Mulvane’s Evan Landes and El Dorado’s Molly Milbourn had many similarities at Saturday’s State Cross

Country Meet in Wamego.

Both had disappointing finishes last season as Landes was nipped at the line and took second and
Milbourn finished third. Both entered Saturday as arguably the best boy and girl runner in the state
regardless of class. Both left Saturday’s state meet with nothing left to prove in high school cross
country.

Milbourn took the course first and led from the get-go to win in a time of 15 minutes, two seconds. That
was 30 seconds better than second place finisher Emilea Finley of Colby.

The El Dorado star came into the race with last year’s disappointment in the back of her mind.

“It’s my last year and I missed it (first place) by two places last year and I knew that my senior year I
wanted to finish with a win at state,” Milbourn said.

Milbourn’s 15:02 was her personal best on the course and the fifth fastest time the course has seen
since it changed for the state meet in 2007.

Cheyenne Becker of Pratt finished third. Bridgette McCormick of St. James was fourth and Michaela
Bauer of Girard rounded out the top five.

Landes toed the line for the second boys’ race of the day and he played it a little differently than
Milbourn as he sat back in the early going and let others lead.

“At first (I was worried) a little bit,” Landes said. “But then I realized this wasn’t my pace and they were
going pretty fast and they weren’t going to stay there. So I just worked my way up at my own pace.”

Landes’ own pace resulted in a 16:08 and a 27-second win over Baldwin’s Tony Weiss. Wamego’s
Hudson Philip was third at 16:46. Heber Jimenez of Hugoton came in fourth at 16:50 and Josh Whittaker
of Santa Fe Trail kicked for a 16:56 and a fifth-place finish.

The defending champion Riley Woodward of Wamego did not run this year due to shin splints.

Baldwin won both team titles in Class 4A. The win for the Baldwin boys snapped a three-year winning
streak for Mulvane as the Wildcats finished second. Hugoton was third in the boys. The DeSoto girls and
Concordia girls finished second and third in the team race, respectively.

Independent boys finish year-long journey

After the Independent boys finished third at state last season, they had a goal in mind as soon as they
stepped off the podium.

Win the 2010 Class 3A team title.

Mission accomplished.
 “It’s what we set out to do at the beginning of the season,” Independent head coach Steve Riley said.
“They set this as their goal last year after state when they finished third.”

The Panthers returned all of their top five from last year and six of the top seven, so it was no surprise
when the Kansas Coaches ranked the Panthers the No. 1 team in Class 3A all season long.

The expectations and pressure were things the Panthers readily accepted.

“It is something we have embraced,” Riley said of the top ranking. “The team also felt that pressure and
they wanted to live up to that No. 1 ranking and prove they deserved it. It motivated them.”

Independent scored 82 points to win its first cross country title in school history easily over second-place
Holcomb and its 122-point output. Sterling scored 124 points for third.

Jordan Speed led the way for the Panthers, which is something the senior captain has been doing for a
long time.

“Jordan has been a leader since his freshman year,” Riley said. “I couldn’t ask for a better athlete or a
better person.”

Speed was fourth overall in the race. He was joined as a state medalist by juniors Zach Wolken (seventh
place) and Jason Ream (20th place). Juniors Jacob Campbell (32nd place) and Josh Werner (54th place)
rounded out the Panthers’ scoring.

Independent will return five of its seven runners from this year’s state meet as it looks to repeat next
year only losing Speed and Trent Cole.

3A Individual titles go to last season’s runners up

Thomas More Prep’s Heather Ruder and Arma Northeast’s Austin Bogina knew what it was like to race
for a state title coming into Saturday after both finished second last year.

Now both know what it feels like to win one of those titles after dust settled Saturday.

Ruder won her race like she has all year in her undefeated run through the season as she took the lead
from the start on Saturday.

“I always do,” Ruder said. “I just try to get out and establish a lead.”

That early lead spread out to a 21-second gap and a time of 15:56 to win over second place finisher
Sarah Wright of Douglass. A pair of Minneapolis runners in Anna Trahan and Kylee Gragg finished third
and fourth. Astrid Moen of Norton Community rounded out the top five.

Bogina had a much tougher task on his hands in the form of Hillsboro’s Joel Allen.

