Class 6A was a wild ride, but now that the dust has settled, let's take a look at how things finished out:
In the most exciting race of the day Micah Blomker of Shawnee Mission North took the lead in the middle part of the race. It was a two-man battle between him and SM East's Wyatt Haughton. As they approached the second bridge with 1000m to go, the crowd waited in anticipation to see who would emerge from the Copperhead Trail first. A crowd of SM North supporters erupted in cheers and support as Blomker still held the lead going up Cemetery Hill. Then, Blomker continued to lead up onto the skyline... and then came The Kick:tm:.
At that point, Wyatt Haughton proved once and for all that he is the best boys' runner in Kansas in 2022. In a matter of seconds, Haughton had a 10-yard lead, then 20, and it continued to grow. It was an astonishing final 400, capped by a ferocious last surge as the clock ticked towards 15:00. At that point, everyone knew the course record had fallen, but the question in everyone's mind was: Did he break 15?
As the results posted, the answer was 'yes': 14:59.65. Blomker's race was no slouch, though. His time of 15:12.00 was the fourth-fastest in Rim Rock history, and the second fastest Kansan.
The chase pack was fairly tight, as it usually is in 6A. Henry Born finished in 3rd for SM Northwest, clocking 15:36. He was spotted running along the far side of the skyline path and absolutely not taking the tangents, but his kick was enough to make that a moot point. Over the next 45 seconds or so, the rest of the medalists ran through the finishing chute. Carter Stewart from Olathe East finished 4th overall in 15:43, and Gardner-Edgerton's Parker Walion came through next at 15:49.
Behind Haughton, his Shawnee Mission East teammates carried their weight as well, scoring 65 en route to the boys team title. It looked in doubt early, as Garden City went out hard and had the lead at the mile mark. That would cost the Buffaloes, though, as they fell out of podium contention by the end of the race. Blair Ptacek and Caden Peters were also top-10 for SM East, giving them three medalists.
Stewart's Olathe East teammate Diego Barron finished 9th to help the Hawks score 2nd place in the team standings. They were 13 points behind SM East, and a healthy 22 ahead of Olathe South in third. The Falcons from South used a great pack to capture their trophy. Usually, having your top runner finish in 15th isn't a good recipe for a podium finish, but the 48-second pack time shined through.
Olathe West's girls put on a clinic. With five medalists, its hard not to blow everyone away. That's exactly what the Owls did in their annihilation of the rest of the 6A field.
Olathe West brought a huge crew to the 6A State Meet
(Photo by Matt Goeckel, courtesy of Aaron All)
The individuals were led by Olathe North's Anjali Hocker-Singh and her championship effort of 18:17. The race was in doubt for a while, with a solid lead pack of seven runners through the first mile. Shawnee Mission South's Hannah Gibson was supposed to be Hocker-Singh's toughest competition, but the Senior fell off dramatically, finishing 71 seconds behind the winner. Whether she fell down, was ill/injured, or just had a bad day hasn't been determined, but that wasn't the Hannah Gibson we're used to seeing.
Paige Mullen of Shawnee Mission Northwest claimed the silver medal spot instead, clocking 18:29. Olathe West's top runner was Charis Robinson in 3rd (18:42), and Lida Padgett of SM East and Washburn Rural's Payton Fink also finished top-5, coming through in 18:48 and 18:53, respectively.
Olathe West's 46 points is the lowest score of their 3 straight titles, showing that this Owl team is the most dominant one yet. Behind Robinson was Paige Baker in 8th, Bree Newport in 9th, Sydney All in 12th, and Kalyn Willingham in 16th.
All was the top freshman this year as the only 9th-grade medalist and only one inside the top forty. Typically, freshman girls play a large role in state races, so this was a noteworthy difference from the standard.
Shawnee Mission East's girls, likely inspired from their boys team championship a few hours before, ran an inspired race to end up 2nd overall. After falling to Olathe North and Mill Valley late in the season, the Lancers came back swinging. Padgett was critical in the top-5, followed by Seniors Scarlett Pearlman in 7th and Jade Achen in 15th. No other team outside of Olathe West had more than two in the top-20.
In a close battle for 3rd, Washburn Rural edged out Olathe North 112-113. The difference was Washburn Rural's 6th runner, Sydney Laster, sneaking ahead of Olathe North's 5th runner by 1 second, pushing the Eagles down that single critical point.