Lady Cats take second at Garnett; Wildcats medal six overall

By Andy Brown
- Tweet
- Pin It
Updated: September 7, 2022

Submitted Photos

Louisburg junior Emma Vohs led the Lady Cats to a second place team finish Thursday at the Garnett Country Club. Vohs also finished fourth overall.

GARNETT — It didn’t take long for the Louisburg girls cross country team to get back in the swing of things.

In its first meet of the season, the Lady Cat runners picked up right where they left off a year ago as they finished second Thursday at the Jerry Howarter Invitational at the Garnett Country Club.

Juniors Emma Vohs and Maddy Rhamy each recorded top five finishes in a solid start to their season.

“Second as a team for the girls was awesome,” Louisburg coach John Reece said. “There were schools at the meet that had not been there the past few years, so it was much stronger competition.”

The boys also found success as they brought home three individual medals, including a top-10 finish from junior Noah Cotter. The Wildcats took fourth as a team.

“All things considered, including the hot weather, the team ran well,” Reece said. “We have a long way to go to postseason races and we feel like the season started off on a good note.”

Vohs paced the Lady Cats to the runner-up performance as she finished fourth overall in 22 minutes and 18 seconds. Rhamy was right behind her in fifth in 22:25.

Junior Lola Edwards also earned a medal as she finished 14th in 23:37.

Senior Bree Gassman just missed out on the medals by one spot as she took 31st in 25:42 and senior Nova Ptacek was 33rd in 26:08. Junior Erin Apple rounded out the Lady Cat team in 50th in 27:47.

As a team, Louisburg recorded 61 points to take second, just one point ahead of third place Prairie View. Baldwin won the meet with 39 points.

“Emma and Maddy ran great races and competed well,” Reece said. “Lola was not far back and was all smiles after her injury riddled season last year. Bree, Nova and Erin will continue to close the time gap between the front runners and we will improve as a team.”

Louisburg junior Noah Cotter led the Wildcat boys as he finished ninth overall.

Cotter put together one of his stronger performances as he led the Wildcat boys. The Louisburg junior finished ninth overall in 19:11.

Sophomore Jerynce Brings Plenty earned a medal as he took 14th overall in 19:41, while senior Leo Martin also medaled in 23rd with a time of 20:09.

Senior Ethan Ptacek was 33rd in his first ever cross country race in 20:55 and senior Landan Henry was 39th in 21:18. Junior Max LaJoie took 53rd in 23:06.

As a team, the Wildcats were fourth with 92 points and were just four points back of third. Santa Fe Trail won the meet with 57 points.

“Noah ran a smart first race of the year,” Reece said. “He was controlled through the first mile and worked past runners as the race played out. We look for him to do some great things this year. The rest of the squad also ran strong races. Ethan was introduced to the sport for the first time and walked away with valuable lessons to aid him for the rest of the season. Jerynce was a bit under the weather, but ran well.”