WICHITA, KAN.—
As promised, here is a quick look at the smaller classes for 2010 Cross Country:Class 4A Boys
- Seven of the top 10 return on the boys side, so the question becomes, can Mulvane be knocked off? Evan Landes and Nick Lockwood would like to have something to say about that, but Wamego is lurking.
-Wamego is the favorite in the preseason on the boys side, but don’t doubt what Mulvane has built. Baldwin is also perennially there.
-Riley Woodward of Wamego and Evan Landes of Mulvane sprinted for the title last year in the most exciting race, so we will have to see how summer training has gone for those two runners.
-Wamego is rightfully the favorite as it returns four top-25 runners.
Class 4A Girls
-Molly Milbourn of El Dorado had a bit of a disappointing end to her cross country season as she finished third last year, but I am not betting against her this year in the least. She showed what she was capable of in track with sub-11 two-mile times and 5-flat mile times.
-Morgan Wedekind still gets to be the favorite though as she is the defending champion. This says that she is actually returning to 4A, as Valley Center could move to 5A. Wedekind is built for the longer distances and cross country as she has great form and is very strong.
-Cheyenne Becker returns for Pratt and kind of had an up and down season last year, but when she is on she is darn near unbeatable. I remember the first time I saw her race at the Goddard Invite at Lake Afton two years ago and she showed just how good she can be as she dominated a decent field.
-We should all accept now that Baldwin will win the 4A team title. It returns five runners that finished in the top 20 from last season. This team is darn near unstoppable from year-to-year.
Class 3A Boys
-I have been hearing rumblings from the Wichita Independent factions that Independent will be the team to beat this year, and those rumblings are not without reason. The Kansas Coaches agree and this is mainly because the other teams do not return as much. Holcomb, the champion from last year, loses its entire top four. Minneapolis struggled with depth last year, and it loses two of its top five. That leaves Independent returning its top five that leaves it as the favorite until some other team says differently.
-Collin Trickle of Minneapolis is the prohibitive favorite after winning as a sophomore. He had no trouble blowing the field away by 16 seconds in a somewhat surprise victory last season.
Class 3A Girls
-This individual race is going to be fun to watch between defending champion Jenna Snell of Ellinwood and TMP’s Heather Ruder. Snell is one of the most mature runners for her age I have watched in a long time. I watched her at the Pre-State Challenge this past spring and she was in a race with some great runners. She did not panic and did not get suckered into a quick pace, she nailed two six-minute miles and moved up from last into the top part. That being said, the blend of speed and endurance Heather Ruder showed at state track was amazing. If she stays healthy and trains this summer, I don’t see how Snell will be able to compete in a close race.
-Also, do not sleep on the Newlin Twins from Collegiate. They are hard workers that run amazingly well together.
-All of the top nine return from last year’s state meet, so this will be a veteran group
-Riley County returns its entire top five. Much like Baldwin, it is the team to beat until someone can step up. Riley County is a constant power, and aside from a hiccup with Belle Plaine’s win two years ago, Riley County has won four of the last five titles as a team.
Class 2A Boys
-Both the team and individual team races in 2A are wide open. The defending champion Berean Academy Warriors lose five of their top seven runners. Bennington gets the nod as the favorite because it returns six of its top seven from its third place finish last year. Much like 3A, this is more about who is not returning as opposed to who is returning.
-The individual race will all come down to who trained in the offseason as there is a lot of parody in Class 2A. My favorites are a pair of Corys in Cory Donley of Sacred Heart and Cory Keehn of Jackson Heights. Donley was the runner-up in the 3200 on the track and Keehn was third. Keehn had a terrible showing at state cross last year with a 25th place finish, but he has won a state title in Cross Country and bounced back on the track. Donley finished 12th at state cross last year.
Class 2A Girls
-If Bennington can find a fifth runner, I don’t see them getting too much of a push this year. The Kansas Coaches like Leoti as a close second, but those ladies had a lot of work to do from last year to this. Bennington is the kind of program that should have no trouble churning out a freshman or a JV project.
-Ally Balderston won in surprising fashion for Sacred Heart last year, but I like Katelyn Henderson of Olpe to bounce back and win as a senior.
Class 1A
-Tribune gets all the respect from the coaches as the top pick in both girls and boys. The Tribune boys should be the prohibitive favorite as it returns four of its top seven from last year, while its chief rival Ness City only returns two of its top six and loses the duo of Colton McNinch and Kyle Calvin.
-A quartet of seniors will lead the way in the individual chase with James Farris of Lincoln, Peyton Wade of Haviland (now Kiowa County), Isaac Williams of Pretty Prairie and Cole Gardinier of Ashland.
-In the girls individual race, do not bet against Jenna Farris in her sophomore season. She was 20th overall last year, but she won the 3200 on the track as the only 1A girl to break the 12-minute barrier. The next closest returner on the track was Audrey Schmitz of Axtell and she was 23 seconds back.
-Tribune returns four of its top five girls, so that depth will be nice and buffers it to the preseason favorite.
