Three Wildcats earn all-league honors at Frontier meet

Sophomore Reese Johnson was one of three Louisburg runners to earn all-Frontier League honors last Thursday in Tonganoxie.

TONGANOXIE – In what is probably the most difficult league in Class 4A – the Frontier League – the Louisburg cross country teams found themselves in their toughest meet of the season.

The Wildcats competed in their first postseason meet Thursday in Tonganoxie at the Frontier League Invitational. In a race that featured state-ranked teams and returning state medalists, Louisburg found some success on both sides.

Louisburg senior Trinity Moore led the girls side with a top five finish and earned first-team all-league with her performance. Senior Anthony Davis and sophomore Reese Johnson were named honorable mention after they finished in the top 20.

Both teams went on to finish sixth in the team standings, but Louisburg coach John Reece was happy with the way his teams competed against some of the state’s best.

“The teams ran well at league,” coach Reece said. “The Frontier League is one of the best and there will be teams from our league holding plaques at state on both sides, maybe two.”

Moore put together one of the best races of her career, time-wise, as she ran a personal record of 19 minutes and 41 seconds and beat her old time by five seconds to finish fifth overall.

“I was very proud of my finish at league, even though my placing wasn’t what I wanted,” Moore said. “With the amount of talented runners I was going up against, I knew I was going to have to run my best if I wanted to earn first-team league honors. I had the competition to push myself and I was ecstatic when I learned that I had PR’d. If it wasn’t for the girls who pushed me during the race, or the fast course, I don’t think I could have run that fast and had such a good race.”

Johnson was 20^th overall in 21:32 to finish with honorable mention all-league honors. The top 21 runners in each race earn league honors, with the top seven named to the first team.

As a team, the Lady Cats had to overcome some adversity as one of the team’s top runners, senior Carlee Gassman, injured her ankle during the race and was unable to finish. With that, they dropped in the team standings and took sixth with 146 points.

Eudora won the league title with 37 points and Baldwin was second with 70. Piper freshman Grace Hanson was the league champion with a time of 18:50.

“It is always tough to lose a top runner during the race but that did not stop the girls from upping their game,” coach Reece said. “It was a fast race, not course, and many of the girls ran their best times for the season. I was hoping for a top three team for the girls but that was altered a little by Carlee going down, but she will be ready for regionals.

“Trinity and Reese earned well-deserved honors for their effort. Because it was a fast race, Trinity responded and did better with her time, but I think there is more to come.”

Freshman Claire Brown was third on the team with a 36^th place finish in 22:21, while junior Kennady Wilkerson took 44^th in 23:22. Sophomore Ruth Minster (24:01), and freshmen Bree Gassman (24:08) and Nova Ptacek (25:06), finished 55^th, 59^th and 69^th, respectively.

Davis also picked up a good time to run his best race of the season. The Louisburg senior led the Louisburg boys in 15^th place overall with a time of 17:53.

As a team, the Wildcats were sixth with 130 points. Tonganoxie won the league title with 51 points and Spring Hill was second with 63. Piper senior Owen Roellchen was the league champion in 16:36.

“Anthony ran a great race and was rewarded with league honors,” coach Reece said. “He is gunning for a school top 7 time and I think he will get there. The boys continue to impress me with their team average time. It continues to drop and they are working hard to try and be the No. 3 at regionals.”

Sophomore Ryan Rogers was second on the team in 25^th with a time of 18:40 and junior Carson Houchen was right behind him in 18:46 and took 27^th. Sophomore Caden Bradshaw (18:58) and junior Cade Holtzen (19:18) were 31^st and 33^rd, respectively.

Senior Evan Murphy (19:39) and sophomore Sawyer Richardson (19:43) took 37^th and 39^th place.

Both Wildcats teams will try to find a way to get into the top three team standings Saturday when they compete in the Class 4A regional meet at Baldwin Golf Course. The team three teams in each race will qualify for state, as will the top five individuals that aren’t members of those top three teams.

The girls race will begin at 10 a.m. and the boys race will follow at approximately 10:45.

“Both teams are ready to run at Baldwin,” coach Reese said. “We run fast there so look out, here we run. It will be one of the toughest regionals in 4A when it comes to the separation between the 3-4-5 place teams. Whoever is mentally ready will be going to state. I like our chances for both.”

The Louisburg girls will try to qualify for the state meet for the third consecutive season and Moore is ready for the challenge.

“I am super excited and very much looking forward to Saturday at regionals,” she said. “Most of the teams in our league will be at regionals along with some others, so that helped us prepare for what we will see this weekend. I was able to run against the best competition, which I haven’t seen all season, and it showed me how hard I will need to work if I want to make to state.

“I definitely think we are prepared knowing the competition we will face, as well as running on a familiar course. We run very well on Baldwin’s golf course, but we will need to show up ready to race.”

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