Reynolds, EHS boys capture gold medals
By Michael Ashford
Originally published 02:41 p.m., September 24, 2007
Updated 02:41 p.m., September 24, 2007
Make it back-to-back victories for Emporia High cross country runner Michaela Reynolds.
After taking first at the Missouri Southern Stampede 5-kilometer race last weekend, Reynolds followed up with a first-place individual finish Saturday at the Seaman Invitational in the girls 4K race, posting a personal-record time of 14 minutes, 33.75 seconds.
Her time — 16 seconds faster than her previous best time — was good enough to beat Lawrence’s Kelly Renfro (14:59.39) by nearly 25 seconds.
“Michaela had another very fast race,” EHS coach Mark Stanbrough said. “She lead a pack of five runners through the mile then put on a big surge to break the race open and continued to add to her lead as she went through the woods for the last half of the race.”
Reynolds wasn’t the only gold-medal finisher for Emporia High. The Spartans boys team dominated the 5K race in a showdown with Class 6A’s second-ranked team, Olathe East, placing six of its seven runners in the top 15 to finish with 42 points to East’s 71. At one point, EHS runners occupied the top five spots of the race.
Jacob Davies led the way for EHS with a third-place individual finish in a time of 16:49.70 — behind Washburn Rural’s Brian Hageman (16:28.53) and Lawrence’s Dylan Hedges (16:35.51) — but the real story on the boys side was the race from Andrew Wayman. Wayman started the season as the Spartans’ sixth runner, but on Saturday, he ended the race as Emporia’s No. 2 runner thanks to his sixth-place finish in a time of 16:56.92.
“Andrew ... has had two tremendous races running as our third and second man the last two weeks,” Stanbrough said.
Wayman was followed by Tyler Anliker at 10th (17:20.09), Mike Robinson at 11th (17:11.29), Asher Delmott at 12th (17:16.35) and Lance Sadler at 14th (17:21.79). Tavo Dikin finished the race in 28th (18:05.14).
The EHS girls managed an eighth-place finish as a team with 173 points, just two points back of Centennial League rival Washburn Rural (171). Lawrence Free State won the girls title with 76 points, followed by Olathe East (84), Olathe Northwest (92), Seaman (104) and Lawrence (129).
After Reynolds, Jenna Stanbrough came in 29th with a time of 16:35.01. Abby Lake (41st, 16:48.61), Liliana Morales (51st, 17:20.93) and Joslyn Barton (55th, 17:28.80) rounded out Emporia’s scoring. Katie Weaver was 57th (17:37.91) and Tanya Morales was 62nd (17:50.32).
The next action for the EHS cross country team will be Saturday at one of the top meets in the Midwest, the Rim Rock Classic in Lawrence.