On the rolling hills of the Wamego Country Club, times aren't meant to be fast. It's a grueling 3.1 miles that's designed to produce a champion. Saturday, that's exactly what happened, as Chesney Peterson was crowned 2A champion in dominant fashion once again.
This one might have been a little more special, though.
If you remember back to three years ago, the last time 2A State was at Wamego, Peterson had a lead late in the race. Her final result? 41st place. It was a disaster of a day, and Peterson hasn't returned to Wamego since then. That race only made her stronger, though. Since then she's gone 72-1 in races, and undefeated in cross country. Saturday's victory was not only over her competition, but also a symbolic conquer of the tough Wamego course that held some not-so-pleasant memories.
Becoming champions along with Peterson were her Stanton County teammates. For the 12th time in program history, the Trojans made the climb to the top of the podium to claim their championship trophy. Suzanne Farnham was the 16th-place medalist, and freshman Karlee Nairn was a critical 3rd runner in 25th place.
Stanton County notched a 25-point victory over Remington, who is certainly getting tired of finishing behind Peterson and Company. This is the third year in a row that these two teams have gone 1-2. It was just a 3 point margin a year ago, and 35 points in 2020. Similarly, the third place team from 2021 is also back. Sacred Heart once again claimed the 3rd place trophy, six points behind Remington at 103. The Knights had Remington beat until their fifth runner, where Remington's Kyleigh Hayworth was 22 spots ahead.
The rest of the individual top-5 came in very methodically, every ten seconds or so. Payton Wurtz of Wabaunsee claimed 2nd place again as a Sophomore, clocking 19:43. Julia Kilgore of Sterling, just a freshman this year, finished 3rd in 19:55. Another freshman came through next, as Ellis's Avery Boydston clocked 20:13. Rounding out the top-5 was Meade senior Madison Sutterfield in 20:20.
In the last race of the day, things were a little tighter. The top eight all finished within 15 seconds of each other, and the pack never seemed to dissolve completely. Kamryn Golub, the defending champion from Stanton County, won it again this year. Last year, he took everyone out hard early, but this year was a different story. His separation at the finish line was only 5 seconds ahead of Meade's Logan Keith. Golub was just under 17:00 at 16:56, while Keith was 17:01. KC Christian's Spencer Mumford was next to come through at 17:03, then Berean's Zach Briscoe a second later. Ell-Saline's Carson Fouard came through two seconds after that, with KC Christian's Andrew Schumacher on his heels. Central Heights' Cody Hammond and Hutch-Trinity's Jonah Godina were the stragglers from the lead pack, finishing just a couple seconds further back in 7th and 8th.
It was a whirlwind of a race, and many of those individuals were team scorers as well. KC Christian had two short sticks, but the rest of their team couldn't pull their weight, as they finished 9th as a team. Golub had similar struggles, with his Trojans finishing 7th. Logan Keith was huge for Meade, and Zach Briscoe was even bigger for Berean. The Warriors were the favorites coming in, but they were supposed to be led by Senior Andrew Harder, as they have been all year. Briscoe, also a senior, made his last race count, though. Harder, along with Trever Nusz, was also a medalist for Berean. The Warriors would go on to win the title 63-95 over Meade.
Marion, led by Gavin Wasmuth in 13th place, was the 3rd place team, edging Central Heights by 2 points, curtesy of a solid performance from 5th runner Tristen Dye.
Looking ahead to next year, six of the top-10 boys were seniors, including two from the championship team, so things could be open for some new faces to step in during the 2023 season!