“I knew that Joel was going to go out,” Bogina said. “It was crazy. I don’t even remember the first two
miles.”
Bogina ran a time of 16:31 to beat Allen by two seconds. Down the homestretch he was giving
everything he had to hold off the charging Hillsboro harrier.

“I was just praying my legs weren’t going to give out before the finish line,” Bogina said.

Josh Rankin of Ellsworth was third with a time of 17:13. Speed from Independent was fourth at 17:29
and Norton’s Zach Hartwell rounded out the top five at 17:29.

Norton’s girls beat Minneapolis for the team title despite Minneapolis putting two in the top five.
Douglass finished third in the girls team race.

Class does not matter for Farris’

James and Jenna Farris of Lincoln moved up from Class 1A to Class 2A this year, but it did not matter as
both won individual state titles on Saturday.

James set the tone for the Farris clan with a six-second win over Plainville’s Brady Johnson in a time of
16:37. Johnson was close to Farris late, but the Lincoln harrier put the hammer down to pull out the win.

“I started spreading the distance with about a quarter-mile left,” Farris said.

Farris was disappointed that Lincoln moved up a class because they had hopes in the team race in 1A
this season.

“I was kind of bummed out (about the move to 2A) because our team was looking good, but I knew if I
ran well I could probably win 2A too,” Farris said.

Cory Donley of Salina Sacred Heart finished third in a time of 17:09. Mark Sutton of Oxford was fourth at
17:17 and Kyle Schauvliege of Ness City rounded out the top five in 17:22.

Jenna had a little tougher task on her hand on paper as the Class 2A girls’ race featured two defending
state champions in last year’s 3A Champion Jenna Snell of Ellinwood and the 2A Champion in Ally
Balderston of Salina Sacred Heart.

Farris was not fazed as she ran the third fastest time of the day behind Milbourn and Finley with a 15:33
for the win. That was 35 seconds better than Snell’s 16:08 for second place.

“It was awesome,” Farris said of coming down the homestretch alone. “(It was) such a relief because
you wait all this time and it’s the last race and the final stretch.”

Brooke Fisher of Pratt Skyline was 10 seconds back of Snell for third. Paige Wells of Leoti and Kendra
Pfannenstiel of Ness City rounded out the top five.

Ness City claimed the top spot in both sides of Class 2A after moving up from 1A this year. Ellinwood and
Leoti were second and third in the girls’ team competition. Stanton County and Bennington rounded out
the top three in the boys’ competition.
Class 1A crowns two new champions

Audrey Schmitz of Axtell is only a sophomore and Gunnar Hays of Northern Valley is only a junior, but
the two made giant leaps in their running careers by claiming individual titles in Class 1A on Saturday.

Schmitz took out early in her race to lead and push pace and it worked out in the end.

“I felt like I should (lead),” Schmitz said. “I knew if everyone else was behind me I would stay in front of
them because I was so scared of them catching me.

Her strategy paid off in the form of a time of 15:51 and a state championship. Kennedy Schneider of
Tribune was second in 16:09. Courtney Freed of Pike Valley was third at 16:17. Kate Albrecht of Bishop
Seabury was right on her heels at 16:19. Karly VanCampen of Clifton Clyde rounded out the top five at
16:27.

Hays had more of a battle on his hands in the boys’ race with Pretty Prairie’s Isaac Williams battling him
through the race and up until about the four-kilometer mark.

“Isaac is an outstanding runner. He made a great race,” Hays said. “We were kind of back and forth. My
last surge was uphill. He is a great runner and I was able to get him at the end.”

Hays’ surge broke Williams and the competition as he won in a time of 17:34 and came down the
homestretch alone.

“It was a really humbling experience,” Hays said.

Williams faded to fifth after Hays dropped him with a kilometer left. Troy Wineinger was second for
Tribune in a time of 17:44. Ashland’s Cole Gardiner was third at 17:48. Slade Loewen was a second back
for Ingalls at 17:49 for fourth.

Tribune swept the team titles in both the boys and the girls competitions. The boys were dominant with
a 21-point win over Pretty Prarie. Frankfort was only one-point back of Pretty Prairie as it finished third.

Tribune’s girls scored 61 points to beat Burrton by nine points and third-place Clifton-Clyde by 12 points.