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:
Place | Team | Points | Scorers | Times | ||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | Manhattan High School | 72 | 10+13+14+15+20 (29+45) | 0:32 1-5 Split | 19:52 Avg | ||
2 | Lawrence Free State High School | 72 | 3+6+12+24+27 (36+39) | 1:39 1-5 Split | 19:40 Avg | ||
3 | Shawnee Mission North | 73 | 5+8+11+19+30 (57+62) | 1:03 1-5 Split | 19:47 Avg | ||
4 | Olathe East High School | 103 | 2+9+21+34+37 (53+56) | 2:12 1-5 Split | 19:54 Avg | ||
5 | Blue Valley North High School | 122 | 7+16+28+31+40 (49+70) | 1:19 1-5 Split | 20:10 Avg |
Medalists (Top 20):
Place | Athlete | Team | Result | Points | ||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | Born, Molly | 10 | Shawnee Mission Northwest | 17:58.60 | 1 | |
2 | Davis, Kayla | 12 | Olathe East High School | 18:30.30 | 2 | |
3 | Venters, Emily | 11 | Lawrence Free State High School | 18:38.80 | 3 | |
4 | Reyna, Gabriela | 11 | Wichita North High School | 18:51.60 | 4 | |
5 | Reed, Amber | 11 | Shawnee Mission North | 19:18.10 | 5 | |
6 | Gueldner, Cameron | 12 | Olathe Northwest High School | 19:19.50 | -- | |
7 | Cordes, Kiran | 11 | Lawrence Free State High School | 19:26.10 | 6 | |
8 | Strauss, Lily | 9 | Blue Valley North High School | 19:26.30 | 7 | |
9 | Taylor, Samantha | 12 | Shawnee Mission North | 19:30.50 | 8 | |
10 | Delatorre, Yulissa | 12 | Olathe East High School | 19:33.50 | 9 | |
11 | Keeley, Anna | 12 | Manhattan High School | 19:38.60 | 10 | |
12 | Kasunic, Katie | 9 | Shawnee Mission North | 19:40.50 | 11 | |
13 | Larkin, Julia | 9 | Lawrence Free State High School | 19:44.40 | 12 | |
14 | Willis, Shannon | 12 | Blue Valley West High School | 19:45.50 | -- | |
15 | Wellman, Leah | 9 | Olathe Northwest High School | 19:47.00 | -- | |
16 | Melgares, Cara | 11 | Manhattan High School | 19:49.70 | 13 | |
17 | Sanchez, Michelle | 10 | Manhattan High School | 19:50.90 | 14 | |
18 | Purdom, Madeline | 9 | Manhattan High School | 19:51.90 | 15 | |
19 | Endsley, Emilee | 10 | Wichita East High School | 19:53.50 | -- | |
20 | Wright, Yazmine | 11 | Hutchinson High School | 19:54.10 | -- |
3A/5A/6A State Meet Race Recaps: