The Emporia High cross country team has a saying it lives by: Tradition Never Graduates.
Too bad seniors do.
With the graduation of last year’s 5A state champion, Skyler Delmott, and three other seniors in All-Stater Mauricio Morales, Marcus Delgado and Francisco Villanueva, the EHS boys have to replace four of their top seven varsity spots off last year’s team that finished second at the state meet for the third year in a row.
But that hasn’t stopped coach Mark Stanbrough from believing his boys squad, which is ranked No. 4 in the state, has the ability to reload this year.
“We think we’re going to be a pretty competitive team again this year,” Stanbrough said. “It’s going to be a very fun group to coach from the guy’s side because they’re dedicated to being successful and being better runners.”
The dedication Stanbrough speaks of came in the form of 70-mile work weeks for many of the Spartans’ top runners.
For the EHS boys, it all starts with Ryan Parks, the Spartans’ top returner after a 23rd-place finish at state last year and the squad’s only senior.
Parks said what the Spartans lack in a clear-cut front man, they make up for it by being a group that runs well as a team.
“We’re expecting to have a really strong pack this year as a team,” Parks said. “We don’t have a frontrunner who is out there this year. We just have a good, strong pack, which is a pretty big key to being a successful team.”
A strong pack is important in cross country because out of a team’s seven runners, only the top six runners’ scores count toward the team total. With a team that runs in a pack, the chance exists for a flurry of low scores should the pack finish high enough.
Stanbrough said the entire team has taken it upon themselves to make sure the EHS tradition of a strong cross country team continues this season.
“Our guys are dedicated and committed,” Stanbrough said. “They bring a positive attitude and really want to get better. They’ll do just about anything, and in fact, sometimes they’ll do too much. That’s when you’ve got to get in front of them and slow them down a little.”
Along with Parks, the Spartans also welcome back returning varsity runners Mike Robinson and Asher Delmott. Expected to help fill out the varsity squad are junior Jacob Davies, who anchored EHS’s state title-winning 4x800-meter relay last year, junior Tyler Anliker, who along with Davies is out for cross country for the first year, and sophomore Octavio Dikin, the Spartans’ top JV runner from a year ago.
While the future is bright for the EHS boys squad, the Spartan girls’ future might be red-hot.
Returning the defending 5A state champion in junior Michaela Reynolds is enough to get any coach excited. But the EHS girls also welcome back senior Heather Coe, an All-Stater from a season ago, and junior Abby Lake, an All-League and All-Regional runner last year.
As an added bonus, senior Layne Moore returns after sitting out most of last season with a hip injury.
Reynolds is excited about Moore’s return, since Moore offers yet another experienced athlete to train with.
“It’s really awesome to have such a good training partner like Layne,” Reynolds said. “We push each other a lot in practice.”
As for Reynolds, Stanbrough said he has seen no signs of a slow-down after Reynolds finished last year’s state meet in a time of 11 minutes, 55.40 seconds, winning by four seconds.
“She could very well be satisfied with being a state champion, but she continues to work harder and harder, and that’s the most impressive thing about her,” he said. “She’s going to be better than she was last year.”
Two freshmen, Jenna Stanbrough and Kelsey Camien, will most likely join Reynolds, Moore, Coe and Lake on the varsity squad this season.
After finishing seventh at last year’s state meet, Stanbrough said this year’s girls squad, which also enters the season ranked No. 4 in the state, has the potential to be a serious state-title contender should the Spartan girls can avoid the injury bug.
“Our girls are talented,” he said. “With Michaela and Layne back and healthy, that may be the best one-two punch in all of 5A in the state. We could be pretty good by the end of the year.”
EHS will begin its season on Tuesday at the Manhattan Invitational in Manhattan. The schedule is a brutal one that includes trips to the Missouri Southern Stampede in Joplin, Mo., the Rim Rock Classic in Lawrence and the Hancock Invitational in St. Louis.
But the tough schedule is fine with the EHS runners.
“I enjoy the tougher meets a lot because we get to see how you size up against some of the best runners and from people from other states,” Reynolds said. “It’s a whole different atmosphere.”