EHS Boys Cross Country wins 5th straight regional title
Layne Moore uses speed to come away with individual girls title
By Michael Ashford
Monday, October 23, 2006
Before Saturday’s Regional, as the Emporia High boys cross country team was preparing to run in the cold and rain on the course at the Shawnee North Community Center, junior Asher Delmott had a message for his teammates.
“I just told the team that we are the better team,” Delmott said, “no matter what the weather is like.”
Delmott and the rest of the Spartans proved that statement to be true, as the Emporia High boys won the Regional title for the fifth year in a row, totalling 37 points to finish 27 points ahead of second-place Shawnee Heights. The Emporia High girls finished second, with Layne Moore winning the individual title.
“It feels pretty good; it feels pretty good to keep winning there,” Delmott said. “We knew we were going to do pretty good going into the meet, and everybody stepped up and did what they were supposed to do.”
In what coach Mark Stanbrough called the “best team race of the year,” the EHS boys ran in a tight pack at the front of the race, with four Spartan runners finishing in the top 10 led by Delmott’s second-place finish in a time of 17 minutes, 2.22 seconds.
“I think the last two weeks of the season at league and Regionals, we’ve probably had our best races of the year as a team,” Stanbrough said. “That is good because you obviously want to peak the last couple of weeks of the season.”
Mike Robinson followed Delmott with a fourth-place finish (17:23.55) and Tyler Anliker came in sixth at 17:24.85.
But the surprise of the day came from freshman Lance Sadler, who finished ninth in a time of 17:28.78.
After missing the first third of the season because of an unexplained collapsed lung, Sadler came back and established himself at the front for a good part of the race.
“Lance Sadler had a super race,” Stanbrough said. “For him to come back, and as a freshman, to finish ninth at Regionals, is pretty amazing. He ran as our second man for most of the race yesterday, and he dropped a little there at the end on the kick, but he was our second man halfway, two-thirds of the race.”
Other Emporia finishers were Jacob Davies at 17th (17:56.78), Ryan Parks in 24th (18:16.48) and Andrew Wayman at 29th (18:33.75).
The Regionals victory set up a showdown with No. 1-ranked St. Thomas Aquinas at the State meet next Saturday at Rim Rock in Lawrence. In the two teams’ previous three meetings this season, Aquinas has come away with the victory over Emporia all three times.
But, Stanbrough said, the earlier races don’t mean anything now, especially with the way the Spartans are peaking at the right time.
“They’ve beaten us three times, but that was earlier in the year, and with the emergence of some of our people like Jacob Davies and Tyler Anliker and our freshman, Lance Sadler, we’re a lot better team than we were three weeks ago,” Stanbrough said. “We think we can give St. Thomas Aquinas a run for the championship.”
In winning the individual title, Moore used her sprint speed to pass Seaman’s Sydney Messick in the final 200 meters of the girls race to finish first in a time of 14:49.59, less than two seconds ahead of Messick.
“I knew that she (Messick) was going to be in the front, so pretty much the whole race, I just ran off of her shoulder and let her set the pace,” Moore said. “I knew I could rely on my kick, and I just waited until I felt comfortable and set in and started kicking.”
Moore said the weather, while it was “pretty awful,” didn’t have an effect during the race.
“After the race, my legs didn’t even move and my hands weren’t working,” Moore said, “but during the race, I was focused on other things so it didn’t affect me too much.”
Seaman, the No.1-ranked team in 5A, won the team title over Emporia, finishing with 35 points to the Spartans’ 56.
The Spartans were short-handed, as Michaela Reynolds, the 2005 5A State Champion, was held from the race while she continues to battle strep throat. In her place, Heather Coe finished ninth (15:55.17) and Jenna Stanbrough came in 11th (16:00.39).
Kelsey Camien finished 16th (16:19.39), Abby Lake came in 19th (16:31.86), Liliana Morales placed 26th (17:10.28) and Katie Weaver rounded out the Spartan finishers in 30th (17:25.72).
Moore said she liked the Spartans chances at knocking off Seaman at State next Saturday if the team can race like it did on Saturday.
“I think based on (Saturday), everyone really stepped up with Michaela gone,” Moore said. “With her there, it only shows that we’ll be really close to Seaman if everyone can do what they did, plus having Michaela back.”