What time is it?⏱
I think you know what time it is
It’s Katelyn Rupe O’Clock⏰
Week after week, Salina Central sophomore Katelyn Rupe continues to exceed expectations. After winning a pair of state titles in the spring over a very experienced and successful field, the thought of Rupe’s transition from track to cross country started making me think. “Would she be able keep it up on the rolling hills of different courses across the state? How was she going to handle her training while she was playing tennis at the same time?”
In case you haven’t put it together, Rupe answered those questions right out of the gate, leaving no doubt that she was the real deal. In her first cross country race of her high school career, she ran 17:45.30 on a tough course at Warner Park in Manhattan. She crossed the line almost two and a half minutes before the rest of the field. Five days later, she took the line at the Swather Classic in Hesston, where she won the “Sophomore Girls Large” division, where she ran 18:59.2, finishing over three minutes ahead of the runner-up. Rupe’s time was still just under two minutes ahead of the next fastest time across all races that day, reminding everybody that it doesn’t matter what division she’s in.
Two weeks later, Rupe’s biggest challenge yet was set to be the Gold Division at the Rim Rock Farm Classic, where it has typically taken something in the mid to high seventeens to take down the field. Running by herself nearly the bulk of the race, she ran 17:45 for the second time this season, fifty-four seconds ahead of 2021 5A runner-up Grace Hanson, a senior from Kansas City-Piper.
However, last week she produced the most impressive race of her young career, as she won the Bob Schmoekel Invitational at Junction City in a twenty-second PR of 17:26.5.
For those of you that have ran at Milford Lake, or know the course that I’m talking about, I’d like to invite you to pick up your jaw from the floor. For those that don’t know much about this course, this is the most difficult course that I have ever ran, and could be the toughest course in the state. To my knowledge (and MileSplit’s), no girl had ever broke eighteen, or even 18:20 on that course. That course has had its fair share of state champions take on the challenge, including Lawrence Free State’s Emily Venters, and Washburn Rural’s Jaybe Shufelberger and Manhattan’s Clara Mayfield.
Venters owned the previous course record of 18:27.3, which she ran her junior year of high school. Shufelberger ran 19:56.6 her junior year, as Mayfield ran 19:03.2 that same day. Venters (16:56), Shufelberger (17:31), and Mayfield (18:20) all owned high school PR’s way below their times at Milford, showing how unforgiving that course can be.
It happened a week ago and I’m still in awe of this, and I hope after reading this you all realize how impressive and important this performance is. We are in the midst of a natural talent, and I cannot wait to see how much faster she can get before the end of the season.
Chile Pepper🌶
Down in Fayetteville, the annual Chile Pepper Cross Country Festival brought in teams from across the country, including a good amount of Kansas athletes. After taking 3rd at the Roy Griak Invitational, Olathe West was on the road again, but this time heading south. On a much friendlier course than the Les Bolstad Golf Course, the Owls took third behind Lucas Lovejoy and Carroll, 67-75-129. In the forty-nine team field, they faired pretty well, as they had four in the top twenty-six, including a sub-seventeen performance by senior Charis Robinson (17:51.1). The pack of Kate Miller, Paige Baker and Bree Newport finished 23rd, 25th, and 26th, running 18:21, 18:26 and 18:31. Sophomore Liz Browning was their fifth runner, taking 66th and running 19:22.
Not to be outdone by her in-state competition, Shawnee Mission East junior Lida Padgett finished 14th, in a huge PR of 18:01.3, making her the fastest junior in Kansas. Another athlete with a memorable day was Mill Valley sophomore Charlotte Caldwell, who is finding her way after losing her training partner to graduation in May. The Lancers and Jaguars, led by Padgett and Caldwell each respectively finished 9th and 11th.
On the boys’ side, state record holder Wyatt Haughton decided that one sub-fifteen wasn’t enough, as he took 3rd in the El Caliente race, running 14:53 on the dot, behind a historic battle between Southern Boone’s Connor Burns (14:32) and Liberty North’s Sage Wilde (14:36). Following their teammate Haughton, were fellow Lancer seniors Caden Peters and Blair Ptacek, who took 14th and 34th in 15:25 and 15:42. Olathe West sophomore Gunnar Hornung and Mill Valley junior were close to breaking sixteen, finishing in 16:00 and 16:04 in a five hundred person field. Haughton and co. led their squad to an eighth place finish, while Olathe West and Mill Valley took 17th and 38th out of 63 teams.
