On a sloppy, muddy, go-away-rain kind of weekend where some meets were altogether cancelled, the Kansas cross country scene got its best look yet at the top contenders for state titles in several classifications.
The gauntlet was thrown down most clearly in Wamego, where many of the best runners in classes 1A through 4A came to check out the state championship course at the Wamego Country Club.
Kyler True of Olpe, the two-time defending state champion in Class 2A, hammered his way to a winning time of 16:28 to win by more than a minute.
And we got a pleasant introduction to Clearwater freshman Aimee Davis, who took a stroll over Wamego's rolling hills to the tune of 18:52 and a huge victory over Anderson County's Averi Wilson.
Davis had run 19:04 at her home invitational the week before, so it shouldn't have been a surprise. But it seems pretty evident right now that she's the only one in Class 4A girls who can get anywhere near the stratosphere that three-time state champ Cailie Logue (who ran 17:20 on Thursday to win her home meet) is in.
The Class 1A/2A/3A girls race at Wamego was a battle of sisters. The Giefer Sisters of Trego Community School did battle with the Johnson Sisters of Bennington and, well, we'll call it a draw. Sophomore Helen Giefer won the race in 19:43, followed by Halle Johnson (19:47), Kya Johnson (20:14) and then Sybil Giefer (20:22).
If you're scoring at home, that's a "5" for the Giefers, and "5" for the Johnsons!
And all four will be back to fight it out for the Class 2A girls title in October.
Dylan Brenneman of Spring Hill (16:35) was impressive in the Class 4A boys chase, winning by 18 seconds over El Dorado's Tim Kemboi (16:53) and Scott Community's Jack Thomas (16:54). Brenneman just keeps rolling, seemingly more and more motivated by being the early-season favorite for the 4A crown this year.
Among teams, we certainly seem to be witnessing a changing of the guard in class 4A. Defending champion Baldwin -- hit heavy by graduation this year -- was sixth in the boys meet, and third in the girls meet.
The new guard currently resides at Circle High School, which destroyed the girls field with a score of 46 -- winning by 65 points. Circle's boys won a tight battle, putting up 88 points to beat a solid performance by Wamego (95 points).
Baldwin swept the team races at Wamego last year en route to sweeping the state titles in October -- can Circle do the same this year?
Pleasant Ridge (class 3A) won the boys team title with 99 points in the 1A/2A/3A meet, while Bennington was the top 2A school with 110 points. Frankfort, fifth at Wamego, was tops among 1A boys teams.
Bennington's girls (class 2A) won the girls division by 32 points over Norton Community, the top 3A finisher in the field. There were no 1A girls teams in the top 10 at Wamego Saturday, so hard to peg an early favorite there.
MORE WEEKEND HIGHLIGHTS…
I enjoyed watching a very competitive race in which Alex Moen of Andover fought off the relentless Pack Attack of Manhattan on Saturday. Just past the 1 mile mark it was Moen and a pack of five Manhattan runners -- Matthew Pickering, Logan Logback, Cooper Schroeder, Alex Henton and Ko Saito. But the gritty Moen made his move and by two miles had built a small gap that he carried to the finish, winning in 17:06 on a muddy course.
Manhattan won the boys title easily, even with one of their top runners sitting this one out. And the Lady Indians won easily on the girls' side, with two of their top 5 sitting. Sophomore Clara Mayfield (20:51) got her first-ever high school win in the girls race.
Emily Venters of Lawrence Free-State avenged a loss last year to Taylor Somers of Millard South, winning in 18:38 at the Millard South Invitational in Omaha. Teammates Kiran Cordes (third, 19:35) and Abigail Zenger (fifth, 19:46) keyed the Firebirds second place team finish. The meet was shortened due to rain; they were only able to get in the boys' and girls' varsity races Friday.
Seaman's Dawson Podlena won for the second straight week, taking the Joe Schrag Invitational hosted by Topeka West. He clocked 16:35 at the Felker Park course. He edged Shawnee Mission East's Griffin Keeter (16:40), who led his team to a one-point victory over Seaman and Leavenworth.
Dylan Miller of Blue Valley Southwest put up an impressive win over Olathe North's Brian Beach at the Olathe North Invitational. But it was Mill Valley's boys that got the big prize: the Jaguars smoked the defending 6A champion Olathe North team, posting a score of 42 to North's 84.
Kalea Chu of Blue Valley West won the girls' race at Olathe North. She clocked 19:46 to beat Britton Nelson of Mill Valley (19:58) and Katie Kasunic of Shawnee Mission North. St. James Academy got an impressive win, scoring 40 to easily outdistance Shawnee Mission North, which had 71.
If you had an inkling of doubt about St. Thomas Aquinas' boys this season -- and you would be forgiven if you did -- then extinguish that flame right now. The Saints won the Forest Park Cross Country Festival hosted by St. Louis University High School by 63 points over Rockhurst, which won Aquinas' home meet the week before.
Aquinas, though, had its full team this weekend, as senior stalwarts Alex Gill and Will Cole made their season debut. Gill was fourth in 16:36 and Cole eighth in 16:54, running in basically a river on the rain-soaked Forest Park course.
Aquinas' girls were fourth at the same meet, won by Blue Springs South with 153 points. Aquinas had 183 in a fairly tight team battle.
THE FINISH LINE…
The toughest division for me to get my head wrapped around this early in the season has been 6A boys. Just seems like there are a lot of really good runners, but no one that separates themselves from the pack. That became even more so the case this past week when it was learned that Jackson Schroeder of Manhattan (state runner-up last year, champion in 2014) and Alex Akalu of Shawnee Mission North (seventh at state last year) won't be running this season.
Many felt heading into the year that Schroeder and Akalu were clear favorites to stage a two-man battle for the 6A individual title.
Brian Beach of Olathe North has 6A's top time at 16:28, but you could make a case for perhaps a dozen others in that division as contenders.
For now, if you're a fan of 6A boys cross country in the state, let me say this: Buckle up, put on a helmet and enjoy the wild ride that this division is likely to take us on this season.
Pat Melgares will recap the week's cross country meets in Kansas each Sunday around noon. Coaches: Please remember to send results from your home meets by email to Pat Melgares, melgares@LetsGoRun.com, or Jim Madison, madisonj@westelk.us.