First time for everything
By Michael Ashford
Originally published 03:48 p.m., October 22, 2007
Updated 03:48 p.m., October 22, 2007
The most stunning result to come out of Saturday’s Class 5A Regional cross country meet at Jones Park was not that the Emporia High boys and girls teams each qualified for the State meet, or that the Spartans swept the individual titles.
It was that with her dominating victory in the girls 4-kilometer race, Emporia High senior Michaela Reynolds won her first cross country race ever at the Jones Park course.
Kind of hard to believe from a runner that has been so dominant in her time at EHS.
“Wow, I guess I hadn’t realized that,” EHS coach Mark Stanbrough said. “I had seen her run so well over four years that I didn’t even realize that.”
There was no doubt about this one, though.
Reynolds basically led from start to finish, taking the lead out of the starting chute and pulling away from there. Reynolds began to really put a gap between herself and the next few runners about a mile into the race, and simply poured it on after that.
The 2005 State cross country champion finished in a time of 15 minutes, 12.57 seconds, nearly 40 seconds ahead of the runner-up, Gardner-Edgerton’s Clarissa Johnson (15:51.79).
“I really felt like I should win here at least once before I graduate,” Reynolds said with a laugh. “I was excited to get that.”
Reynolds’ effort was more than enough to propel the EHS girls to a State berth as a team, as the fifth-ranked Emporia girls finished second with 93 points behind Seaman (60), the No. 2-ranked team in Class 5A.
Sophomore Jenna Stanbrough, who has raced all season with a nagging hamstring injury, placed 11th in a time of 16:48.03, while Emporia’s scoring was rounded out by Joslyn Barton (22nd, 17:25.30), Liliana Morales (26th, 17:42.48) and Abby Lake (33rd, 17:53.81). Tanya Morales was 36th (18:06.63) and Caesie Reynolds placed 43rd (18:46.93).
As they have all season long when racing against other teams from Kansas, the Emporia High boys cruised past the competition.
Senior Jacob Davies won his third race in a row by pulling away from Kapaun Mt. Carmel’s Colin Hagan with about 400 meters to go to win in a time of 16:43.97, while the EHS boys as a team placed all five scorers in the top eight to finish with 26 team points, easily besting Kapaun (61) in the team standings.
“We’re excited about how we ran, especially since we’ve got State next week,” said senior Mike Robinson, who placed seventh in a time of 17:24.88. “We ran a good race as a team, and that’s exciting.”
After Davies beat Hagan by six seconds, the next Emporia finisher was Asher Delmott, who came across the line in fourth in a time of 17:05.78. Lance Sadler (17:22.80), Robinson and Tyler Anliker (17:27.61) came across the finish line in sixth, seventh and eighth, respectively, while Andrew Wayman came in 14th (17:47.86) and Tavo Dikin placed 21st (18:16.07).
With their spots in the State meet wrapped up, both the EHS boys and Reynolds now can finally focus all their attention on the State meet, which takes place this Saturday at Rim Rock Farm in Lawrence.
For the Emporia boys, it is a chance to get over a string of four years in a row that they have finished second at State. No Kansas team has beaten the No. 1-ranked Spartans this season, and that includes three races against the defending State champions and No. 2-ranked team, St. Thomas Aquinas.
“Obviously, we expect to do really, really well,” Robinson said. “We’re going to go out there and do our best, and you can’t do any better than that.”
For Reynolds, the State meet offers her the chance to reclaim her State title from two years after a disappointing and illness-filled junior year.
“I expect to go out and compete tough,” Reynolds said. “My goal is to win, obviously. But I want to do my best since it will be my last high school race.”
The State meet gets underway at 10 a.m., with the Class 5A boys race scheduled to begin at around 10:30 a.m. The Class 5A girls race is set to start at 11:30 a.m. after the Class 6A boys race at 11 a.m.
Class 5A Regional
At Jones Park, Emporia
Boys
Team scores (top 4 teams qualify for state)
1. Emporia 26, 2. Kapaun Mt. Carmel 61, 3. Shawnee Heights 86, 4. Seaman 116, 5. Topeka West 127, 6. Gardner-Edgerton 132, 7. Newton 198, 8. Winfield 245, 9. Arkansas City 248, 10. Highland Park 283.
Individual medalists
1. Davies, Emp, 16:43.97; 2. Hagan, Kap, 16:49.93; 3. Loring, GE, 17:00.61; 4. Delmott, Emp, 17:05.78; 5. Glasgow, Kap, 17:16.16; 6. Sadler, Emp, 17:22.80; 7. Robinson, Emp, 17:24.88; 8. Anliker, Emp, 17:27.61; 9. Searle, Kap, 17:28.29; 10. Rankin, Win, 17:34.95; 11. Bull, SH, 17:35.80; 12. Sparks, SH, 17:39.32; 13. Sieve, Sea, 17:43.36; 14. Wayman, Emp, 17:47.86; 15. Price, Sea, 17:48.90. Other state qualifiers — 20. Childs, New, 18:15.26; 22. Segura, TW, 18:20.63; 23. Templin, TW, 18:21.24.
Girls
Team scores (top 4 teams qualify for state)
1. Seaman 60, 2. Emporia 93, 3. Newton 97, 4. Kapaun 103, 5. Arkansas City 125, 6. Topeka West 126, 7. Shawnee Heights 131, 8. Gardner-Edgerton 152, 9. Pittsburg 243.
Individual medalists
1. Reynolds, Emp, 15:12.57; 2. Johnson, GE, 15:51.79; 3. George, GE, 15:59.04; 4. Hale, SH, 16:12.41; 5. Hand, Kap, 16:16.70; 6. Onnen, Sea, 16:30.12; 7. Whitetree, TW, 16:35.46; 8. Pinnell, Kap, 16:45.62; 9. Law, Sea, 16:47.70; 10. Bland, AC, 16:48.03; 11. Stanbrough, Emp, 16:48.34; 12. Slimmer, Sea, 16:54.22; 13. Schroeder, New, 16:54.87; 14. Brownfield, Sea, 16:55.41; 15. Bloomquist, SH, 16:55.89.