WAMEGO — On a picture-perfect fall day in late October, Zach Louk ran his final high school race, his way.
“I planned to run it just like I did,” Louk said after finishing 12th in the Kansas Class 2A Boys’ State Cross Country race Saturday. Louk saved his best finish in his four trips to state for his last.
Louk, a senior at Marmaton Valley High School, ran the 5K distance on the Wamego Country Club golf course in 17 minutes, 46.61 seconds. He earned All-Class 2A State Cross Country honors for his top-20 finish.
“I ran a smart race. I wanted to stay in the 20 to 22 places as we ran through the hills then start passing people in the late stage. When we came to the last hill, I started picking off runners and moving up,” Louk said.
Louk and Iola High’s Roman Yocham were running in their fourth consecutive state cross country meet Saturday. Yocham ran almost as fast, 17:51.40, but ended up 32nd in the Kansas Class 4A boys’ race.
It was Louk’s second top-20 finish in four years. He was 19th as a sophomore. Louk finished 67th as a freshman and last year 41st in the 2A race.
“I’ve just always been good at running so I went out for cross country. It’s an honor to be able to reach the state meet all four years. It’s pretty exciting,” Louk said.
Brady Johnson of Plainville won the individual 2A boys’ race in 16:29.63.
Yocham led a trio of Iola High Mustangs in the Class 4A race. Sophomore Trent Latta and Tyler Powelson ran in their first state race. Latta placed 37th in 17:56.37 and Powelson finished 69th in 18:43.81.
“Roman and Trent had their best times of the season. Tyler’s regional race was his best — he was 12 seconds faster on the much tougher regional course. Roman and Trent were 20-25 seconds better on the state course,” said Marvin Smith, Iola High cross country coach, who coached his final state meet for Iola High on Saturday. Smith has announced he is retiring at the end of the school year.
Smith said this was Iola’s second meet in a row over tough hills. He said the Iola runners run hills only on Mondays and they were two weeks late getting started this year because of the heat.
Angel Vasquez of DeSoto claimed the 4A boys’ individual championship, running the 5K course in 16:30.47.
Smith said the first 150 yards of the state course are uphill and after the next 150 yards, there is a sharp turn, a U-turn and with 104 runners jockeying for position, it is tough to get a good start.
“Tyler was the only one of our three who was toward the front at the start of the race and it may have hurt his finish. Roman and Trent were in the 40-50s after the first turn. It is hard to get a count with so many still packed together,” Smith said.
“Trent moved up steadily into the low 30s by 1.5 miles and Roman did not catch him until the last long hill near the 2.5 mile mark. At that point, Trent was in a lot of pain, but when Roman passed him, it seemed to revive him and he tried to stay with Roman to the finish and his time was only five seconds back.”
Yocham finished a four-year run at the state meet with two state medals in his career. He was 20th as a freshman then claimed ninth as a sophomore, which was the first top-10 finish by an IHS runner since 1997. Last year, Yocham finished 22nd in the 4A race.
“Roman has improved week by week but did not reach his marks from the past seasons. He was in great shape last year and I expected a top 10 finish but he suffered migraine headaches the week of the state meet. He missed six days of school and practice this season because of illness,” Smith said. “I hope he stays healthy through the winter and spring for a strong track season.”
Uniontown High sophomore Kelli Wilkinson ran in her first Kansas Class 2A girls’ state race. Wilkinson finished 66th running the 4K race in 19:02.02.
Louk medals in 2A state race – Iola, Uniontown runners place in state races
