Lady Cats win at Prairie View; Wildcats medal 12 overall

Louisburg junior Reese Johnson distances herself from the field Thursday during the Ramsey Invitational at Prairie View High School. Johnson finished second overall and the Lady Cats took first in the team standings.

LA CYGNE – It was just another week for the Louisburg girls cross country team as the Lady Cat runners found themselves atop the team standings again.

For the second consecutive week, the Lady Cats won the team title – this time at the Ramsey Invitational – Thursday at Prairie View High School. Louisburg won going away with 19 points and finished 35 points ahead of runner-up Anderson County.

Also, it was the second time in as many weeks that freshman Lola Edwards and junior Reese Johnson were the first ones to cross the finish line. Edwards won the meet in 20 minutes and 30 seconds, while Johnson was second in 21:11.

“The girls are running well,” Louisburg coach John Reece said. “They are slowly drawing closer together with their times, which makes them even better as a team.

“Lola and Reese are doing awesome. They are ready to compete each race and are relentless on the course.”

The Louisburg boys also finished strong as the Wildcats nearly won their second consecutive meet as they finished second with 42 points, just three points behind champion Fort Scott and one point in front of third place finisher, Anderson County.

“They performed very well,” Reese said. “The top six are running within 30 seconds of each other, which is impressive. As their times drop they will be a strong team at the league and regional meets.”

In all, the Wildcats medaled 12 runners between the two teams, including the entire seven-member girls squad.

Along with Edwards and Johnson, sophomore Claire Brown finished fifth in the girls race in 22:45. Freshmen Maddy Rhamy (23:01) and Erin Apple (23:12) took eighth and ninth, respectively.

Sophomore Bree Gassman was 13^th in 23:34 and fellow sophomore Nova Ptacek rounded out the team in 23:55, which was good for 15^th.

On the boys side, senior Carson Houchen led the Wildcats in seventh overall in 18:47 and another senior, Cade Holtzen, was 10^th in 18:55.

Juniors Ryan Rogers finished 12^th in 19:02, while fellow juniors Caden Bradshaw (19:12) and Hayden Ross (19:13) were 14^th and 15, respectively, and also garnered medals.

Freshman Noah Cotter just missed out on a medal as he took 16^th in 19:14 and sophomore Leo Martin was 24^th in 20:18.

“Earning medals is not what we look at, but it is nice to be rewarded for a strong effort,” Reece said. “With numbers comes quality and these are the best kids in the school which makes my job easy. They work hard and are rewarded for their hard work.”

Louisburg was originally scheduled to compete in the Pittsburg Invitational on Thursday, but due to COVID-19, the Wildcats had to find a different meet. Instead, Louisburg will travel to the Perry-Lecompton Invitational on Thursday at Perry Lake. Races are set to being at 4 p.m.

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