If there was any doubt that senior Michaela Reynolds had returned to the form she showed as a sophomore when she won the Kansas Class 5A State title, Reynolds smashed any of those lingering thoughts Saturday at the Missouri Southern Stampede.
Reynolds blew away the competition in the girls 5-kilometer race, winning in a time of 17 minutes, 55 seconds to finish 34 seconds ahead of the runner-up, Sara Vaughn of Tulsa (Okla.) Union (18:29).
Reynolds helped set the pace from the start, running with Manhattan’s Marley Crusch — who had beaten Reynolds twice this year — through the first mile. Reynolds then began to pull ahead of the field over the final two miles to win going away in a race that featured 392 runners.
“Michaela had her best race ever,” EHS coach Mark Stanbrough said. “She dominated a field of some of the most outstanding runners in the Midwest.”
Reynolds helped the EHS girls to a 22nd-place finish out of 41 teams. Senior Abby Lake finished 106th in a time of 20:28, a two-minute improvement from a year ago.
Liliana Morales was 185th (21:27), Joslyn Barton came in 189th (21:31) and Katie Weaver placed 199th (21:38) to round out the Lady Spartans’ scoring. Tanya Morales (219th, 21:52) and Caesie Reynolds (229th, 21:58) also competed for the EHS girls.
Boys best Aquinas again
The Emporia High boys turned in quite possibly their most impressive team performance of the season, finishing third out of 39 teams.
Led by the top-15 finishes of Jacob Davies (11th, 15:46) and Asher Delmott (15th, 15:52), the Spartans finished with 149 team points, just 11 points back of second-place Potosi (Mo.) High School. Rogers (Ark.) won the team title with 53 points.
Andrew Wayman turned in a strong performance, finishing as the Spartans’ third runner by placing 29th (16:13). Mike Robinson came in 37th (16:20) and Tyler Anliker placed 58th (16:33) to round of Emporia’s scoring. Tavo Dikin (97th, 17:02) and Matt Wayman (144th, 17:45) finished out EHS’s top seven.
Also of note, Emporia again defeated Class 5A’s top-ranked team, St. Thomas Aquinas. Aquinas finished eighth with 272 points. Despite it being Emporia’s second victory of the season over the Saints, Aquinas still is ranked No. 1 in the latest rankings, with Emporia at No. 2.