Class 4A
Five years after winning their first state championship as a school, the Buhler Crusaders girls cross country team did it again.
“It was exhilarating and I was so excited for the girls,” head coach Curtis Morgan said. “They have worked hard all season to put themselves in a position to do this, it was fun to see that hard work pay off. I felt extremely proud of the girls for accomplishing a goal that they had set at the beginning of the season.”
Despite winning the state championship, there was no guarantees coming into the race.
“Because of how deep 4A is team-wise, we knew we could finish anywhere from 1st to 6th going in, depending on how we ran,” Morgan said. “We knew that we had been running well towards the end of the season and we had as much a shot as anyone to win. We had thought that Eudora, coming off 3 straight championships, and Baldwin, a perennial power in 4A, were going to be the teams we had to match during the race. After the 1.5 mile mark, we knew we were pretty much neck and neck with those two teams. By mile 2.5 we felt pretty confident that we were in a great position to pull off the win. Our number 5 runner was in front of both Eudora and Baldwins number 4 runners. We knew it would be close with both of those teams have single digit scorers at the front of the race. But our pack really helped us pull it off.”
Class 3A
For class 3A on the girls side, the Hesston girls were victorious, winning their first state championship in school history.
“To be honest, we did not expect to win,” head coach Nealee Johnston said. We had a great season with several top finishes but had a really stacked Regional that included three other top-ranked teams. We wanted to not only qualify some individuals for state but the full team as well and we knew we had to be a top three team and beat Smoky to do that, which we did. Going into state then, our goal was to come out on top of Norton and Scott Community to get 3rd and bring home some hardware. My team ran well and battled the unfavorable weather at Rim Rock to come out victorious. I could not be more proud of these girls and their grit.”
Wichita Trinity celebrated another state champion this year, with individual titles won by Emily Hein and Caleb Toftland.
Hello Blake
“It’s pretty special to witness the hard work, sacrifice and dedication of your athletes,” head coach Eric Carroll said. “Emily and Caleb are some of the hardest working kids I’ve ever been around. They’ve earned these titles.
I was joking with someone after Caleb’s race and said, ‘well he just proved that you only have to run 8000 miles to win a state title’ which is my rough calculation on how many miles he’s ran in his high school career.”
Class 2A
After finishing second in the last couple of years, Remington was finally able to win that elusive state championship.
“We knew it was a close race, but outside of the initial shock at seeing the score, it was nothing but pure joy,” head coach Jacob Gerber said. “Championships always mean a lot, but to beat your rival on a tiebreaker after four years of taking second heightens the emotions to an extreme. The girls were as happy as I’d ever seen them.”
The state championship victory marked only the second in Remington’s school history, as well as the first girls’ state title and the first cross country state title in the school’s history.
