The Garden City girls’ and the Dodge City boys’ teams took first place at the 6A Regional Meet at the Cessna Activity Center Saturday afternoon.
Garden City’s Alex Miller took first place for the girls with a 15.29.49 4k.
Miller, a junior, said the bright, sunny weather was perfect during the meet, and said the fans and spectators helped keep her and her teammates’ spirits up during the meet.
“Whenever fans are cheering for the other schools, all we do is think ‘Hey, they’re saying our name,’” Miller said. “So, throughout the whole race, we kept hearing was ‘Garden! Garden!’ And it helped us stay positive. Everyone here was pushing their hardest, and brought their top game.”
Of the girls’ teams, Garden City took first place with a score of 27. Kayla Doll and Chelsea took second and third after their teammate. Katy Doll came in 10th; Maria Rodriguez, 13th; Neysa Harman, 14th; and Savannah Peters, 17th.
“Mainly the goal for the race is to pack as close as we can together,” Miller said. “That’s what we strive for each race, is to push.”
Miller said she was looking forward to running at the state championship meet at Rimrock next week with her teammates, saying it is “an honor to run there, because there’s always great competition.”
The Derby girls’ team took second place with a score of 76, and Wichita East took third with 81. All three teams will run at Rimrock next Saturday.
The top five runners from non-qualifying teams also qualified to run at the state meet next weekend.
Wichita South’s Hannah Matsui came in fourth; Wichita Northwest’s Amy Wells, sixth; Dodge City’s Jasmine Duarte and Lucero Botello took 12th and 16th, respectively; and Haysville Campus’ Briana Binger, 18th.
Derby senior Brandon Lewis was the regional champion for the boys, running the 5k race in 16.08.80.
“The start of the race was good,” he said. “I took out on pace, like I wanted to.”
Dodge City’s Oscar Carmona, who came in second at 16:20.24, tracked Lewis down halfway through the race, coming up right next to Lewis before the final kilometer.
“I let him catch me, because I was feeling a little tired,” Lewis said. “I let him push me. But, he dropped off going up the last hill, and I out-kicked him in the last 800 (meters).”
The Dodge City boys’ team won the regional championship, with all runners placing in the top 18. Carmona came in second; Layne Moe and Luis Carmona took fourth and fifth, respectively; Eldler Colindres, 10th; and Johnathan Rendon, 18th.
South placed second with a score of 79, and Derby took third with 80.
The individual runners who qualified to compete at state are:
- Wichita Southeast’s Jeff Masood, who took sixth
- Garden City’s Thomas Jacob and Jalen Rowland, who took seventh and 11th, respectively
- Campus’ Aaron Lindsay in eighth
- Northwest’s Joel Roberts in ninth.
