Wildcat boys win Garnett title, Lady Cats finish second

Members of the first place Louisburg boys cross country team are (from left) Leo Martin, Jerynce Brings Plenty, Jaden Vohs, Ryan Rogers, Hayden Ross, Sawyer Richardson and Noah Cotter.

Jaden Vohs, Jerynce Bring Plenty and Emma Vohs had never competed in a high school cross country race before.

It certainly didn’t look that way during the Randy Howarter Invitational on Thursday at Garnett Country Club.

Jaden Vohs and Brings Plenty finished 1-2 in the individual standings and helped the Wildcat boys to a first place team.

As for Emma Vohs, she medaled fourth to lead the Lady Cats and help them to a runner-up team finish.

“We started the season well,” Louisburg coach John Reece said. “We definitely have a great group of runners, which will make for a fun season. It was awesome to see Jaden and Jerynce go 1 and 2 in their first meet. They both seemed in control of their race and worked well together.”

Jaden, a senior, widened his lead through the race and finished with a time of 17 minutes and 52 seconds. Brings Plenty, a freshman, earned the second place medal in 18:13/

As a team, the Wildcats finished with 43 points and finished 12 points in front of runner-up Iola. In all, they earned six medals on the day.

Noah Cotter was third on the team in 13th place in a time of 19:32 and Leo Martin was 17th in 19:52. Seniors Ryan Rogers (20:09) and Hayden Ross (20:40) medaled 19th and 26th, respectively. Senior Sawyer Richardson was 35th in 21:39.

Emma Vohs, a sophomore, shined in her first race as she recorded a time 21:20 to medal fourth. She was one of three Lady Cats to leave Garnett with some hardware.

As as team, the Lady Cats took second with 67 points, despite having one of their top runners, Lola Edwards, leave the race early with an injury. Baldwin won the girls side with 26 points.

“Emma Vohs led the way for us in her first cross country meet and finishing fourth was amazing,” Reece said. “She is adding to an already talented group which makes us even stronger as a team. 

“The girls ran well, and even though Lola stepped out of the race, we were excited to get a second place team finish with multiple individual medal winners.”

Reese Johnson had a strong inaugural race to her senior season as she medaled in a time of 22:41 to finish eighth. Sophomore Maddy Rhamy also medaled as she took 10th in 22:50.

Junior Bree Gassman finished just outside of the medals in 32nd in 25:51. Nova Ptacek, another juniors was 36th, in 26:17. Sophomore Erin Apple rounded out the varsity runners in 40th in 26:30.

“Anderson County is not a tough course but being the first race, there are always jitters and all runners handled it very well,” Reece said. “From varsity to the beginners race, everyone performed well.”

Louisburg is back in action Saturday when it travels to the Wamego Invitational. The meet will feature some of the top teams across the state and gives the Wildcats a chance to get a preview of the state course.

“Everyone who will be running at Wamego is excited to get on the course and see the other 4A schools and what they have,” Reece said. “We are able to run the junior varsity there this year so all of those who could be competing for a top seven spot on the team will get the chance to run the state course.”

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