Friday
4A Girls 3200m - Race Video
Molly Milbourn of El Dorado, who has run 10:51 this season, went out hard and strung out the field from the start. She split 1:14, 2:38, 4:04, 5:31, 6:58, 8:26, 9:53, and finished in 11:13. In second place was DeSoto's Lacey Erickson who ran in 2nd for most of the race, then fell back for a bit towards the end, but regained her composer and snatched 2nd back with a solid kick to finish in 11:40. Rachelle Harman of Holton ran a strong race to capture 3rd in what looks to be over a 20 second PR, in 11:41.
4A Boys 3200m - Race Video
Evan Landes of Mulvane led the race from the start, bringing the pack through 400 in 1:08.5. Kevin White of Wamego, Tony Weiss of Baldwin, and Freshman Angel Vasquez of DeSoto were all right on his heals though. Landes continued to lead, splitting 2:23, 3:37, 4:49. By then the defending 4A 1600m champ, James Wilson of Abilene had moved up through the field and started to make things interesting with Landes. They split 6:03 at 2000m, and then in a bit of a surprising move, Wilson took off from Landes with around 1200m to go. He split 7:13, and then 8:22, and looked like he had a real shot at grabbing the 4A meet record of 9:27.90. But it appeared to me Wilson didn't realize he was in reach of the record, as he looked to cruise into the finish in 9:29.71. Landes took 2nd in 9:38, with Weiss 3rd in 9:45.18, Vasquez 4th in 9:46.33, and Gerald Christian of Royal Valley 5th in 9:54.50.
5A Girls 3200m - Race Video
The 5A girls race was virtually identical to the 4A race for the winners. Mackenzie Maki of Kapaun Mt. Carmel took the lead from the start, splitting 1:16 at 400m, and the rest of the field wanted no part of it. She went on to split 2:41, 4:05, 5:31, 6:59, 8:26, 9:52, and finished in 11:12 (pretty much the exact splits of Milbourn). Kaelyn Balch of Bishop Carroll led the pack for the entire race, and finished in 2nd in 11:34.34. Jenna Stanbrough of Emporia moved up well throughout the race to place 3rd in 11:39.03 (a huge PR). Aquinas' Betsy Donahue was 4th in 11:45, and Lauren Jaqua of Lansing ran a strong race to finish 5th in 11:47.80.
5A Boys 3200m - Race Video
The 5A boys race was a thriller. Jacob Bull of Shawnee Heights led the race early on, splitting 1:09 at 400m and 2:21 at 800m. Defending champ Adam Porter (McPherson) was lurking behind him, as well as Pete Lamoe (Lansing), Chris Wise (Hutchinson), Alex Weitkamp (Aquinas), and Josh Munsch (Hays) was making a rare appearance at the distance. They then split 3:34, and 4:50 at halfway. Then things started to heat up. Porter was leading the race, but Lamoe went to the front and you had to wonder if he was going to pull off a shocker. The leaders then went through 2000m in 6:10, and 2400m in 7:22. Around this point it looked to be a 3-man race, with Porter & Munsch duking it out and Weitkamp hanging on. Then Weitkamp surged to the front as I'm sure he knew he didn't want to get into a kicking contest with the speed demons Porter and Munsch. Porter responded though, as well as Munsch, and with a lap to go it was a two man race. Porter kept a step lead on Munsch, and just couldn't drop him. With 150m to go Munsch started to charge back, but Porter had just enough to hold him off and defend his 5A title, 9:38.96 to 9:39.22. Weitkamp ran an impressive race to finish 3rd in 9:44.55, with Seth Tophoj (Hays) 4th in 9:49.29, and Javier Segura (Topeka West) 5th in 9:50.77.
6A Girls 3200m - Race Video
The 6A Girls race was a fast one as expected. Defending champ Avery Clifton of Washburn Rural took control from the start, and was followed closely by Shawnee Mission Northwest's duo of Christine Nelson and Lisa Imgrund, as well as Wichita North's Amber Eichkorn. Clifton kept the pedal down though, and pulled away more and more as the race went on, winning in 10:44.24. Nelson and Imgrund held on very well, getting under the 11:00 barrier as well in 10:57, and 10:59. Eichkorn held on comfortably for 4th in 11:26, followed by Olathe East's Brenna Mcdannold in 5th in 11:35, and Shannon Maser of Blue Valley West 6th in 11:36.
6A Boys 3200m - Race Video
State Cross Country Champ Roy Wedge of Lawrence took the lead from the start and looked to make it a test of endurance against the rest of the field. Wedge split 1:09, with the rest of the field in tow all under 1:11. Andrew Stevens of Shawnee Mission South sat right behind him, along with Aaron Thornburg of SM Nothwest, and Kain Anderson of Free State. Almost the entire pack stayed together for the first 3-4 laps of the race, before it started stringing out. Wedge continued to push the pace, but Stevens took the lead with about 1200 to go, and really put a gap on the field. Wedge and Thornburg pursued in 2nd and 3rd, while Neil Metler of Derby had worked his way up to 4th and looked to be trying to close the gap on them. Stevens continued to lead with one lap to go, but was clearly redlining, and Wedge and Thornburg weren't far behind and looked to be closing the gap. At 300 to go Wedge and Thornburg overtook Stevens, and were kicking for the finish. Thornburg found an extra gear to pull away from Wedge down the finish, to win in 9:27.45, to Wedge's 9:29.76, with Stevens 3rd in 9:35.33. Kain Anderson ran well to finish 4th in 9:41, and Aaron Pope of Washburn Rural closed very well to take 5th in 9:42. Freshman Kirk Bado of SM Northwest was 6th in 9:46.
