By RICK PETERSON
TopSports.news
Seaman's girls and Shawnee Heights' boys, who claimed regional team championships, and regional individual champs Lenny Njoroge of Topeka West and Payton Fink of Washburn Rural headline a large Shawnee County contingent going into Saturday's state cross country meets.
Eight county schools will be represented in Saturday's state meets at Rim Rock Farm and Wamego Country Club. The Class 6A, 5A and 3A meets will be run at Rim Rock, north of Lawrence, while Hayden will have boys and girls individual competitors in the 4A state meet at Wamego.
Seaman's girls and Shawnee Heights' boys swept the team titles in last Saturday's 5A regional at Kanza Park, with the Viking girls placing all of their top five runners in the top 10 en route to a 22-46 victory over Lansing while the T-Bird boys placed three runners in the top eight places en route to winning the team title by a 53-61 margin over Lansing and Njoroge, a senior, posted a 30-second individual win.
In 6A regional competition at Manhattan' Warner Park, Washburn Rural sophomore Fink and senior Madeline Carter finished one-two in the girls race and the Junior Blues finished second as a team in both the girls and boys divisions.
Here's a class-by-class look at Saturday's state meets involving Shawnee County teams and individual qualifiers:
CLASS 6A
Washburn Rural came up short in its bid for regional team championships last Saturday at Manhattan, finishing second to Free State in both the girls and boys divisions, but the Junior Blues will be out in full force Saturday at Rim Rock Farm.
Rural's girls finished just two points behind Free State (45-47) while the Firebirds claimed the boys title by a 35-61 margin over the Junior Blues.
Fink completed a sweep of individual city, Centennial League and regional titles with a win in a five-kilometer time of 18:49.90 while Carter was second in 19:08.40.
Rural's girls, fourth in 6A as a team in 2021, also got a 12th-place finish from sophomore Rylee Ismert (20:46.20) while freshman Vilde Tronstad (21:08.30) was 14th and sophomore Brooklyn Nolte (21:34.10) 21st to complete the Junior Blues' top five. Senior Christine Gutierrez (21:54.50) and junior Sydney Laster (22:07.70) added 26th and 27th-place finishes.
Senior Easton Dial paced Rural's boys, finishing second in 16:49.20, while seniors Davin Johnson (17:18.60) and Grayson Fink (17:21.10) also posted top-10 finishes.
Johnson placed seventh and Fink ninth, while junior Hayden Keller (17:51.70), sophomore Conner Olsen (17:54.30) and senior Trevor Cain (18:04.30) finished 21st, 22nd and 23rd and junior Max Gutierrez was 26th (18:19.00).
Topeka High senior Michael Christopher finished 13th individually in 17:26.00 to earn an individual berth in the state meet.
The 6A boys meet is scheduled to start at 10:35 a.m. on Saturday and the girls race at 12:20 p.m.
CLASS 5A
Seaman's girls, fourth in the 5A team standings a year ago, tuned up for state with a dominating regional performance last Saturday.
Seaman freshman Ryin Miller finished second individually in last Saturday's Class 5A cross country regional, helping lead the Vikings to the team championship. [Photo by Rick Peterson/TSN]
Freshman Ryin Miller (18:36.38), senior Bethany Druse (19:41.27) and sophomore Stella Appelhanz (19:51.90) finished second, third and fourth individually while the Vikings also got an eighth-place finish from senior Leah Spurlock (20:06.08) and a 10th from junior Savannah Sampson (20:40.25).
Sophomore Anna Becker added a 14th-place finish (21:11.44) and junior Elinor Stallbaumer a 25th-place finish (22:13.40).
Veteran Seaman coach Rick Brading feels like a state trophy (top three team finish) is definitely within reach for the Vikings.
"I feel like St. James (Academy) looks tough to beat but after that it's Aquinas and us and De Soto, Kapaun, Great Bend,'' Brading said. "There's just a glut of teams that are pretty much like each other.''
Shawnee Heights and Topeka West both qualified individuals for state, with T-Bird junior Verena Trollman posting a 12th-place finish (20:52.57) and Charger freshman Payton Rice placing 13th (20:58.11).
Topeka West senior Lenny Njoroge and Shawnee Heights junior Jackson Esquibel finished one-two in last Saturday's Class 5A cross country regional at Kanza Park. [Photo by Rick Peterson/TSN]
Njoroge continued his dominant season at regionals, posting a winning five-kilometer time of 15 minutes, 17.04 seconds while earning his third 5A state berth in as many tries.
Shawnee Heights junior Jackson Esquibel (15:47.09), senior Kory Sutton (16:04.25) and senior Andrew Emerson (16:55.86) went two-three-eight individually to lead the T-Birds to the team title. Evan Carter finished 13th (17:16.88) and Landon Staniec 27th (18:29.42) to round out the T-Birds' top five.
Sutton said Heights is hopeful that the T-Birds' regional title will give them momentum going into state.
"That's what we were all looking to do,'' Sutton said of the championship. "I felt like everybody did their part.''
Njoroge, a two-time state medalist in his two state appearances, has not been beaten by a Kansas runner this fall and will be out to continue that streak at state.
Njoroge knows that Saturday's state race will be loaded with top competitors but feels he's in tip-top shape for state.
"I feel like I'm there,'' Njoroge, who missed his entire junior season with a broken leg. "If you look at my times over the season I've had 15s, 16s and it's gone down the whole season so I feel sharper now.''
Njoroge said the key Saturday will be to put himself in position to run his best race of the season.
"At state you don't want to get caught up in the competition and you just want to stay composed because everybody there is a beast,'' Njoroge said. "Everybody has runs 15s, everybody's run 16s so everybody is in the same place you are so it's a whole different animal and you just want to run your own race.''
Seaman's boys narrowly missed a team berth for state, finishing six points behind Leavenworth (66-72) for the final spot, but three Vikings will compete as individuals at state.
Zach Jowers finished fourth (16:18.04) while Branen Moore finished 10th (17:05.96) and Adrian Swain 16th (17:48.75).
Saturday's 5A state girls race will begin at 11:10 a.m, with the 5A boys race set for 12:55 p.m.
CLASS 4A
Hayden sophomore Elliott Wrench and Wildcat junior Aiden Amis will compete as individuals in Saturday's 4A state meet at Wamego Country Club.
Wrench finished 10th in last Saturday's 4A regional at Kanza Park, clocking a five-kilometer time of 21:31.83, while Amis qualified for state with a 14th-place finish in the boys race in 17:30.02.
The 4A boys will run at 10:35 a.m. on Saturday followed by the 4A girls at 12:20 p.m.
CLASS 3A
Silver Lake and Rossville combined to earn four individual berths for Saturday's 3A state meet at Rim Rock, including a combined three runners in the girls race.
Rossville senior Amelia Foster finished fourth in Saturday's 3A girls regional at Riley County in 21:33.82 while Silver Lake sophomore Tessa Gerber finished seventh (21:52.18) and Eagle senior Mariah Farmer 10th (22:21.75).
Silver Lake sophomore Jared Johnson qualified for the 3A boys state race with a 13th-place finish in 18:46.61.
The 3A state girls race is scheduled for a 10 a.m. start Saturday, followed by the boys race at 11:45.
