Harder and Nord are the only two repeat All-State finishers in the group, with Harder earning the honor last year and Nord earning it since 2019.
The next eight finishers all earned All-State honors on Saturday, led by Connor Burkdoll (17:07.20), a freshman from Central Heights. Lyndon’s Brayden Marcotte (17:09.40), Jared Plake (17:10.20) of McLouth, the Ell-Saline duo of Carson Fouard (17:10.90) and Kelton Kern (17:11.00), McLouth’s Henry Cloyd (17:11.40) and Andrew Schumacher (17:12.80) and Thayne Trout (17:15.20) of Kansas City Christian and Bennington followed suit to round out the top twenty.
The team title was the polar opposite of the girl’s race, as there wasn’t any real question on who was going to take home the title. The real battle was for the remaining two podium spots. Berean Academy and McLouth took 2nd and 3rd, scoring 118 and 122, edging out Kansas City Christian (126), Hutchinson-Trinity Catholic (134), Central Heights (137) and Ell-Saline (137). The rest of the field was made up of Bennington (183), Hoxie (199), Jackson Heights (212), Northern Heights (218) and Valley Falls (291).
1A Girls @ Sand Plum Nature Trail
What did you do this weekend? Did you win your first cross country state title with a broken fibula? Unless your name is Emma Weiner and you are a sophomore at Golden Plains, the answer is no.
On Saturday, Weiner (20:04.70) ran the state meet on what she thought was a sprained ankle from the day before. As you can see from tweet, this might be one of the most insane things that I have read in a long time. Time and time again it’s proven that runners are a different kind of breed. Competing with pain, aches or minor injuries time and time again, but running and WINNING with a broken leg is simply incredible. Personally it gives off vibes very similar to Kobe going back and shooting those free throws in 2013.
Not even half way through her high school career, Weiner has made a name for herself already. After Saturday, Weiner has only seen four people cross the finish line before, leaving her with a 23-3 record. Her two losses came when she took 3rd last year behind Jaycee Vath of Lincoln and Elle Williams of Doniphan West. Her most second loss was to Lara Murdock in the 1600m at the Colby High School Invitational in May. Her third and most recent loss of her career again came from Vath, but this time in the 3200m at the 2021 Kansas State Track and Field Championships. I’m not sure we can call these “losses” but hopefully you get my point. Since then, it’s been the “Emma Weiner Show”. She finished her dominant season with seventh straight win, capping off her first undefeated season in the process. With a quick little google search, I learned that it takes roughly six weeks to three months for patients to get back to their daily routines. Disclaimer: I actually know zero information on the extent of her break or her plan of action, so please don’t use me as your only source for this. Whatever happens, I just hope we get to see Weiner on the track this Spring.
For her fourth straight year, Doniphan West senior Elle Williams placed in the top fifteen at the 1A state meet. After a 15th and a 4th place finish in her first two years, Williams finished runner-up both this year and last. After not racing last week, Williams was right back in it by leading her team with a 2nd place finish in 20:30.00. Five seconds back in 3rd was Abigail White of Pretty Prairie who ran 20:35.90 for a comfortable finish. This was her second straight top ten finish as the senior took 9th last year. Ingalls senior Courtney Bailey and Macksville junior Madison Butler took 4th and 5th with times of 20:54.10 and 21:04.40. Bailey earned her third straight state cross country medal, while Butler is now 3/3 for in top twelve finishes at state.
Meade freshman Maya Doney (21:04.40) and Alivia Bacon (21:11.60) took 6th and 7th, while Michelle Zarybnicky of Hanover, Zahra Lewis and McKenzie Baker of Washington County closed out the top ten. Doney got her career off to a good start, ending her inaugural season with a 6th place finish at her first state meet. Bacon adds to her résumé with an improvement from her 12th place finish last year, her third All-State finish. In her last cross country season of high school, Zarybnicky earned her fourth All-State honor, and her second on the grass. In only their second year as a program, Lewis earned the first state cross country medal in program history with a 9th place finish. Filling out the top ten was Baker, who ended her first season with a personal best and a state medal.
The next round of state medalists started with Claire Cole (21:29.30) of Doniphan West, followed by Leah Anstaett (21:39.90) of Quinter, Kirstin Hackney (21:43.40) of Coldwater-South Central, Kiowa County’s Audrey Bunce (21:45.10) and Mya Schweitzer (21:45.40) of Osborne. The next five were made up of Claire Beikmann (21:45.90) of Linn, Kate Kendig (21:46.80) of Osborne, Natoma’s Breanna Fast (21:47.80), Cair Paravel’s Katherine Keys (21:48.00) and Kendall Kaydence (21:05.40) from La Crosse.
