Saturday’s Rim Rock Classic was unlike any other thanks to Mother Nature. There were several lightning delays and races were suspended for hours, but eventually the meet was completed by mid-afternoon.
In the six divisions, two of them were won by Kansas City area squads. All three of those were girls teams. A handful of boys teams finished near the top of their respective races.
Here are recaps from each division:
Girls Gold
Battling teams from across Kansas and several states, the Olathe West girls claimed another victory this season. The Owls scored 140 points and beat runner-up Denver East by 50 points.
Olathe West was led by a different runner again last week. Senior Kayln Willingham finished 16th overall, finishing the 5K course in a time of 19:01. Ten spots behind her was fellow senior Bree Newport, whose time was 19:23.8.
Also competing for the Owls were junior Liz Browning (33), senior Kate Miller (38), junior Lily Brewer (44), senior Kolby Brown (62) and junior Jasmine Stiede (68).
Blue Springs South finished seventh as a team, scoring 215 points – just 14 behind third place Owasso. Leading the way for Jaguars was senior Emmerson Allen, who finished 17th overall. Her finishing time was 19:04.2.
Junior Ella New was the next Jaguar across the finish line. She placed 27th overall in a time of 19:23.9. Rounding out the Jaguars scoring were sophomore Ashlyn Wahrenbrock (42), senior Hayley Neff (66) and sophomore Molly Hays (85).
St. James Academy placed eighth as a team with 265 points. The Thunder’s top runner was junior Katelyn Menghini. She finished 29th overall in a time of 19:28.2. The next four runners were senior Katie Price (45), junior Allie Morfeld (55), senior Isabella Simoes (71) and junior Abby Loos (89).
Individually, Salina Central finished first and second overall. Junior Katelyn Rupe easily won the race, finishing the legendary course in a time of 17:33.1. Rupe won the race by 48 seconds.
Salina Central freshman Kaylie Shultz finished as runner-up out of 198 competitors. Shultz’s time was 18:21, and she was one of four freshmen in the top 30.
Junction City senior Lorna Rae Pierce placed third overall to lead her team, which finished 20th out of 29 teams.
Washburn Rural junior Payton Fink had a big race, placing fifth overall in a time of 18:24. 4. She led Washburn Rural to an 11th place finish.
Boys Gold
Classical Academy cruised to the team title with 78 points, ahead of Cheyenne Mountain (130), Omaha Creighton Prep (138) and Fort Collins (170).
The top KC area team was Free State, which scored 210 points to place fifth. Gardner-Edgerton (237) and Blue Valley Southwest (277) finished sixth and seventh, respectively.
Free State was led by senior Blake Wohler, who finished ninth overall in a time of 15:52.9. He was the top Kansas runner in the race.
Senior Jacob Loos was the second Free State runner. He finished 34th, completing the course in 16:32.8. Rounding out the Firebirds’ scoring were senior Ryan Whittelsey (52), senior Zach Hansen-Terry (60) and sophomore Jonah Frye (69). Junior Grant Lichauer (88) and senior Cristian Willis (90) also competed for the Firebirds.
Gardner-Edgerton also had one medalist in the race. Senior Parker Walion led the Trailblazers with an 18th-place finish, running the race in a time of 16:11.5. The other four scoring Trailblazers were senior Nick Kilonzo (44), sophomore Cade Halton (55), Aidan Scherman (56) and junior Robert Falkner (79).
Blue Valley Southwest was also led by a single medalist. The Timberwolves’ top runner, junior Canyon Buehler, placed 17th overall. His time was 16:09.1.
Two more Timberwolves finished in the top 50. Senior Cooper Reeves and senior Crew Buehler placed 45 and 50, respectively. Sophomores Alex Roberts (92) and Cameron Paschke (94) were the final scoring runners for BVSW.
Individually, Olathe West junior Gunnar Hornung led the Owls with a 14th-place finish. Olathe West placed 13th as a team, one spot ahead of Spring Hill.
Girls Crimson
Seaman was the top area team, finishing runner-up with 172 points. Christ Preparatory won with just 50 points.
Seaman had just five runners, including the overall winner, sophomore Ryin Miller. She finished the race in a a time of 18:55 – 11 seconds ahead of Smith Center freshman Madison Howland.
The other Seaman runners were freshman Britt Spencer (24), junior Stella Appelhanz (29), senior Savannah Sampson (51) and senior Elinore Stallbaumer (101).
Eudora finished sixth as a team with 244 points – just seven ahead of Gardner-Edgerton and 20 ahead of Basehor-Linwood. Eudora’s top runner was junior Hanna Keltner, who placed 15th in a time of 20:22.1. Senior Sydney Owens also finished 38th. Rounding out the Cardinals’ scoring were sophomore Addison Williams (52), senior Addison Metcalf (74) and senior Sophie Whalen (114). Senior Jayla Erpelding also placed 123th.
Gardner-Edgerton was led by senior Isabella Meili and sophomore Makayla Cox. Meili finished 14th with Cox seven spots behind her. The other scoring runners for the Trailblazes were sophomore Ciera Lynch (53), senior Caroline Clarke (82) and freshman Natalie Woerdehoff (130).
Basehor-Linwood’s top runner was freshman Henley Erickson, who placed 31st in a time of 21:07.7. The other Bobcats competing were senior Anna McKnight (46), senior Emily Steinlage (79), sophomore Joelle Self (80), sophomore Sarah McKnight (85), junior Tessa Turner (88) and senior Alyiah Shirley (91).
Boys Crimson
Buhler took the division crown, scoring 89 points and beating runner-up Lexington by 29 points. Buhler was led by freshman Gavin Lindahl. He placed fourth in a time of 16:21.4.
Three more Buhler runners finished in the top 25. They were senior Kaden Lohrentz (8), senior Layne Whisler (11) and junior Henry Trumpp (23). Senior Hunter Metzger (48) was the final scoring runner.
Four Lexington runners placed in the top 20. Leading the way was senior Miguel Cruz (7), followed by senior Lazaro Adame (10), freshman Isac Portillo (13) and junior Herson Rodriguez. Senior Anthony Taracena placed 77th to round out the team’s scoring.
Girls Blue
The Bulldogs had four runners in the top 25, and all five scoring runners in the top 40. They scored 67 points as a team, beating runner-up Clay Center by 69 points.
Sophomore Irelyn Kennedy led Baldwin as she has all season. She placed fourth overall, completing the 5K course in a time of 20:05.6.
Freshman Shea Griffith placed 11th, while fellow freshman Rachel Watkins and senior Lily Brecheisen placed 18th and 24th, respectively. sEnior Bailey Smith finished 38th as the final scoring runner for the Bulldogs.
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