6A Boys
As evidenced by the high winning score, no 6A boys team went out an dominated today. There is I think possible speculation on if any teams had bad days and which teams they were. However, only one team was good enough today to score under 100 points, so that winning team was Olathe North with 97. They got the job done with three medalists, all in the top 11, an additional top-26 runner, and a #5 in 51st place. The 51st place isn't particularly impressive, but when you consider only 27 seconds separated 25th through 54th place, that is more than a runner every second and that's a lot of opportunities for teams who are close in talent level, to rack up points if they're not careful and/or not having their best day. Olathe East was second with 107 points, and them allowing their normally solid pack get too far away from (behind) their #1 runner cost them; Shawnee Mission East had pretty good races from their #1-#3 -- three top-15 medalists -- but added too many points on in the crowded front-mid-pack of the field in their #4 and #5 positions and took third with 119 points. Sixth place ended up "only" 17 points behind SM East's 119 points, so it was a quite close race for the top six teams.
Individually, #1 Ranked Belesti Akalu of Shawnee Mission North led the whole way and was never challenged; he ran the fastest time of the day across all six classes with his time of 15:43. Defending champion junior Jackson Schroeder of Manhattan pulled away from the pack mid-race but never gained any ground on Akalu, and took second with a time of 15:54, and got his third 6A State medal in as many years. Before winning last year, he was sixth as a freshman. Ethan Donley of Free State ran sub-16:00 again, just barely, in finishing third in 15:59.6 -- it is his second State medal after finishing sixth last year. Nicholas Skinner of Olathe East was fourth in 16:15 for his second-straight top five 6A finish, while Marcus Tula of Garden City improved upon his 18th place 2014 finish to place fifth in 16:24.
Top Five Teams:
| Place | Team | Points | Scorers | Times | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Olathe North High School | 97 | 8+9+11+25+44 (56+63) | 0:52 1-5 Split | 16:49 Avg | ||
| 2 | Olathe East High School | 109 | 4+21+24+28+32 (36) | 0:54 1-5 Split | 16:52 Avg | ||
| 3 | Shawnee Mission East High School | 119 | 12+13+15+37+42 (47+61) | 0:44 1-5 Split | 16:56 Avg | ||
| 4 | Manhattan High School | 125 | 2+19+23+40+41 (50+57) | 1:27 1-5 Split | 16:52 Avg | ||
| 5 | Shawnee Mission North | 130 | 1+7+29+45+48 (60) | 1:49 1-5 Split | 16:51 Avg | ||
Medalists (Top 20):
| Place | Athlete | Team | Result | Points | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Akalu, Belesti | 12 | Shawnee Mission North | 15:43.40 | 1 | |
| 2 | Schroeder, Jackson | 11 | Manhattan High School | 15:54.90 | 2 | |
| 3 | Donley, Ethan | 12 | Lawrence Free State High School | 15:59.60 | 3 | |
| 4 | Skinner, Nicholas | 12 | Olathe East High School | 16:15.90 | 4 | |
| 5 | Tula, Marcus | 11 | Garden City High School | 16:24.20 | 5 | |
| 6 | Flanders, Pierce | 11 | Washburn Rural High School | 16:27.40 | 6 | |
| 7 | Akalu, Alex | 11 | Shawnee Mission North | 16:29.90 | 7 | |
| 8 | Johnson, Zan | 12 | Olathe North High School | 16:32.70 | 8 | |
| 9 | Heikes, Josiah | 11 | Olathe North High School | 16:33.00 | 9 | |
| 10 | Wiederholt, Joey | 12 | Blue Valley High School | 16:36.10 | 10 | |
| 11 | Beach, Brian | 9 | Olathe North High School | 16:37.20 | 11 | |
| 12 | Arnspiger, John | 11 | Shawnee Mission East High School | 16:38.80 | 12 | |
| 13 | Young, Jack | 11 | Shawnee Mission East High School | 16:39.00 | 13 | |
| 14 | Anima, Martin | 10 | Wichita North High School | 16:39.30 | 14 | |
| 15 | Meng, Lance | 12 | Shawnee Mission East High School | 16:39.40 | 15 | |
| 16 | Hockenbury, Tanner | 12 | Lawrence Free State High School | 16:40.60 | 16 | |
| 17 | Donahue, Keegan | 12 | Blue Valley High School | 16:43.40 | 17 | |
| 18 | Cervantes, Javier | 10 | Garden City High School | 16:44.30 | 18 | |
| 19 | Schroeder, Cooper | 10 | Manhattan High School | 16:45.30 | 19 | |
| 20 | Cropp, Cason | 12 | Washburn Rural High School | 16:49.00 | 20 | |
3A/5A/6A State Meet Race Recaps: