Results
complete meet results are posted on Brocaw Blazers
web site
Highlights
Class
6A
6A Boys @ Rimrock Farm
It was a mixture of the old and new at Rimrock Farm Saturday in
sleet and rain. The old was provided by Shawnee Mission Northwest.
In
yet another come-through performance, Van Rose's Cougars won their
ninth
consecutive boys team title, 92-99 over season-long nemesis Lawrence.
The new was Grady Sullivan (Blue Valley North) who confirmed his
fast
Emporia regional time by running a controlled race and pulling away
at
the finish to a 16:01 5k victory over defending state champ Ryan
Wilson
of Wichita Heights (16:04).
Northwest's team title came with six new varsity runners this year.
In what many considered Van Rose's finest coaching performance,
the
Cougar's peaked perfectly with :53 second split. Lawrence held an
3-4-20-23 scored to SMNW's 6-14-19-24 through four, but SMNW's fifth
runner scored 29 to Lawrence's 49 to make the difference. St. Thomas
Aquinas and Shawnee Mission East, (like SMNW out of the tough Emporia
regional) placed third and fourth at 110 and 140.
Individually a tight lead pack of Sullivan, Wilson, Hutchinson's
Tyler Roark, Blue Valley West's Paul Hefferon, and Lawrence's Dylan
McClain rolled over the hilly 5K Rimrock Farm course. Despite the
cold
temps and occasional moisture, the pack remained intact across the
ponds
marking the 2 1/4 mile mark. As the pack began the climb through
the
Narrow's (an isolated tree lined section) to the Billy Mills Ascent,
McClain's calf began cramping and he fell back. Coming out of the
narrow's onto the Jim Ryun Skyline (about 800 yards from the finish),
Sullivan made a concerted surge that quickly opened ground on the
chase
pack. Wilson came back, but Sullivan held him off to the finish
for his
first state title. Hutchinson's Tyler Roark was third at 16:06,
just
ahead of Blue Valley West's Paul Hefferon (16:06). Emporia's Nick
Garcia moved late to finish fifth in 16:22, while McClain fell back
to
team mate Andy Struble, the Lawrence Lions finishing 6-7 in 16:29
and
16:31. Hiral Bhakta (Lawrence Free State 16:38), Taylor Foster (SMNW
16:39 ) and Dallas Henry (Leavenworth 16:43) finished out the top
ten
6A Girls
The girls race also saw something new, as Blue Valley North (49)
upended defending state champ Shawnee Mission Northwest (64) for
their
first team title. Coach Greg Doan had North peaked perfectly with
four
runners in the top 11 scorers, while Northwest's pack mentally was
devasted with their usual #2 runner, fighting illness, finished
66th.
St. Thomas Aquinas finished third with 95 points and EKL rival-Blue
Valley West was fourth at 104. Lawrence Free State edged Lawrence
for
fifth with a 144-155 finish. The top six schools were from the
Johnson-Douglass Countis areas.
In a finish certain to bring questions about regional qualifying
assignments, the first four teams, the top four individuals and
14 of
the 20 medalists were all from the super-tough Emporia regional.
Connie Abbott of Shawnee Mission South finished
a brilliant season
with an 11:31 win. Abbott took the lead from the start, then pulled
away with a surge at about the mile mark as the field ran back across
the starting area. Liz Kramer of Maize, and early co-leader, made
an
attempt to stay, but eventually let go and faded to sixth (12;02).
Abbott's season-long rival, Elle Pishney of Blue Valley West, again
ran
in contact, but finished second in 11:42, followed quickly by the
Blue
Valley North duo of Laura Kelley (11:48) and Jana Gwinn (11:49)
with
Lawrence Free State's Alysha Valencia in fifth 11:57.
Following Kramer in sixth, Taryn May (Blue Valley Northwest) was
seventh n 12:02, with Hutchinson's Morgan Bonds (12:06), SMNW's
Becca
Ingraham (12:08) and Blue Valley West's Erin O'Brien (12:15) completing
the top ten
Class
5A
5A Boys @ Rimrock Farm
Scott Rome of Hays won an exciting individual race and Wichita
Bishop Carroll dominated the team race in the 5A boys race at Rimrock
Farm. Rain and occasional sleet hampered the runners on a cold,
gray
day.
Wichita Carroll, steadily improving all season, rolled to
dominating team win with 57 points, placing six runners in the top
twenty team scorers. Carroll packed well towards the front after
the
800 mark, and by the mile and quarter mark (as the runners cross
back
over the start line and head into the middle mile hills) were obviously
dominating the team race. Liberal placed second with 103 points,
and
Hays won the third place trophy in a tight race with Buhler 112-114.
McPherson placed fifth 129 ahead of defending champion Great Bend
(133).
The individual race was a contrast to the team race as a large,
tight pack rolled over Rimrock Farm. Rome made a definitive move
coming
out of the Narrows (a climb culminating in the Billy Mills Ascent)
to
split the pack open. Rome ran 16:43 to win, holding off second place
Ross Wildin of Buhler (16:45) down the homestretch. Lance
Reichenberger started Carroll's win with a 16:48 third, and Great
Bend's
Tanner Marshall was forth at 16:51. Liberal team mates Brent Groves
and
Jeff Fuller were fifth and sixth in 16:52 and 16:59, with McPherson's
TJ Hunter (17:05), Nathan Cless ( Wichita Carroll 17:13), Aaron
Ballew
(Gardner-Edgerton 17:15) and Nick Nowak ( McPherson 17:21) finishing
out
the top ten.