1A Girls 3200m - Race Video
Jenna Farris of Lincoln went out hard leading from start to finish. Here splits were 33 (200), 1:13, 2:37, 4;05, 5:34, 7:06, 8:43, 10:20, 11:53. Madison Moser of Greeley County took 2nd in 12:00, with Kerra Cissne of Lincoln 3rd in 12:10. Audrey Schmitz (Axtell) was 4th in 12:16, followed by Kennedy Schneider (Greeley County) in 5th, and Chelsea Fullerton (Flinthills) 6th in 12:32.
1A Boys 3200m - Race Video
The 1A boys race was very interesting. Going into it if you asked anyone who was going to win it, the answer was almost guaranteed to be one of the Ness City guys (Kyle Calvin or Colton McNinch). Well, after the gun went off, Andrew Gasper of Tipton Catholic took off in what was surely a suicidal pace. He split :30 at 200m, 62 at 400m, and 2:14 at 800. McNinch and Calvin appeared to be running the smarter race, and were hanging back from him a bit, but they were still on a real fast pace as well. Gasper continued to lead, splitting 1200 in 3:29 (McNinch at 3:31), then 1600 in 4:47 (McNinch 4:50), 6:08 (McNinch 6:10), 7:27 (McNinch 7:31), and 8:45 (McNinch 8:50). So Gasper had built up a 5 second lead over McNinch by the time he hit the bell, but as McNinch crossed the line he started to wind up his kick. But had he given Gasper too much? McNinch was clearly picking up speed as he moved down the back stretch, and was gaining on Gasper with every stride, but it just didn't look like he'd have enough track left to catch him. With 100m to go he dug down a little deeper though, and really started to close ground on Gasper, but Gasper responded and held him off. Gasper 9:53.26, McNinch 9:54.66, Calvin 10:08, James Farris (Lincoln) 10:15, Dylan Sicka (Yates Center) 10:20, and Peyton Wade (Haviland)10:22.
2A Girls 3200 - Race Video
The 2A Girls race was a good one, with 4-5 girls duking it out for much of the race. Kaylee Engle (Chase County) took the lead early on, with Katelyn Henderson (Olpe), Jillian Stratman (Bennington), and Bethany Zarda (Maranatha Academy) all packed up with her. They split 1:15 at 400, 2:45 at 800, and 4:17 at 1200. The pack began to string out some, with Engle and Henderson fighting it out up front. Engle continued to lead the next two laps, splitting 5:48 & 7:20. Henderson then took over with a hard surge, splitting 8:45 through the next lap, and had built up a 9 second lead by 2800, coming through the bell in 10:22 to Engle's 10:31. Much like McNinch in the previous race, Engle began to gradually reel in Henderson though, and unleashed an impressive kick down the homestretch. She took back the lead just before the finish, and Henderson had nothing left (she then collapsed at the finish). 1. Engle 11:51.65, 2. Henderson 11:53.58, 3. Zarda 12:04, 4. Stratman 12:10, 5. Aspen Frey (Goessel) 12:16, 6. Ally Balderston (Sacred Heart) 12:21.
2A Boys 3200 - Race Video
Like the 1A Boys race, the 2A race got off to a hot start. How hot? 29 seconds through 200m. No this is not an 800, you read that right. The pace got a bit more under control after 400 though (65), splitting 800 in 2:20, and 1200 in 3:34. Eric Ruth of Stanton County took the field through 1600 in 4:46, and led it the rest of the way to the finish, splitting 5:58, 7:15, 8:33, 9:50. Freshman Cory Donley of Sacred Heart ran an impressive race to place 2nd in 9:56.41, with Corey Keehn of Jackson Heights 3rd in 9:57.03. Arlan Newby (Berean Academy) was 4th in 10:12.09, followed right behind by Mitch Heller (Maranatha Academy) in 10:12.60, and Brady Johnson (Plainville) 6th in 10:16.
3A Girls 3200 - Race Video
The 3A Girls race featured a very young field that had just one Senior, and one Junior in the group. Heather Ruder of Thomas More Prep took command of the lead from the start, and had already built it up to nearly 50m by 500m into the race. From there she just continued to pull away to a dominating win. She split 35 (200), 1:15, 2:37, 4:03, 5:35, 7:07, 8:41, 10:13, 11:40. Jenna Snell (Ellinwood) was 2nd in 12:15, followed by Paige White (Baxter Springs) in 12:25, then the first non-freshman - Karly Ruggle (Riley County) 4th in 12:31, and then two more freshmen - Anna Trahan (Minneapolis) 5th in 12:34.50, and Leah Murata (Horton) 12:34.95.
3A Boys 3200 - Race Video
The 3A Boys race was a good one which had several guys in contention for the first half of the race. The leaders split 32, 68, 2:21, 3:36, 4:51. As soon as they hit 1600m, Matthews took off with a huge surge which gave him approximately a 10 second lead at 2000m over familiar foe, Mike Wolf of Holcomb. At 2400m he led 7:19 to 7:31 over Wolf, but began to show signs of hitting the wall. At 2800m Matthews came through the bell in 8:43 with what was now just a 5 second lead over Wolf. Wolf reeled him in on the homestretch, but Matthews fought back and the two raced all the way to an exciting Christian Smith type diving finish at the line. Matthews 9:55.20 - Wolf 9:55.21! A big pack then came in together led by Joel Allen (Hillsboro) 3rd in 10:06.81, Garrett Daugherty (Minneapolis) 10:07.12, Enrique Sanchez (SW Heights) 10:07.55, and Nate Reznicek (Burlington) 6th in 10:09.