WAMEGO — The Crest High School girls cross country team took home third place at their 1A state meet in Wamego on Saturday.
The Iola boys cross country team raced in the 4A division in Wamego. Competing in the 5k race were Cole Moyer, Jesse Taylor and Kaster Trabuc.
Iola
Cole Moyer led the Mustangs with a time of 18:19:49, qualifying him for 42nd place. Taylor’s time was 18:32, good enough for 51st, while Trabuc closed out the pack at 18:441:86 for 54th place.
“I truly cannot brag about these guys enough” Iola head coach Brittany Daugharthy said. “They have worked very hard throughout the season and it was so exciting to see them do their best at the state meet. It was a great experience for all the athletes, coaches, and parents.”
For Moyer, a sophomore, it was his first experience at the state level. It was Taylor’s third and Trabuc’s fourth state meet. Both will be graduating next spring.
“At some point in the race, Cole decided to just go for it and passed Jesse which led him to running a season best time,” said Daugharthy. “Jesse smiled throughout his race and ran a great time. Kaster had some rough racing in the first part, which pushed him back a little, however he came back and caught up to his teammates.”
Wamego, Buhler and Augusta marked the top three team finishes at the 4A state meet. Winfield and Baldwin rounded out the top five.
Tonganoxie’s Eli Gilmore came in first place overall with a time of 16:18.56, followed by Eudora’s Zachary Arnold’s mark of 16:31.61 and Clay Center’s Grant Smith third-place finish with a time of 16:35.47.
Crest
Three Lady Lancers placed in the top 25, earning the team third place.
“I was very impressed with their performances, they all raced to their full potential,” said Crest head coach Kaitlyn Cummings. “We’ve been working all season for this and it all paid off, coming home with a third place state finish. I was proud of all the girls for running their best.”
Crest freshman runner Josie Walters earned a place on the podium with a medal-earning time of 20:24:76 for third place. Peyton Schmidt came in 14th place with a time of 21:51.91, followed by Aubrey Allen’s 22:23.02 time for 24th place.
“Josie led our team and she individually got us to third place,” Cummings said. “There were some girls around her so she had to work hard with the competition she had. Peyton really worked hard in the last 2 miles of the race to get there too.”
Kyree Puckett rounded out the Crest runners with her 73rd place, 26:01.18 finish.
