Class 6A Cross Country Review

This is long overdue, but it is time for a wrap on cross country and the season that was. My predictions this year were either spot on or nowhere near. There was no middle ground this season. In the introduction for each class I will put the percent of places I got exactly correct and the percent of runners and teams I got right, but ended up in a different order.

Class 6A State Predictions Review
Percent of predictions spot on: 43.7% (7 of 16)
Percent correct but in different order: 50% (8 of 16)

Notes from State:

-Roy Wedge of Lawrence made a statement by going out and winning the big class in dominating with a time of 15:43. Second place was a distant second a full 26 seconds behind Wedge. The second best time at Rim Rock was Adam Porter’s championship run of 16:07 in class 5A. Wedge established himself early as the best cross country runner in the state by beating Porter head-to-head and he proved it late too.

- Avery Clifton cruised to victory in the 6A race by 33 seconds over second place. She failed to break 15 minutes, but that is not surprising considering she was not pushed.

- Congratulations to Brock Nooney and his performance for the Campus Colts. The senior busted out and took fourth place in his final high school cross country race.

- Other area kids in 6A that impressed were Danielle Walker of Maize and her second place finish. Megan Ballinger of Goddard finished fifth, but was right in a pack of runner and easily could have been fourth or sixth, but was able to hold off Lisa Imngrund of Shawnee Mission Northwest for fifth.

Looking ahead
Girls
- Thirty-six of the 104 runners that stepped to line for the girls were seniors this year, including four of the top ten. Alli Cash of Shawnee Mission West will be the top returner as she was third in her freshman season.

-The team that looks to be in the best shape is this year’s champion Olathe East. It returns its top four runners and its sixth runner. If you score returners and take out seniors, then Olathe East would score 71. That is five points better than Shawnee Mission West’s returning score of 76.

-Shawnee Mission West is easily the scariest returning team. All seven runners return and its top five at state were freshmen.

-Derby has the fourth best returning score with 129 and five of its top seven returning.

Boys
-The boys are hit hard by graduation, which should give rise to some new blood in 6A cross country as 43 of the 104 runners from the state meet will graduate this spring. That includes all of the top six an seven of the top ten in total.

-The two-time defending champion Lawrence Lions look to be in some trouble next season. The Lions lose their top two runners in Wedge and Calvin Morgan. Its returning score 91 for next season based on this year’s meet, which is second to perennial power Shawnee Mission Northwest.

-Shawnee Mission Northwest returns its top three runners and five in total. Its returning score is 73. These two teams clearly have the strongest returners, but don’t sleep on some others.

-Campus has the fourth best returning score with 137. It loses its one and three from state. The surprise next year could be Wichita East as it took 11^th this year, but returns a strong top four and its seventh from state. It has the fourth best returning score with 142 points.

Who do you think will be good next year? What programs have some JV runners or runners who were injured that could make noise next year? Leave a comment or contact me at cparker@kwch.com.