Reece, Moore win individual crowns at home meet

By Andy Brown
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Updated: October 11, 2017

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Louisburg sophomore Trinity Moore leads a pack of runners Thursday during the Louisburg Invitational at Lewis-Young Park. Moore won the girls side with a personal best time of 20 minutes and 30 seconds.

In the last quarter-mile of their final Louisburg Invitational, seniors Wyatt Reece and Tim Smith ran side-by-side, leading the rest of the pack.

No one was going to catch them. They were going to finish in first and second place, but the only question was, who would cross the line first?

So, they had a nice, quick chat on how it was going to be decided. They were going to leave it to chance.

“We were going to do Rock, Paper, Scissors to see who was going to win,” Reece said. “But then Tim took a hard step, then I did and then it was a true race.”

It was a bang-bang finish as both runners recorded a time of 17 minutes and 27 seconds, but Reece edged Smith at the line as Reece captured the Louisburg Invitational crown Thursday at Lewis-Young Park and Smith took runner-up.

“Winning the home meet wasn’t the overall goal, but I knew the opportunity was going to be there, so I am happy with the win,” Reece said. “The time wasn’t bad, but it could’ve been faster.”

Senior Wyatt Reece turns a corner during the varsity boys race Thursday at Lewis-Young Park,.

Although the girls’ race didn’t have as much drama as the boys, it still provided the Louisburg team with another positive result. Sophomore Trinity Moore won the girls side with a personal best time of 20:30 to win her second race of the season.

Louisburg sophomore Carlee Gassman also had a strong race as she took third overall in 21:30. Those finishes helped the Lady Cats to third-place in the team standings with 54 points.

Fort Scott won the meet with 30 points and Spring Hill was second with 50.

Senior Reilly Alexander just missed the top 15 as she took 16^th in 23:32. Junior Kaitlyn Lewer and senior Isabelle Holtzen were side-by-side at the finish with a time of 23:41, but Lewer just nudged Holtzen as they took 18^th and 19^th, respectively.

Junior Payton Shaffer was 21^st in 24:03 and sophomore Emily Williams rounded out the girls team in 25^th in 24:37.

On the boys’ side, the Wildcats were fifth in the team standings with 99 points. Ottawa won the meet with 34 points and Spring Hill took second with 77.

After Reece’s and Smith’s top two finishes, freshman Cade Holtzen was next on the Wildcat team in 30^th with a time of 20:39. Sophomore Evan Murphy took 32^nd in 20:49, freshman Carson Houchen ran a 21:45 to take 34^th and freshman Luke Faulkner was 36^th in 22:27.

In the junior varsity races, Abby Crooks led the Louisburg girls in fifth place in 24:29, while Kennady Wilkerson (7^th) and Shaylor Whitham (9^th) also had top 10 finishes. Jackson Staab and Gareth Baus finished ninth and 10^th, respectively, to lead the junior varsity boys.

Louisburg will now begin its postseason races starting this Thursday when they travel to Baldwin City for the Frontier League Invitational. The following week, the Wildcats will travel to Burlington for the Class 4A regional meet as they hope to earn several state berths.