State Cross Country Recap ======> Rim Rock

6A Girls

Last year's 6A team race was somewhat close -- 9 points -- between two teams; but nothing quite compares to this year's 6A team race, possibly the closest in the history of the meet -- between three teams! Pre-meet favorite, KS#2 Manhattan won the meet, but on a tiebreaker, to KS#4 Lawrence Free State; while KS#3 Shawnee Mission North was left with third, one point behind. Interesting note -- Manhattan's #1, who placed 11th, collapsed with 50+ remaining meters, but got back up and got rather slowly to the finish line, so she lost a few places. In any case, she finished 11 seconds ahead of their #2, who led a pack of three other Manhattan medalists. Their pack got them to the tiebreaker, whereas Free State's very good top two, plus another medalist right behind Manhattan's #1, and two other top 33 got them there -- both 72 points. Manhattan's #6 was 35th, 19 seconds ahead of Free State's #6 in 44th. Shawnee Mission North, depending on which scorer could have changed, was just one place away from winning the meet, but instead finished third.

Individually, it was still somewhat close halfway in and Venters was still very close to Born through 2 miles; but Born had a very strong last mile and went on to become just the second girl in the state to break 18:00 this season. She won by 32 seconds for her first 6A State championship, as a sophomore. Kayla Davis also had a strong last portion of the race to pass the two-time defending champion Venters and run an 18:30 for second; she is now a two-time State medalist. Venters ended up running an 18:38 to rack up her third State medal with a year still to go. Wichita North junior Gabriela Reyna was the only other runner under 19:00 -- she ran an 18:51 for 4th place.

Top Five Teams:

PlaceTeamPointsScorersTimes
1Manhattan High School7210+13+14+15+20 (29+45)0:32 1-5 Split | 19:52 Avg
2Lawrence Free State High School723+6+12+24+27 (36+39)1:39 1-5 Split | 19:40 Avg
3Shawnee Mission North735+8+11+19+30 (57+62)1:03 1-5 Split | 19:47 Avg
4Olathe East High School1032+9+21+34+37 (53+56)2:12 1-5 Split | 19:54 Avg
5Blue Valley North High School1227+16+28+31+40 (49+70)1:19 1-5 Split | 20:10 Avg

Medalists (Top 20):

PlaceAthleteTeamResultPoints
1Born, Molly10Shawnee Mission Northwest17:58.601
2Davis, Kayla12Olathe East High School18:30.302
3Venters, Emily11Lawrence Free State High School18:38.803
4Reyna, Gabriela11Wichita North High School18:51.604
5Reed, Amber11Shawnee Mission North19:18.105
6Gueldner, Cameron12Olathe Northwest High School19:19.50--
7Cordes, Kiran11Lawrence Free State High School19:26.106
8Strauss, Lily9Blue Valley North High School19:26.307
9Taylor, Samantha12Shawnee Mission North19:30.508
10Delatorre, Yulissa12Olathe East High School19:33.509
11Keeley, Anna12Manhattan High School19:38.6010
12Kasunic, Katie9Shawnee Mission North19:40.5011
13Larkin, Julia9Lawrence Free State High School19:44.4012
14Willis, Shannon12Blue Valley West High School19:45.50--
15Wellman, Leah9Olathe Northwest High School19:47.00--
16Melgares, Cara11Manhattan High School19:49.7013
17Sanchez, Michelle10Manhattan High School19:50.9014
18Purdom, Madeline9Manhattan High School19:51.9015
19Endsley, Emilee10Wichita East High School19:53.50--
20Wright, Yazmine11Hutchinson High School19:54.10--


3A/5A/6A State Meet Race Recaps: