BY JIM MISUNAS
NESS CITY – The St. John boys and Ellinwood girls continued their domination in the Central Prairie League by sweeping Thursday’s league cross country championships. The Ness City Golf Course featured hills and turns on a 45-degree afternoon.
The St. John boys won their fifth consecutive title (17) by placing seven runners in the top 10 medalists. First-place A.J. Miller (17:50.8) led the way with runner-up Mason Osborne (18:14.4); fourth-place Wrangler Walker (18:29.0), sixth-place Trey Fisher (18:57.5), seventh-place Cashe McVey (19:06.1), ninth-place Uriel Calleros (19:21.40) and 10th-place Hunter Hanson (19:24.80) earning top 10 medals.
“The boys competed hard,” said St. John coach Joel Delp. “It was great to medal the whole team. The times were a little slower than I want, but we had a hard week of practice. We will taper off and we should see times fall with fresher legs.”
Placing in the top 10 medalists were Ellinwood’s third-place Jonathan Whisnant (18:17.4); Otis-Bison’s fifth-place Blake Pierce (18:48.8) and Ellinwood’s eighth-place Peter Joslin (19:11.2).
St. John competes in the 1A Wichita cross country regional Oct. 20.
The Ellinwood girls wrote a similar script with five top 10 finishers – champion Erin Hammeke (
(20:45.3), runner-up Ashtin Klepper (21:27.9); fifth-place Sarah Hammeke (22:28.1😉; eighth-place Gracie Schlessiger (23:31.5) and 10th-place Courtney Cook (23:49.7) earning top 10 medals.
Other top 10 medalists featured Central Plains’ third-place Hannah Redetzke (21:51.1); Macksville’s sixth-place Abigail Ibarra (22:39.7); and Macksville’s ninth-place Itzel Garcia (23:40.0).
St. John’s girls finished third with Jackie Rios (24:16.7) placing 11th and Paige Doran (25:05.9) 16thh.
“I was glad the girls were able to run as a team,” Delp said. “The girls ran hard. They had their best race so far this year. Sterling’s times were faster, but this was a much tougher course.”
St. John’s Dylan Reed (19:47.5) won the junior varsity boys race. Ellinwood’s Saitis Kroulik (24:21.5) won the junior varsity girls race.
CENTRAL PRAIRIE LEAGUE
BOYS TEAM SCORES
1—St. John, 17 (1—A.J. Miller, 17:50.8; 2—Mason Osborne, 18:14.4; 4—Wrangler Walker, 18:29.0; 6—Trey Fisher, 18:57.5; 7—Cashe McVey, 19:06.1; 9—Uriel Calleros, 19:21.4; 10—Hunter Hanson, 19:24.8)
2—Ellinwood, 50 (3—Jonathon Whisnant, 18:17.4; 8—Peter Joslin, 19:11.2; 14—Kaden Baird, 20:00.8; 26—Logan Sturtz 24:01.1)
3—Otis-Bison, 60 (5—Blake Pierce, 18:48.8; 18—Grantley Sinn, 20:20.1; 19—Will Rues, 20:35.2; 21—Ethan Schneider, 21:15.8; 24—Jayce Kohls, 22:46.8)
4—Macksville, 65 (13—Gabe Woolf, 19:54.3; 16—Jacob Suiter, 20:10.2; 22—Kyler Evans, 21:21.5; 23—Trey Britton, 21:57.5; 25—Grant Frink, 23:44.5; 28—Harley Blaske, 24:47.3)
5—Victoria, 68 (11—Schulte, 19:28.8; 12—Schmidt, 19;34.3; 20—Engel, 20:57.6; 27—Housley, 24:28.0)
CENTRAL PLAINS—17—Jacob Oberle, 20:16.2
BOYS JV
ST. JOHN—1—Dylan Reed, 19:47.5; 2—Dalton Nemec, 19;57.0; 4—Nick Huston, 21:42.3; 14—Ethan Huston, 26:12.2; 15—Sead Pepic, 26:28.9; 16—Edson Gracia, 27:49.7
CENTRAL PLAINS—3—Hunter Green, 21;17.9; 5—Ethan Hurley, 21:56.0; 8—Jaydon Whiterock, 23:12.7; 9—Paxton Hammeke, 23:51.7
ELLINWOOD—11—Presten McCord, 22:45.4
MACKSVILLE—12—Alex Mendez, 24:57.1; 13—Thoran Cross, 24:59.8
GIRLS TEAM SCORES
1—Ellinwood, 11 (1—Erin Hammeke, 20:45.3; 2—Ashtin Klepper, 21:27.9; 5—Sarah Hammeke, 22:28.1; 8—Gracie Schlessiger, 23:31.5; 10—Courtney Cook, 23:49.7; 15—Lauren Petz, 24:57.3)
2—Macksville, 29 (6—Abigail Ibarra, 22:39.7; 9—Itzel Garcia, 23:40.0; 12—Karen Hall, 24:20.9; 13—Krystal Marquez, 24:36.2; 17—Lydia Mendez, 25:47.0; 21—Caren Holguin, 27:25.9; 24—Kaylee Hottovy, 28:20.4)
3—St. John, 55 (11—Jackie Rios, 24:16.7; 16—Paige Doran, 25:05.9; 20—Jaden Reed, 27:14.3; 23—Shayla Garcia, 28:15.8)
4—Otis-Bison, 69 (18—Ashtyn Butler, 26:09.4; 22—Sheridan Ewy, 27:53.9; 25—Calli Riley, 29:21.2; 26—Amanda Sizemore 29:34.6)
CENTRAL PLAINS—3—Hannah Redetzke, 21:51.1
GIRLS JV
ELLINWOOD—1—Saitis Kroulik, 24:21.5; 2—Alicia Mitchell, 27:44.7
MACKSVILLE—3—Christine Garza, 28:23.9; 4—Anna Suiter, 29:34.0; 5—Kiley Blevins, 31:25.2
ST. JOHN—6—Jordon Willinger, 32:35.5
