Moore takes third at Wamego Invitational; Lady Cats finish fourth

The Louisburg girls cross country team was all smiles after its fourth-place finish Saturday in Wamego. Members of the team are (from left) Bree Gassman, Carlee Gassman, Trinity Moore, Reese Johnson, Kennady Wilkerson and Ruth Minster.

WAMEGO – The goal for members of
the Louisburg cross country team is make the trip to Wamego for the state meet
in early November.

Louisburg got a little taste of
what state is going to be like Saturday when the Wildcats competed in the
Wamego Invitational at the Wamego Country Club.

Senior Trinity Moore felt right at home as the 3-time state medalist mastered her way through the course and finished third overall out of 103 runners. The Lady Cats were also toward the top of the team standings as they finished fourth overall with 189 points.

Buhler won the girls title with 25
points, Baldwin was second with 81 and Eudora was third with 111 points.

“The
girls ran a great race,” Louisburg coach John Reece said. “Fourth place as a
team was good and it shows us that we need to close the gap between No. 3 and
the rest of the team. It is always good to run at Wamego, which we missed out
on last year. It is a good barometer for how state might shake out.”

Moore
made her way through the field for that third place finish as she ran a time of
21 minutes and 2 seconds and was one of three Lady Cats to earn medals. Chapman
junior Taylor Briggs, who is the two-time defending state champion, won in
19:12 and Buhler senior Daycee DeWindt was second at 20:57.

“Trinity
ran a solid race,” Reece said. “She was feeling it as we had two good workouts this
last week and it showed a little in her face at the end. She is cranking out
the miles and workouts and will be ready for regionals and state.”

Sophomore
Reese Johnson and senior Carlee Gassman ran strong races as well as both left
Wamego with medals. Johnson took 18^th overall in 22:07 and Gassman
was 21^st in 22:32.

Freshman
Bree Gassman was fourth on the Louisburg team as she was 78^th in
26:11, while junior Kennady Wilkerson (26:17) and sophomore Ruth Minster
(26:30) finished in 80^th and 82^nd, respectively.

The
girls weren’t the only ones to garner medals.

Senior
Anthony Davis earned his second consecutive medal as he took 29^th
overall in 18:42 out of 127 runners in the 18-team meet.

“Anthony
ran well and he sees, by his finish, that he has some work ahead of him and he
will be ready come regionals to qualify for state and hopefully have six other
runners with him,” coach Reece said.”

As
a team, the Wildcats finished 11^th overall with 282 points. Wamego
won the title with 89 points, Buhler was second with 96 and Towanda-Circle was
third with 114.

Sophomore
Ryan Rogers was second on the Wildcat team and ran a 19:25 to take 48^th
overall. Junior Carson Houchen finished 56^th in 19:32 and junior
Cade Holtzen was 69^th in 19:49.

Sophomore
Sawyer Richardson came in 93^rd in 20:53 and senior Evan Murphy ran a
21:37 to take 104^th.

Louisburg
will be back in action Thursday when it travels to the Wellsville Invitational.
The meet is set to begin at 4 p.m.