By RICK PETERSON
TopSports.news
Washburn Rural's girls earned a state trophy with a third-place Class 6A team finish Saturday at Rim Rock Farm while Topeka West boys star Lenny Njoroge led eight Shawnee County individual medalists with a fourth-place finish in the 5A boys race.
Washburn Rural's third-place girls cross country team (front row) poses for a team picture with the top-three team finishers Saturday at Rim Rock Farm. [Twitter photo/Washburn Rural XC
Topeka West senior Lenny Njoroge earned his third Class 5A state medal with a career-best fourth-place finish Saturday at Rim Rock Farm. [File photo/TSN]
Washburn Rural sophomore Payton Fink earned her second straight Class 6A cross country medal on Saturday, placing fifth to help lead Rural to a third-place team finish. [File photo/TSN]
Sophomore Payton Fink and senior Madeline Carter led the Junior Blues to their top-three team finish, with Fink finishing fifth in a five-kilometer time of 18 minutes, 53.5 seconds and Carter finishing 11th in 19:21.9. Carter earned her third 6A state medal while Fink medaled for the second straight season.
Rylee Ismert took 26th (20:16.6), Brooklyn Nolte 49th (20:57.0) and Vilde Tronstad 54th (21:08.4) to round out Rural's top five as the Junior Blues finished with a team score of 112 points, one point ahead of fourth-place Olathe North.
Olathe West won the 6A girls team championship with 46 points while Shawnee Mission East was second with 95 points.
West's Njoroge closed out his high school cross country career with his third 5A state medal in as many state meets, finishing a career-best fourth in a photo finish.
Njoroge, who missed his entire junior season with a broken leg, and Blue Valley Southwest's Thomas Caul were both clocked in 15:51.9, with Caul awarded third and Njoroge fourth.
Regional champion Shawnee Heights placed eighth in the 5A boys team standings, with junior Jackson Esquibel taking eighth (16:06.0) and senior Kory Sutton 19th (16:32.5).
Esquibel earned a state medal for the second straight season while Sutton earned the third state medal of his career.
Seaman's girls missed a 5A team trophy by a single point, with the Vikings finishing fourth with 116 points while Kapaun Mt. Carmel was third at 115.
Freshman Ryin Miller posted a fifth-place finish in her first Class 5A cross country meet, helping Seaman finish fourth as a team, one point out of third. [File photo/TSN]
Freshman Ryin Miller placed fifth in 19:19.9 in what was a four-runner battle for the fourth through seventh places.
Quinn Hays of team champion St. James Academy finished fourth, also in 19:19.9, while Andover's Madelyn Wallace was sixth (19:20.6) and Kapaun's Tyler Barringer seventh (19:21.0).
Seaman senior Bethany Druse earned her third state medal with a 14th-place fnish in 19:44.2 while sophomore Stella Appelhanz also earned a state medal, finishing 20th in 20:04.8.
Seaman's Savannah Sampson placed 53rd (21:13.1), one place behind Topeka West's Payton Rice (21:09.6), while the Vikings' Leah Spurlock was 58th (21:26.4) to round out Seaman's top five.
Other notable performances:
• Washburn Rural's boys finished 10th as a team with 239 points, led by senior Davin Johnson's 28th-place finish in 16:43.0.
• Silver Lake's Tessa Gerber and Mariah Farmer and Rossville's Amelia Foster all posted top-30 finishers in the 3A girls state meet at Rim Rock while competing as individuals.
Gerber missed a state medal by just one place, finishing 21st in 20:46.9.
Farmer placed 25th in 21:06.4 while Foster was 26th in 21:11.7.
• Seaman's Zach Jowers turned in a solid performance in the 5A boys race, finishing 26th in 16:52.2.
• Hayden's Aiden Amis finished finished 29th in the 4A boys race at Wamego Country Club, posting a time of 17:53.32.
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