As the Andale dynasty chugs along, this year's big story was Tonganoxie's Eli Gilmore completing his quadruple championship run, winning the 400, 800 1600 & 3200.
4A Boys
Gilmore, a senior at Tonganoxie, has been a popular name on the cross country course his entire career, a saga we detailed last November. His track emergence this season, though, has been on another level. This year, he knocked 56 seconds off his 3200, and 6 seconds off each of the 1600, 800, and 400! Two of his personal bests came this weekend at 4A State.
Read More: Eli Gilmore XC Spotlight
Aside from Gilmore's once-in-a-lifetime performance, the team race highlighted some of the state's best. When it came down to the 4x400, Andale was ahead, but with no team in it, they needed help...
...from the most hated team in 4A: Bishop Miege.
Foe turned to Friend as Andale needed the Stags to beat Louisburg in order for the Indians to win the championship. Hayden & Wamego were a clear #1 and 2, but Louisburg only needed six points to win. If there's anything Miege is good at, though, it's preventing other schools from winning state titles.
Andale has the biggest and loudest fanbase at Cessna Stadium every year, so as you can imagine, they were into it. It looked like about 50 Andale athletes were on the infield, too, screaming their heads off for four complete strangers. When the Stags came through in 3rd, they were swarmed by a sea of yellow.
Final Score: Andale 87.5, Louisburg 87
Now, how did these two wind up with nearly 90 points each?
For Louisburg, it was a lot of fun early. They led off with a 1-2 finish in pole vault with Caden Caplinger & Cooper Wingfield. They also went 10-for-10 on qualifying kids to finals this weekend. Nathan Vincent did what he could to compete with Andale's throws squad, medaling in all three events. Mason Dobbins proved to be quite explosive, winning the high jump and medaling in the high hurdles & relays. Nathan Apple was also a double-medalist in the hurdles.
Andale, meanwhile, had a whopping 23 total scoring opportunities. They took advantage of 16 of them, led by Riley Marx winning the javelin & claiming two silvers and Jackson Kraus winning the shot. In all, their throws squad scored 51 points, and their field event total was a staggering 72.5.
Wamego, with what seems to be their best team ever, was a distant 33 points back. The Red Raiders had a quality meet, though, with Jon & Harry Cutting and Emery Wolfe placing top-3 in the mid-distance events and two relays. Drew Pettay and Andrew Hildebrand overperformed in the field events, too. It just wasn't enough with the top two firing on all cylinders.
Hayden had a solid core of athletes. Jake Muller won the 300 hurdles by a razor-thin margin, while Finn Dunshee took gold in the 100. Jensen Schrickel added a top-3 finish in the 400, and at the end they all came together to set a state record in the 4x400 over Wamego.
4A Girls
Andale wasn't just winners on the girls side, they dominated. They doubled-up Clearwater in second place 129-64. Eudora emerged from the rest as a podium team with 56.5 points.
Maddie Schrandt was a major player in the sprints, winning the 100 & 400. The 4x100 & 4x400 teams also won with her. McKenzie Fairchild swept the throws in dominant fashion. In all, they scored 19 times across 13 events.
Meanwhile, Clearwater claimed second place with just a couple athletes. Hayley Trotter won the 800 & 1600, while Madison Williams swept the hurdles. Kenzy McArtor also scored two top-3 finishes in the hurdles. The three combined to finish runner-up in the 4x400 to round out their scoring.
Between the two teams, they didn't leave a lot of gold medals for everyone else. A few found their way, though. Eudora used their XC strength to win the 4x800.