4A is a unique division in that it captures a blend of both
the large and small-school feel. Most teams are the only ones representing
their towns, but the 36-team structure gives off the large-school feel. It's a
structure that often brings forward the usual suspects from the Frontier, North-Central
Kansas, and Ark Valley-Chisholm Trail leagues.
Last
year, we saw Eudora fight off Baldwin for the girls title. Both teams lose 3
seniors, but Baldwin loses three top-10 finishers while Eudora graduated their
5th, 6th, and 7th runners. As the scales tip
further away from them, Baldwin is probably still the second-best team in 4A.
They have enough depth returning to handle their graduation losses, and should
be eyeing another state trophy to add to their collection this fall.
Other
teams behind the two heavyweights are Buhler and Rose Hill. The Crusaders
return six of seven from last year, while the Rockets return five. Scoring-wise,
these two teams are very similar, but they go about it differently. Buhler
leans more heavily on front-runner Lindsay Warner, while Rose Hill relies on
their 59-second pack time to do the work. Louisburg, the perineal bridesmaid of
the Frontier League, may be the only other team with a shot at the podium this
year. The Wildcats have had a strong showing the past several years, but just
can't overcome Baldwin and Eudora. The rest of the division has a steep hill to
climb to topple any of these five contenders.
For the
boys, Buhler has been 'running it back' since 2018. After Tanner Lindahl led
the Crusaders to four straight titles, and he hands the baton off to Austin
Lindahl to carry that torch. The younger Lindahl, just a sophomore, joins Kaden Lohrentz as returning state medalists. The difference-maker for Buhler, though,
has been their middle school program. They know how to develop their runners
early, and I wouldn't be surprised if they have a couple of impact freshmen
again this season.
Challenging
the defending champs will be Wamego. The Red Raiders have taken their time
building this program up to this point for a while, and this season could be
the one where Rick Patton's squad reclaims the 4A crown after a 10-year
drought. Behind the two leaders are a slew of teams clawing their way at each
other. Augusta, Eudora, Hayden and Abilene are just a few of them. Augusta and
Hayden will need to adjust to life after their Sawyer Schmidt and Tanner
Newkirk. Meanwhile, Abilene returns its entire top five and Eudora returns one
of the top individuals in Zachary Arnold.
Speaking
of individuals, 4A needs a few to step up. Tanner Lindahl, Tanner Newkirk, and
Sawyer Schmidt were incredible athletes, but they distracted from a severe
depth problem within the division. Likely a side-effect of the small-town teams
in a division with only 36 schools, there are only 9 runners with sub-17:00
experience (that's on par with 2A), and none have broken 16:30 more than
once. As mentioned above, Eudora's Arnold and Buhler's Lohrentz and Lindahl
will be in the mix. Eli Gilmore of Tonganoxie has the fastest returning time,
and has some serious state experience. He is the early favorite to take the individual
title. The other boys under 17:00 are Grant Smith (Clay Center), Drew Elliott
(Chapman), Brady Stegman & Emery Wolfe (Wamego), and Corban Priest
(Winfield). Someone from this group will surface as a leader, but depth at the
state level will be a multi-year rebuild.
For the
girls, the depth issue is present but not as obvious, thanks to stars Hayley
Trotter and Hanna Keltner. Both come in with best times of 19:09. Trotter is
the defending champion, going out in style last year with a commanding victory
over Keltner and her Eudora teammate Sydney Owens. Joining the duo of Cardinals
is Phoebe Fletcher, who has the 5th-fastest returning time in 4A.
That gives Eudora three of the top 5 returners; a good recipe for success.
Chloe Clevenger of McPherson, Anna Cantrell of Labette County and Kyra Nippert
of Rock Creek are others that will shine throughout the season.
Another
quirk of 4A is that most of the division's schools are in the eastern portion
of the state, inevitably forcing these teams to go head-to-head long before the
state meet. We'll get a good idea of things early as many of these schools duke
it out at Wamego in week 2. As mentioned at the beginning of the article, the
Frontier League, NCKL, and AVCTL will have high stakes all season long.
