5A State Preview: The Battle of Public vs Private


Kansas Class 5A has been notorious over the years for being tough to win. With a majority of the state's large private schools residing in this division, it's easy to see why.

St Thomas Aquinas and Bishop Carroll have won 18 of the last 20 5A boys titles. Add in Bishop Miege, Kapaun Mt Carmel and St James, and the private schools have 16 of 20 on the girls side. Despite all that consistency, though, the trend may not hold true in 2022.

On the boys side, Aquinas is in serious danger of losing their 8-year title streak on Saturday. Graduating the 2021 champion and runner up isn't easy to recover from... even for the best program in the state. Aquinas fell by 6 to Blue Valley Southwest at regionals. The Timberwolves may be the best hope for the public schools as DeSoto yet again was unable to make it out of that loaded region.

Blue Valley Southwest fans will need to hope for a rebound from top runner Thomas Caul, who was 4th on the team after leading the group all season. Senior Micah Paschke and Crew & Canyon Buehler are other critical scorers for the Timberwolves.

Carrying the banner for the private schools this time will be Kapaun Mt Carmel. They've had a series of commanding victories over Bishop Carroll, and their week 1 victory over Wichita Trinity is looking better every day. The X-factor for the Crusaders will be if they can slip their 6th man ahead of Southwest's 5th. The only issue... 6th man Christian Bartel wasn't in the final regional results, so his status for state remains unknown.

Aquinas and Carroll will certainly be in the podium conversation as well, just maybe not for the title. Maize is another team that could be in the hunt, after annihilating their regional. Maize and Carroll both have quite a gap between their 3 and 4, which will be their weakness. Aquinas has a better pack, with less than 20 seconds separating their 2nd and 6th runner's season bests. The only question, though, is can they go fast enough? The Saints only have 1 runner under 16:30 this year.

Individually, it's a very senior-dominated affair. Six of last year's top 10 were seniors, and it could be that way again. Colby King of St. Thomas Aquinas will be the favorite. He hasn't had a bad race this year, and has won his last three. Great Bend's Kaiden Esfeld was the top non-senior last year in 3rd place. He made a big jump at state last year, and he'll need that magic again after falling to Maize's Kaleb Glazier at regionals.

Topeka West star Lenny Njoroge has had a fantastic year, winning 7 races, including Rim Rock Crimson. He set a personal best on his home course at Stateland Park in Topeka this past weekend at regionals, clocking 15:17. That's the fastest regional time of the weekend in any class, and faster than any of King's times save for Olathe Twilight. Look for Lenny to be in the front pack from start to finish.

Barring disaster, the girls' champion will be Katelyn Rupe of Salina Central. She is the best and most talented runner in the state of Kansas this year. Her regional time of 17:24 is THIRTY seconds ahead of Alli Cash's high school PR, who most considered to be an all-time great a decade ago. At Rim Rock, she won the elite Gold division by nearly a minute over Piper's Grace Hanson. This week, I'm putting the course record on high alert. Molly Born's 17:32 from 2016 could be in danger if the weather holds up.

Now, credit to Hanson as a runner as well. She's got her mind on a title, no doubt, after running 17:42 at the Topeka West regional. It'll take something miraculous to defeat Rupe, but Hanson has put herself in position to strike if the opportunity presents itself.

Sophia Spinello of St. Thomas Aquinas and Madelyn Wallace of Andover were the other regional champs, but won't hold a candle to the two superstars.

In the team standings, I like the four regional champs: St. James, Seaman, Kapaun Mt. Carmel, and Great Bend. All four have had outstanding seasons in their own areas of the state, and it all comes down to a clash at the 5A championships. You couldn't have scripted it any better.

We've seen all four in action at Rim Rock. St. James had a commanding victory in the Crimson Division over Seaman and Kapaun, while Great Bend had a rough day in the Gold division. Great Bend then turned around a few weeks later and knock off Kapaun at the Bishop Carroll Invitational.

From the looks of it, it appears that St. James is the favorite, followed by Seaman, then Great Bend and Kapaun. St. Thomas Aquinas could be in the mix for third as well.

For the Vikings to snatch the title away from the Thunder, it will be a tall task, but not impossible. Standout Ryin Miller is capable of pulling a 1 for her team point (since Rupe and Hanson aren't on scoring teams). The most room for making up points, though, is with junior Savannah Sampson. As it stands, she's Seaman's 5th runner and is towards the back of a big pack of runners in our database. A bump of just 10 seconds can pick up a lot of points in her position; a bump of 30 seconds could mean a lot more. If she has a big day, the team points will quickly start to slide in Seaman's direction.