A week ago, cross country had it's first round of meets in the books. To be honest, though, it didn't
Week 2 changed that in the best way possible.
It was a jam-packed slate with Hesston's Swather Special highlighting Thursday's meets, Wamego on Saturday morning, and Olathe Twilight to cap it all off Saturday night.
For those familiar with the Swather Special, you'll know that Hesston likes to mix things up. Their scores are based on your placement within your class. The top senior gets 1 point for their team, but so does the top freshman, sophomore, and junior. That means scores are much lower than usual. They also only score 3 in the small-school girls division, so things get even closer... and more exciting.
Southeast of Saline had their first meet canceled, so they were probably going crazy waiting for this one. The Trojan girls took 1st with just 6 points, edging out a tough Minneapolis squad by 1 point. Jentrie Alderson burned the rest of the field by over a minute, winning in 20:20.
The boys was the same story. Dylan Sprecker's victory in 17:12 led his team to a 17-point win over rival Smoky Valley.
Elsewhere on Thursday, Labette County's Alex Meister posted his second win of the season at the Fort Scott Invitational, winning in 17:14. His week 1 time of 16:12 certainly raised eyebrows as well. Out West, Quinter made a statement at their home meet, winning with an average time of 18:49. The Quinter girls won as well, also marking their spot among the 1A elite.
Wamego was rocking on Saturday morning, with every race stacked full of 1A-4A's best. In 4A girls, Jentrie Alderson smashed the field with an 18:51, just two days after winning at Hesston. The field included Clearwater's Hayley Trotter (2nd, 20:04) and Eudora's freshman-sophomore combo of Hanna Keltner (3rd, 20:45) and Sydney Owens (4th, 20:50). Eudora took the team title over Southeast of Saline and 4A power Baldwin with 50 points.
The boys race was similarly star-studded, with a highly anticipated battle between 3 past state champs: Tanner Lindahl of Buhler, Tanner Newkirk of Hayden, and Dylan Sprecker of SE Saline. Newkirk has won big races like this time and time again, and Saturday was no different. Crossing in 15:47, Newkirk left no doubt. Lindahl was 14 seconds back in 16:01, with Augusta's Sawyer Schmidt coming through in 3rd. Buhler was the top dog on the team standings with 76 and a 17:15 team average.
The small school races were swept by Christ Preparatory out of Lenexa. Jayden Brethour led the boys with a 17:32 and Rachel Harpt led the girls in 20:02.
The nightcap in Olathe was probably the highlight of the weekend. 26 schools met at ODAC for a brawl after dark. The girls race was a battle between Olathe North's Anjali Hocker-Singh and Mill Valley senior Katie Schwartzkopf. Hocker-Singh pulled away late to win in a state-leading time of 17:31. Schwartzkopf has taken a big step forward this year, though, with a big PR of 17:44. Olathe West packed all their scorers in the top 25 to win the meet with 64 points.
By the time the boys race got rolling, the sun was down and conditions couldn't have been better. Liberty North won the meet, but for Kansas schools, all eyes were on St Thomas Aquinas. To quote a Marvel villan: "If you could make God bleed, people would cease to believe in Him." The Saints were toppled by Rockhurst last week 72-74. Blue Valley Southwest smelled blood in the water and attacked. The Timberwolves' 6th man Crew Buehler slipped ahead of the 4th Aquinas runner, adding two critical points to the opponent's score and knocking off the top team 140-141. The individual race was a rematch between St Thomas Aquinas senior Logan Seger and Shawnee Mission North's Micah Blomker. Seger outlasted Blomker last week by 2 seconds, but Blomker was the champion this time, crossing in an incredible 14:57. The standout sophomore is one of only 10 runners nationally to crack the 15:00 barrier this year.
His time is also the fastest in the entire Kansas Milesplit database.
Ever.
Stuart McNutt's 14:58 from 2013 was the previous best. Now, that's not to say Blomker has the all-time Kansas record. Milesplit's database starts to thin out if you go back before 2011, but Kansas had been running 5K's for 25 years before that. A little more research needs to be done on that one, but we've got plenty of time to look it up... he's only a sophomore.