Bishop Carroll Invitational🏃♂️
Down in Wichita, top dogs from a multitude of classes butted heads at Brown Thrush Park. On the girls’ side, Great Bend, Kapaun Mt. Carmel and Bishop Carroll had a tight team battle, with all three separated by just twelve points. The Panthers came out on top, just a point over the Crusaders, 50-51, as the Golden Eagles totaled 62 points. However, it was Wichita Trinity freshman Brecken Howell who took down the field, running 19:33 for the dub. Kapaun freshman Taylor Barringer, Great Bend sophomore Marissa Boone, and Bishop Carroll sophomore fought until the very end, as the trio ran 19:40, 19:41 and 19:41.
In the boy’s race, it was a duel between Maize’ Kaleb Glazier and Kaiden Esfeld of Great Bend, as Glazier took the win and set a PR, making his away across the course in 15:39, to Esfeld’s 15:43. Rounding out the top five, all just separated by two-tenths of a second were Wichita Trinity juniors Clay Shively (15:56.5), Sam Ferguson (15:56.6) and Jacob Hobson (15:56.7). Their four and five were Caleb Toftland and Wes Ferguson, who ran PR’s of 16:30 and 16:35, giving the Knights a thirty-eight second pack time and a victory over 5A contenders Kapaun Mt. Carmel, 40-60. The Crusaders were led by Luke Brock, taking 6th in 16:00.
The Winner Board 🥇
Wyandotte Invitational
K’lynn Lawrence — KC-Washington
Tarmen Husein — Northeast High School
Winfield Invitational
Kayli Myers — Winfield
Gabe Onelio — Arkansas City
Ness City Invitational
Emma Weiner — Golden Plains
Sam Martinez — Kiowa County
Halstead Invitational
Hayley Trotter — Clearwater
Levi Allen — Southeast of Saline
Council Grove Invitational
Emory Speece — Osage City
Kodi Downes — Council Grove
Central Heights Invitational
Bree Allen — Prairie View
Hunter Bailey — West Franklin
Berean XC Invitational
Ashley Lehman — Hesston
Andrew Harder — Berean Academy
Beloit Invitational
Alayna Cossaart — Minneapolis
Carson Fouard— Ell-Saline
Syracuse Invitational
Chesney Peterson — Stanton County
Kamryn Golub — Stanton County
Seaman Invitational
Grace Hanson — KC-Piper
Lenny Njoroge — Topeka West
Newton HS Invitational
Madelyn Wallace — Andover
Brady Stegman — Wamego
Maple Leaf XC Classic
Paige Mullen — Shawnee Mission Northwest
Micah Blomker — Shawnee Mission North
KC XC Classic
Anjali Hocker-Singh — Olathe North
Colby King — St. Thomas Aquinas
Centralia Invitational
Name — School
Name — School
Bob Schmoekel Invitational
Katelyn Rupe — Salina Central
Grant Smith — Clay Center Community
Bishop Carroll Invitational
Brecken Howell — Wichita Trinity Academy
Kaleb Glazier — Maize
Chile Pepper Cross Country Festival
Charis Robinson (11th) — Olathe West
Wyatt Haughton (3rd) — Shawnee Mission East
Highlights around the state🌻
The Southeast of Saline quartet of Levi Allen, Damion Jackson, Brayden Walker, and Cayden Walker went 1-4 at the Halstead Invitational last Thursday, running 16:30, 16:40, 16:48 and 16:58, as the team scored just nineteen points to win the meet.
For the second time this year, Shawnee Mission North junior Micah Blomker won the Maple Leaf XC Classic in 15:13, a course record by twenty seconds. Blomker seems to be getting close to his 2021 form, as he sets a season best for the third time this season.
The Colby Community College men’s cross country team took second behind Arkansas, 61-149. Their lead runner Sanele Masondo won the meet in 23:18, followed by his teammates who finished 18th, 23rd, 30th and 90th.
At the KC XC Classic, a Kansas trio of St. Thomas Aquinas’ Colby King, Olathe East’s Carter Stewart and Gardner Edgerton’s Parker Walion topped the two-hundred person field, running 15:31, 15:46 and 16:00.
Two-time defending 6A state champion Anjali Hocker-Singh of Olathe North, won the girls’ race at the KC XC Classic in 18:16, over Shawnee Mission South’s Hannah Gibson in 18:32.
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