As the national post-season meets draw to a close, it's time to look at a few outstanding seniors from the class of 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.
To wrap up the series, our spotlight turns to Tonganoxie legend Eli Gilmore.
From an early age, Eli Gilmore was a runner. In the MileSplit database, he has USATF summer track results as early as 6th grade. Back then, he was a sprinter. His 28-second 200s probably stacked up pretty well on his middle school relay teams. Before too long, though, he found himself on the cross-country course. Posting 7th-grade XC times of 5:50 in the mile and 11:54 in the two-mile, he even found himself with a handful of medals in his first season. Running with the Brocaw Blazers club team, he even traveled to Kentucky to place 10th in their national meet. In track, he ran just about everything, even knocking another second off his 200-meter time. Once 8th grade rolled around, he took his two-mile PR down to 10:49 and placed 6th at the Milesplit Kansas Junior High State Championship.
Stepping into high school, Tonganoxie was coming off a 3rd place finish at 4A State. However, they were graduating 3 seniors, including medalist Calvin Morgan. Big shoes to fill for an unproven freshman. Gilmore was ready for it though, stepping right in with a 4th-place finish in 17:33 at their season-opening dual with Lansing. He improved throughout the season, landing a top-10 finish at Wamego, a runner-up finish in the Frontier League, and another silver medal at Regionals, where his team knocked off Bishop Miege for the top spot. At state, the Chieftans found their way back onto the podium, led by Gilmore's 5th place finish in a season-best time of 16:54.
As a sophomore, things stayed pretty smooth throughout the season. A third place finish at Wamego, followed by 3 straight victories and a league title... about as good as a sophomore could ask for. He cut his PR down to 16:34 at regionals, taking home the silver medal once again. Seeing improvement all season long, it made sense to expect a higher finish at state. However, there isn't a lot of room to move up from 5th, especially when everyone ahead of you is coming back. The race was billed as a battle between Tanner Lindahl & Tanner Newkirk, not some sophomore from Tongie. Gilmore didn't seem to care who was in the race though. He shot out of a cannon and took a 20-yard lead before anyone knew what happened.
Eli Gilmore leads a group of elite runners at the 2020 state championship. All of whom are now state champions.
Six minutes into the race, Eli Gilmore had turned the state race completely upside down. He knew it, too. This photo was taken right around the mile mark, and just look at the mischievous grin on his face. His hot start faded as the race went on, but he still managed to hold on for 4th, better than he was predicted to finish.
Gilmore's 2021 track season, the first of his high school career due to the cancellations in 2020, was about what you'd expect. He posted a solid stat line of 10:14/4:33/2:03 in the three distance events, and placed 5th in the 4A state mile and 7th in the 800.
For his junior cross country season, Glimore led off the season placing 5th in a loaded Wamego meet, followed by a home victory and a runner-up finish in the Rim Rock small-school blue race. He had a trio of victories to close out the regular season, including his only PR of the year in a ferocious battle at Pleasant Ridge against Eudora's Zach Arnold. When state rolled around, the stars just didn't align like they had in years prior. Maybe he used all his luck the year before, who knows. Gilmore finished 5th, behind Tanner Lindahl (Buhler) and Tanner Newkirk (Hayden), but also behind Sawyer Schmidt(Augusta) and Ian Hunter (Circle) whom he had beat in 2020. His time of 16:42 wasn't showing improvement either. If there was one upside, though, the four finishers ahead of him were all seniors this time... he'd be the top returner for 2022.
His junior track season saw substantial improvement, knocking 5 seconds off his 800m and 11 seconds off his 1600m. He also placed 3rd at 4A state in both events, the highest finish he had seen at a state meet.
As usual, the first big meet of the year for Gilmore in 2022 was the Wamego Invite. With everyone who's anyone in 4A participating, it's a great preview of the state meet held 2 months later on the same course. Gilmore led all runners that day, and blew away his course PR by 15 seconds with a 16:23. It was a wake-up call to the rest of 4A: Eli wasn't messing around.
Two weeks later, he was in the elite field of the Rim Rock Gold race. Starting off early, he didn't appear to be a factor, hanging around 30th place. As the race continued, though, he drifted into 20th, then 15th. By the two-mile mark he found himself in the top-10. As many might know, the final mile or so of Rim Rock is its hilliest portion, and Gilmore was ready for it. He moved up even further and found himself in 3rd on the skyline. For all he knew, he could have been in 1st. The two leaders were out of sight, so with nobody left to pass, he had to hold off any fights from behind. Sam Boyer of Arkansas didn't stand a chance, though. It was Gilmore's day. He finished his perfectly-executed race in 15:49, an all-time PR. If there were an award for a single-race performance of the year, this would be a finalist for sure.
After that, Gilmore crushed his competition at Pleasant Ridge, the Frontier League, and the Baldwin Regional. At state, just as he had foreshadowed at the start of the year, he took the 4A crown in commanding fashion, defeating the field and the Wamego course in 16:18.
Looking for a postseason meet to go out on, Gilmore signed up for the Garmin RunningLane Championship in Alabama. Typically a speedy course, his chances for a PR were bogged down by a fair amount of rain. He was seeded into the bronze race, where he finished 11th in 16:00, his second-fastest performance ever.
With one state title under his belt now, there's no telling what Gilmore might do in track. He has been an 800/1600 runner to this point. Perhaps his sprinter background from 6th grade still has a little influence. As the reigning XC champion, though, the 3200 is never out of the question. In fact, it may even be in the cards to win all three. Regardless of his future performances, though, Eli Gilmore is already a Tonganoxie legend.
