Grace Hanson takes center stage on the Rim Rock skyline during the 2022 High School Classic (Photo by Brandon Ngo)
As the national post-season meets draw to a close, it's time to look at a few outstanding seniors from the classof 2023. In this series, we are highlighting 2 boys and 2 girls from across Kansas who have had noteworthy careers and a stellar 2022 cross country season.
Today, all eyes turn to KC Piper's Grace Hanson.
Of our four highlighted seniors, Hanson was the only one to dominate in middle school. Nearly every middle school race of hers (in our database anyway) ended in victory. Her 7th grade cross country season ended with a 4th place finish at the KS Milesplit Jr High State Championship, clocking 12:40. A year later, she blasted an 11:37 to win the whole thing. The 8th grade field in 2018 was loaded, too: including the likes of Chesney Peterson, Madison Sutterfield (future 1A runner-up), Hannah Gibson (this year's Olathe Twilight winner), and Madi Russell (future 2A runner-up).
In her first meet as a high schooler, Hanson claimed 6th place at the Basehor-Linwood Invitational. There were a couple noteworthy athletes in the field, but her time of 21:42 wasn't turning any heads just yet. A week later, she found herself second across the line, this time in 20:25 right behind Eudora standout Riley Hiebert. Over the next 5 weeks, she would PR 3 more times, winning 4 meets, including the Frontier League and the Baldwin regional. Hiebert and Miege's Grace Meyer, who had her beat early in the season, were both in the rear-view mirror. Her best time of the season was 18:50 at Tonganoxie for the league meet. When 4A State rolled around, though she was up against Taylor Briggs, the Chapman superstar who was in the middle of winning 4 titles in a row. Nonetheless, Hanson overpowered 3 seniors down the homestretch to claim 4A Runner-Up as a freshman.
Without a track season in 2020, it was cross-country time again. This time, Piper HS had moved to Class 5A. Hanson would get away from Taylor Briggs but stepping into 5A isn't easy. Often billed the state's toughest division thanks to its private schools, 5A competition is no joke, not even for a 4A elite. After a strikingly similar sophomore regular season compared to the year before, she again won the Frontier League and 5A Regional. At the state meet in Augusta, she placed 6th in a tough 5A field, clocking 19:27.
The 6th place finish would end up being the lowest finish in her cross country career. After making substantial progress on the track, she placed 3rd in the 1600 and 3200 in 5A. Moving into 2021, she was ready to make her big jump. The PR finally came in week 3 of 2021, when she ran 18:45 at the Tonganoxie Invite. That PR lasted all of four days before she blasted an 18:23 at Rim Rock, taking 5th in the elite Gold Division. After that, she won four more in a row, including another League and Regional title, and lowering her PR further to 18:11. At State, she emerged as the runner-up, just as she did in 4A two years prior. Senior Katie Schwartzkopf won the meet, and would be graduating, along with former champion Hope Jackson. It was looking like Hanson may be the 5A favorite for her senior year.
When track season came around, Hanson won most of her regular season races, along with her regional 1600 and 3200. At state, though, everything changed. Seemingly out of nowhere, hotshot freshman Katelyn Rupe breaks away and wins the two-mile. The next day, she steals the show in the mile as well, with Hanson taking 2nd. On the XC course, Rupe was nowhere to be found, since she was a tennis player. With the results at state track, though, Rupe immediately became the 5A XC favorite.
With that in mind, Hanson just had to put her head down and work even harder. She tore through the start of the 2022 regular season, with a clash with Rupe on the horizon at Rim Rock. In the Gold race, Hanson battled elites from Colorado, Oklahoma, and Texas, along with nearly all of Kansas' best. She managed to beat them all except one. Rupe was still stealing the show... by a minute. Despite the incredible race, it was time to work even harder. Through the rest of the season, she got her PR down to 17:42, again winning League and Regional titles, the fourth ones of her career. This led to one final run at Rim Rock. Hanson and Rupe broke away early. While Rupe went on to win in record time, Hanson still ran the 2nd fastest 5A State time in history at 18:17, meaning she would have won 5A in any other year. Hanson's next-closest competitor was 55 seconds back.
Hanson finished her cross country career with 3 state runner-up finishes across two divisions. As luck would have it, she landed in races with some unstoppable forces. However, she managed it with a champion's mindset and a lot of hard work to achieve some pretty special things. With a track season still to go, Grace Hanson may yet go down in history as a state champion. With her work ethic and talent, no door is shut yet.