If you would have told me that a full strength Doniphan West team would not win their third straight state title, I would have questioned your sanity. At the Centralia Regional just a week before, Osborne used the advantage of a Doniphan West team without their top runner Elle Williams, and took a regional title from them by two points. This created a whole lot of uncertainty across 1A, now with the door wide open for a new team to pounce. On Saturday though, Doniphan West was back at full strength and were looking to claim their third straight championship. The Quinter Bulldogs were in the right place at the right time. In 1A, only four runners score compared to five due to the vastly different population status for many 1A schools. Quinter only brought four runners, meaning they had no margin for error and had to perform at their highest level. Well they did just that, finishing 12th, 21st, 33rd, and 44th, putting their team in between the second and third runner of Doniphan West. It took a little bit to tally the scores since thirty-two of the top fifty finishers were individual qualifiers. With the scores tallied, Quinter had 60 points and had won their first state title in program history while taking down the back-to-back champs at the same time. Doniphan West was able to finish runner-up with 79 points, but Pretty Prairie and Osborne were right behind them with 80 and 85. Cair Paravel Latin (92), Macksville (97), Ness City (97) and Meade (98)were all within six points of one another, and honestly not too far behind the podium. Oswego (123), the Classical School of Wichita (128), Kiowa County (130) and Axtell (153) were 8th-12th
1A Boys @ Sand Plum Nature Trail
Here we are, the final state race of the newsletter. What better way to end than the chaos that was 1A this season. Full of uncertainty and upsets, the smallest classification had it all.
After a breakout track season that saw him take third in the 1600m, Spearville senior Corbin Ricke (16:26/60) claimed his first career state title on Saturday. After winning all but one meet leading up to last weekend, Ricke capped off his dominant season with a comfortable fifteen second victory. Canton-Galva senior Christian Darrah (16:41.40) claimed the runner-up position as he collected his third cross country state medal. On top of all of that, Darrah broke the seventeen minute barrier for the first time in his career. Is there a better way to go out? Blake Yoder (16:48.30) of Hutchinson-Central Christian, Elijah Zortman (16:52.10) of Fowler and Logan Keith (16:57.20) from Meade finished 3rd, 4th and 5th, while all breaking seventeen for the first time and earning their highest career finish at the meet.
Andrew Racy of South Gray led the way for the rest of the top ten, running 17:07.50 to take 6th, his first time ever in the top twenty. Stockton’s Jonathan Hamel and Pretty Prairie’s James White III finished 7th and 8th. This was Hamel’s second year in the top twenty, but first in the top ten, while White III earned his first state cross country medal. Eli Gruenbacher (17:21.00) of Quinter and Axtell’s Grady Buessing (17:24.00) closed out the top ten, both finishing with a state cross country medal for the first time.
The rest of the All-State finishers were Ingalls’ Brenden Ellis (17:28.00), Graham Bales (17:34.50) of Osborne, Morgan Becker (17:41.40) from Canton-Galva, Sylvan Grove’s Zach Rose (17:46.50), Treyton Olander (17:50.60) of Little River, Jonas Letourneau (17:51.30) from Beloit-St. John, Meade’s Jobjosiah Muthiani (17:52.20), Wetmore’s Colby Hanzlicek (17:52.90) and Alex Zortman (17:58.00) and Matthew Elder (18:00.10) from Fowler and Quinter.
For the second straight year and the third time in program history, Meade was crowned state champions. It was a valiant effort from runner-up Quinter, who did all of the right things but fell short. Meade’s four runner’s placed 5th, 17th. 21st, and 25th, while Quinter did practically the same thing, placing 9th, 20th, 22nd and 31st. At the end of the day, it just wasn’t enough as Meade edged out Quinter 31-40. There really wasn’t a close battle for 3rd, as the Classical School of Wichita scored 96, ahead of Ingalls (104) and Goessel (109). Wetmore (115), Cair Paravel Latin (119) and La Crosse (119) all came in close with each other, while St. John-Hudson, Pretty Prairie and Beloit-St. John rounded out the field.
I hope you guys have a great start to your holiday season (sorry if it’s too early for you, I love this time of the year) and do your best to stay patient until more postseason cross country comes our way. Stay tuned because there are some big things brewing over here, so be ready! We’ll “see” you next time!