MOUND CITY — Four straight trips to the Kansas Class 1A State Cross Country Meet is what Crest High senior Italy Loving set her sights on at the start of the 2010 season.
Loving reached her goal Saturday at the Class 1A regional cross country meet. She earned that fourth trip on the Sugar Valley Golf Course at Mound City.
Loving claimed sixth place in the regional meet hosted by Pleasanton High School. She ran the 4K race in 17 minutes, 48.15 seconds.
Crest’s Addie Rhea, a senior out after two years out of the sport, pushed hard to qualify for the state meet. But her 15th-place finish in 18:55.92 wasn’t good enough to qualify.
“Although Italy has always been close, she has not yet medaled at the state meet. That would be a great reward for all the hard work and time she has put into our program at Crest,” said coach Tisha Hug.
“Addie had a great year, medaling at most of the varsity meets this year. She put her heart into the race Saturday and just came up a little short.”
Crest High’s Lancers came within five points of winning a Class 1A regional team title. For the second year in a row, the Lancers claimed the runner-up spot.
Not bad, since it qualified the Lancers as a team for the second consecutive time for the 1A state meet. The Lancers placed three runners in the top 15 in the regional 5K race.
Leading the way was junior Dustin Davis-Jones placing fifth in 17:37.94. Junior Trevor Holman finished 10th in 18:24.43.
Hug said the four boys finishing ahead of Davis-Jones were seniors.
Olpe won the team championship.
Sophomore David Womelsdorf ran 13th in 19:09.24. Chris Brallier, a junior, took 20th in 19:59.31. All four Crest runners ran on the state qualifying team a year ago.
Craig Brallier, a freshman, placed 37th in 22:38.32. Junior Jory Ramsey finished 40th in 22:51.32.
“Having gained state experience last year, we got into it this year hoping to improve upon our eighth-place team finish of last year,” Hug said.
“We need to have a good week of practice, be mentally tough and keep in mind that we will be racing against the best.”
Hug said the Lancer runners were competitors and are up for the challenge.
The 2010 Kansas Class 4-3-2-1 State Cross Country Meet is this Saturday in Wamego. The races will be on the Wamego Country Club golf course.
Loving runs in the Class 1A girls’ 4K race at 11 a.m. The Lancers run in the Class 1A boys’ 5K race at noon.
Admission to the state meet is $7 for adults and $6 for students K-12.
Loving, Lancers head back to state
