The final week of the regular season is in the books. With the championship season on the horizon, many larger schools, particularly in the KC Metro, took the week off. The rest of the state? Well, they still had work to do.
And boy, did they turn the corner.
Almost across the board, times dropped and athletes showed fitness levels beyond what we've seen so far this year. Lots of athletes will be riding high with elevated confidence heading into championship season.
As usual, we'll start out West. This week's contest was the Lakin Invite. Holcomb's boys have had a great season, and they won again behind a big effort from Brody Deniston. However, the Longhorn girls are starting to make some noise, too. They took the team title as well, defeating Gruver, TX and the 9-team field with 66 points. Individually, Cimarron's Janae Fugitt won her 5th race of the year, pulling away once again from Layla Kisner (Southwestern Heights).
At the Ellsworth Invitational, Republic County junior Ellie Callaway got her first win on the grass with a 12-second win over Abilene's Eden Bathurst. In the team standings, Salina-Sacred Heart just barely defeated Smoky Valley 56-57, thanks to their #6 and #7 runners finishing ahead of Smoky Valley's #5. Yet another reminder that, yes, the 6 and 7 runners are difference-makers and can be the difference between winning & losing.
Chapman won the boys division, behind a 1-2 finish of Drew Elliott and Dereck Klukas. The Irish have put together a solid season so far, and have quietly remained in contention for the 4A podium later this month.
At the Salina Invitational, Katelyn Rupe was the winner, but her teammate Kaylie Shultz closed the gap to just 19 seconds, the closest of the season by far. On the boys side, it was Ell-Saline's Carson Fouard defeating Elijah McCullough of Hays by 10 seconds for the win.
In Wichita at the Wild Wind XC Festival, Wichita Trinity had two individuals winning big with Emily Hein and Samuel Ferguson. Team-wise, however, Valley Center's girls and Goddard-Eisenhower's boys defeated the Knights for the trophy.
At Goessel, the girls' race was a small one but produced plenty of quick marks from familiar athletes. Hesston ended up going 1-2 with Ashley Lehman and Reese Quinn breaking free. Marion took 3 of the top 6 in the boys race, with Luke Wessel & Gavin Wasmuth going 1-2 to lead the Warriors to victory.
El Dorado hosted their annual invitational on Saturday. Circle's Brett Jacobson won with relative ease, but Liberal senior Daniela Cerda had a breakout race, finishing closer than many would have expected. A young Emporia team won with just 36 points. In the boys division, Wamego topped the 11-team field, but it was McPherson's Caleb Muehler who won the race by 10 seconds.
Southeast of Saline came that close to perfect-scoring the Riley County Invitational. With 16 points, the only thing standing between the Trojans and perfection was 1A heavyweight Grady Buessing of Axtell. Brayden Walker remains undefeated on the year, and Southeast of Saline has utterly destroyed everything in their path. They've beat everyone who's anyone in 4A, and yet, they're still the David of 3A. The Goliath of Wichita Trinity will await at the state meet, and an epic clash at 3A State seems imminent.
The Trojan girls are legit, too. They scored 28 to win over Clay Center, despite the Tigers finishing 1-2 with Lauren Smith and Kylie Pfizenmaier.
Southeast Kansas doesn't always get a lot of love in XC, but the Independence Invitational and Pleasanton Invitational both produced plenty of entertainment this week. At Indy, Anna Cantrell of Labette County continued to show that she's one of the SEK elite, winning by 36 seconds and leading her team to victory. The boys' race was a lot closer, with Caney Valley freshman Cash Brown winning by just 4 seconds over Chanute's Easton Colborn. The BlueComets won the team title over Pittsburg.
Times were even faster at Pleasanton, with Girard teammates Houston McGown & Gabe Onelio dueling for 5000 meters, separated by less than 0.2 seconds at the finish, over a full minute ahead of the rest of the field.
The boys team standings at Sabetha brought some clarity to the pecking order in Northeast Kansas. Marysville, Hiawatha, and Nemaha Central finished in that order, with a sizeable gap between the three of them. That could be an indicator of the race for the final qualifying spot in the 3A Sabetha Regional in two weeks.
Osage City belonged to Ellei McCrory on Thursday, with the Northern Heights freshman winning over Holton's Eva Cortes. Her margin of victory was over a minute for the fifth time this year. The boys race was a barn-burner, with five Flint Hills League rivals in a pack at the front. Hunter Bailey finished first, with Cody Hammond and Kodi Downes just a second behind. This race was fast, too. The top six all went under the previous course record of 16:23.
Lastly, the championship season has actually begun for a handful of teams, with the Northwest Kansas League and Topeka City Championship both taking place. In Topeka, it was all Washburn Rural in the team scores. The Jr. Blue boys scored 35, while the girls scored 27 to win team titles. Seaman's girls gave it a good run, with Ryin Miller winning over Rural's Payton Fink. The individual winner on the boys side was Shawnee Heights' Jackson Esquibel, destroying the rest of the Capitol City runners by 34 seconds.
The Northwest Kansas League champs were the Quinter Bulldogs. Individually, though, it was defending 1A 3200m champs Emma Weiner (Golden Plains) and Evan Pearce (Wallace County).