5A Girls @ Rimrock Farm
Trisa Nickoley of Topeka Shawnee Heights continued her mastery of
Rimrock Farm and 5A cross country, winning her third consecutive
title.
Nickoley, a junior, now has one year to complete an unprecendeted
5A
four-peat. Nickoley ran easily in the lead pack throughout the race,
and moved away in the last 800 from Wichita West's Melissa Ortiz,
winning 12:07 to 12:17. Ortiz held off Wichita rival Ryan Ayres
( 12:24
Kapuan Mt. Carmel) for second.
Brittany Strief and Katie Bourell led Liberal to the team win,
placing fourth and fifth at 12:38 and 12:40. The top ten was completed
by Amy Petty (Buhler 12:41), Grace Knauff (Wichita Carroll 12:42)
,
Ashley Devin (Shawnee Heights 12:45) , Bishop Miege's Jenny Heap
(12:49)
, and Great Bend's Dawn Chambers (12:50).
Liberal won a tight team batle with 71 points, with a well-packed
Bishop Miege team second at 81. Defending champion Great Bend was
third
at 86, ahead of Shawnee Heights (139).
Class
4A
4A Boys @ Wamego Country Club
Baldwin won their fifth straight title, despite heavy graduation
losses
from last year. Coach Mike Spielman's boy's were without three time
state
champ Matt Noonan, yet still showed front running strength with
a tight pack.
Baldwin scored 84 points to defeat runner-up Clearwater (102), with
Tonganoxie third at 125. Anderson County (144) and Hugoton (149)
completed
the top five.
Individually, Andale's Daniel Simon and Anderson County's David
Cox met in
a highly anticipated match-up, with Simon pulling away late on the
hilly
course for a 16:02-16:06 win.
4A Girls @ Wamego Country Club
Baldwin doubled their excitement today by winning their first girl's
title
in addition to the boys. Led by Erica Ogle's fourth place finish
(12:12),
Baldwin scored 66 points to easily win the title from second place
Wamego
(111). El Dorado was third (126), Clearwater (128) fourth, and a
fast
peaking Colby team fifth (137).
In a very anticipated girl's race, some of Kansas' best matched
up.
Brittany Hill of Hugoton moved with 50 meters left to defeat Mallory
Champa
of Clearwater and take their season-long rivalry. Hill ran 11:58
to Champa's
12:03 in a much closer race than final time' indicate. Champa had
to helped
through the chute after the finish. Jill Stephens of Colby was third
in
12:10, followed by Baldwin's Ogle, and Gus Newmeyer of Clay Center
was fifth
at 12:14.
Class
3A
3A Boys @ Wamego
Kansas City Christian didn't let a mid-season classification change
deter
their quest for a state title. (In Kansas, classifications and regional
assignments are not announced till mid-season. KC Christian moved
from class
2A-1A to 3A due to enrollment growth).
KC Christian and Holcomb were expected to duel for the team title,
but
KCC ran to an easy 60-101 margin over Holcomb. KCC had three top
fifteen
finishers, led by Phillip Brandon in second (16:36). Northern Heights
was
third with 110 points, followed by Riley County (130) and Hillsboro
(139) to
round out the top five teams.
Individually Southwestern Height's Cody Layman moved from the High
Plains
of southwest Kansas to negotiate the Wamego hill's with ease. Layman
ran a
16:24 to finish solidly ahead of KCC's Phillip Brandon (16:36)with
Chris
George (Holcomb) third at 16:45, Clark McDonald (Belleville 16:51)
fourth and
Aaron Yoder (Hillsboro) fifth at at 16:54.
3A Girls
Sabatha's girls ran to an easy win, scoring 54 points with tight
team
packing. Halstead won second place with 115 points, with Ellsworth
(139),
Beloit (148) and Riley County (157) rounding out the top five.
Vanessa Peterson, in the red and green of Smith Center, broke away
to win
the individual title in 12:45, ahead of the the 12:50 of freshman
Robin Young
from Sabetha. Casey Lemke of Atchison Mt. St. Scholastica (12:54)
and Annie
Mosier (Riley County 12:56) also broke 13:00 with Ashley Johnson
(Northern
Heights) fifth at 13:02
Class
2A/1A
2A-1A Boys @ Wamego Country Club
Eric Wellman of Horton dominated the individual race, winning
by over
thirty seconds with his 16:33. Luis Cantu of Deerfield was second
in 17:07,
with Salina Sacred Heart's Kyle Berens third in 17:08. South Gray
County's
Eric Dahlke was fourth at 17:10 and Michael Hemphill from Skyline
(just
outside of Pratt) was fifth at 17:14.
In one of the closest and hardest fought team races in any class
this
year, Hutchinson Trinity won the team title on a sixth runner tie-breaker
with 109 points over Stanton County (109). Sophomore Dustin Ketchum
clinched
the win for Trinity, placing 37th in team scoring while Stanton
County's
sixth was 66th. Third-place Deerfield was just one point back at
110, with
fourth place Meade at 112.
2A-1A Girls @ Wamego Country Club
Hutchinson Trinity completed their team sweep with another knuckle-biter,
edging defending champ Osborne 85-90. Syracuse was third with 121,
followed
closely by Peabody (122) and Salina Sacred Heart (130). Trinity's
team depth
overcame a 2-3-15 finish from Osborne.
Individually, a duel of state champions ensued, with Michelle Stueve
of
Olpe winning her first (12:02), pulling away from defending state
champ
Jolene Mick (12:12) and 2000 state champ Ashley Noel (12:18), both
from
Osborne. Wakeeney' Erin Locke was fourth in 12:22, with Peabody's
Ashley
Elliot fifth at 12:28.
DyeStat Kansas
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