BURLINGTON — Yates Center’s Hadley Splechter and Humboldt’s Joe Kline have been among the area’s elite cross country runners all season and on Thursday they took home the hardware to prove it.
The Yates Center sophomore won the boys’ individual title in the Three Rivers League and the Humboldt senior was crowned as the Tri-Valley League champion.
“I don’t really worry about individual places,” Splechter said. “It is all about the team right now and getting a plaque for the school.”
Splechter accomplished that goal as well with Yates Center winning the Three Rivers League championship. The Wildcats finished with 10 team points and the next closest team was Jayhawk-Linn with 35.
Splechter finished second, with a 17:00.01, in the entire race which featured 169 runners. Olpe’s Kyler True finished first with a 16:01.37.
“The goal was to win the league team title and there was no point to try and catch Kyler, because that just wasn’t going to happen,” Splechter said.
Right behind Splechter was his Yates Center teammate Colin Bedell right behind him in third place with a 17:02.19.
“I thought we kept a very comfortable and confident pace throughout the race,” Bedell said. “Joe pushed the pace towards the beginning and I think that helped contribute to our final times.”
Kline was the next runner across the line with a 17:13.68.
“I beat my personal-best by 15 seconds so I’m pretty happy,” Kline said. “Hadley and Colin passed me pretty early so I just tried to stay right with them and it worked out pretty well for me.”
Kline’s time breaks his own school record.
“He is peaking at the right time which is what you have to do,” Humboldt coach Eric Carlson said. “I always tell the kids that it is fine to get medals early, but what we work towards is always those last three meets with league, regionals and state.”
Yates Center’s Jordan Smith took sixth place in the race and third place in the Three Rivers League with a 17:19.91.
“I’m really happy with how Jordan has developed,” Yates Center coach Rex McVey said. “He has improved his time by about 50 seconds from the first time he hasd run on this course.”
Yates Center’s freshmen duo of Enrique Rodriguez and Asher Sievers finished fifth and sixth in the league and rounded out the team scoring for the Wildcats.
“They both ran personal bests,” McVey said. “They finished strong for us to give us the chance to win this meet.”
