Personal bests can be a tricky thing in cross country. Weather ultimately plays a big role in the ordeal, second only to physical fitness. For a while on Saturday morning, there was a short window of really nice weather, and the 3A girls got to run in it.
Bree Allen made sure to take advantage of it.
The Sophomore from Prairie View was everyone's pick to win the race, but not many expected her to go off the way she did. She led nearly wire-to-wire, and even early on, nobody stepped up to challenge her. The gap just continued to grow until Allen had 41-seconds on the rest of the field, and she finished under 19:00 for the first time at 18:56. The runner-up slot shuffled a little more. First, it was Eureka's Rose Buck, then Osage City's Emory Speece. Wichita Trinity's Brecken Howell might have even held the #2 spot for a bit, but it was Hesston's Ashley Lehman that emerged as the true runner-up in 19:37. Howell of Trinity was 3rd in 19:52, while Cheney's Abbye Hudson moved into 4th at 19:58. Southeast of Saline's Abby Commerford rounded out the top-5 at 20:08. After that, the pack flowed in pretty quickly, and the team scores became imminent: There was a lot of Purple near the front.
For those that don't know, the 3A Purple Machine is Southeast of Saline, and their hunger for more state titles is never satisfied. Joining Commerford as individual medalists were Ashley Prochazka and Breckyn Alderson. The Trojans finished with a team score of 64, destroying the rest of the team field by over 40 points. Cheney was second place, averaging over 30-seconds per runner slower. The Cardinals just barely outperformed Wichita Trinity, who was 2 points behind. The big scorer for Cheney was #4 runner Tatum Ingram, who beat Trinity's 4th runner by 7 points. A proud Riley County team was a distant 4th with 148 points.
By the time the boys raced, things were a little warmer, but still immaculate compared to last weekend. This one didn't disappoint, as a common XC phrase was debunked. They always say "You can't win the race in the first mile, but you sure can lose it". Before the gun went off, I believed that phrase. I also believed that there were a handful of guys with a chance to win it. By the mile-mark, both of those beliefs were gone. Clay Shively ran a commanding first mile. The time wasn't crazy, a moderately fast 4:50 pace, but the swagger that Shively exuded was overwhelming. He was daring anyone to go with him, just so he could prove he could crush them later. It was a confidence I hadn't seen in quite some time, and you could tell that less than five minutes into the race, he had broken everyone else's spirit.
This man truly won the race in the first mile.
In doing so, he also helped his teammate Jacob Hobson get 2nd. Hobson quietly moved up as the race progressed and emerged on the Jim Ryun Skyline in the silver medal position. The Meyer brothers from Collegiate were about 10 seconds behind him, running side-by-side. Of course, CJ couldn't let the younger Will get the better of him, and he took 3rd while Will took 4th. Similar to the girls, there was a lot of shuffling behind the leader. Nemaha Central's John Langill was top five for a while, as was Council Grove's Lakoddah Downes. Silas Miller from Marysville bounced all over the place before settling in 7th. Ahead of Miller was a pair of Southeast of Saline runners in Damian Jackson and Levi Allen.
Jackson and Allen led a runner-up finish in the team standings for Southeast of Saline, as they also had brothers Brayden and Cayden Walker in medal positions. Hiawatha edged West Franklin by 2 points for 3rd. The lone medalist for the RedHawks was Camden Bachmin in 20th place. West Franklin went home happy, though, as this was the highest team placing in their school's history.
Wichita Trinity packed two more runners at 8th and 9th (Sam Ferguson and Claeb Tofteland) and another at 18th (Ian Carroll) giving all five scoring Knights a medal. Their team performance was the best of the day in all classes. Add the 3A/5A/6A results all together, and Trinity wins. Depending on how you shape it up, they're always within a few points either way of Shawnee Mission East, sometimes tying depending on how you add together results (3A + 6A... 6A + Trinity... 3A + SM East... Dual Score... there's a lot of angles to look at). In ties, we look to the sixth man, and that nod goes to Trinity. They are the best team in 3A history, the best team in Kansas this year, the best small-school team in the nation this year, and possibly of all-time. A sincere congratulations to the Trinity Knights on an incredible season.