Moore makes Louisburg history with state medal

By Andy Brown
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Updated: November 2, 2016

Louisburg freshman Trinity Moore rounds a turn during the Kansas Class 4A State Cross Country Championships on Saturday at the Wamego Country Club. Moore earned a state medal with a 19th place finish.

WAMEGO – A day before the biggest race in her life, Trinity Moore limped her way from practice with a foot injury.

It wasn’t anything serious, but it was the last thing Moore needed to deal with on the brink of the Kansas Class 4A State Cross Country Championships. The pain was still there before the race started Saturday at the Wamego Country Club, but she wasn’t going to let it stop her.

In fact, it made her push even harder.

The Louisburg High School freshman didn’t look like a first-year varsity runner as she finished 19^th overall with a time of 20 minutes and 54 seconds – just 10 seconds off her personal best time. That finish was good enough to earn a state medal.

“I just wanted to come down here and try my hardest and see what the competition was like,” Moore said. “I really didn’t know what to expect since this is my first year. Being able to medal my first year is really exciting and I hope next year I get a chance to do even better.”

This season was a special one for Moore, who set the school record and led the Lady Cat runners all season as a freshman. She was also the first female runner to medal in Louisburg history and the first runner to medal since Jason Rose took fifth in 2006.

Trinity Moore leads a pack of runners toward the finish line Saturday at the Class 4A state cross country meet.

“Trinity did an awesome job,” Louisburg coach John Reece said. “For a freshman, getting a school record earlier in the year, coming to state and medaling was just icing on the cake. She just had a fantastic season

“She definitely exceeded my expectations. She almost ran her best of the season here and that is outstanding. She is a competitor. She runs hard, works hard and ran the best race she could. She started off steady, moved through the pack and then when she had to she made moves on all the downhills and put herself in a better and better position.”

Wamego’s course featured several different obstacles for Moore, but maybe the biggest were the numerous hills she had to make her way through.

“It was probably the hardest course in terms of competition and try to pass people up the hills,” Moore said. “Ottawa’s course was pretty hard earlier in the year, but this might have been a little tougher. The toughest part was running up the hill and trying to beat people as I was running up them.”

Louisburg junior Wyatt Reece runs with a large group of runners downhill Saturday in Wamego.

Louisburg juniors Wyatt Reece and Tim Smith also had goals of picking up a medal at state, but both fell victims to what was a very fast start to the Class 4A boys race. Wyatt finished 48^th in 18:32 and Smith was 68^th in 19:07.

For Wyatt, it was a big improvement from his state meet appearance a year ago. Last season, he finished 71^st overall at the Wamego course.

“The boys race was different,” coach Reece said. “It went out very fast and a lot of boys paid for it. Wyatt was in a great position to start with, but as the race played out, his legs just went away from him and it just wasn’t there. He wanted it really bad. He went for it and it just didn’t work out. That is the nature of the beast.

“Tim did a great job with this being his first time here. He moved through the pack a little bit there at the end. I was pleased with those two and how they ran this year. They used each other well and hopefully we can find a few other kids to help them out next year.”

Junior Tim Smith (right) picks up the pace for final leg of the race at the Wamego Country Club.

As for Moore, she is excited for what the future holds as she looks to improve on what was an historic freshman season.

“This is going to give me a lot of motivation going into next year,” Moore said. “I am going to do so much better knowing the competition and the courses so well. I am really looking forward to it.”