Emory Speece brought a pretty impeccable resume into her freshman cross country season at Osage City.
 
In junior high, Speece was unbeatable. Literally.
 
As a seventh-grader, she won all six races in which she competed, including a victory the Kansas MileSplit Junior High State Championship. As an eighth-grader, she went six-for-six again.
 
Throw in victories in all her track and field races of 800 or longer, and all Speece really knew before high school was winning.
 
So when she went out in her first meet this fall as a freshman and finished runner-up at the Silver Lake Invitational to Wabaunsee sophomore standout Payton Wurtz, well it was a bit of an eye-opener. But not necessarily in a bad way.
 
“I knew Payton was pretty fast so I was just trying to pace off her and stick with her as best I could,” Speece said. “Coming in, I was pretty well aware of what the competition was going to be like. I’ve run a lot of big meets and went to nationals in seventh grade, so I’ve seen that kind of competition. I knew it was going to be tough.”
 
The real eye-opener came when Speece looked at her time after that runner-up finish. Her 5-kilometer debut time of 20 minutes, 12.91 seconds was only 17 seconds behind Wurtz – last year’s Class 2A state runner-up – and obliterated Osage City’s school record of 20:57 set by Miah McCue in 2018.
 
“I was pretty confident I could get it the first meet” Speece said of the record. “I had run some local 5Ks and my times made me confident I could get that.”
 
In five races this season, Speece has run faster times than McCue’s old record each time. And at last week’s Council Grove Invitational, Speece not only lowered her own record by a couple seconds, she picked up her first high school victory in leading the Indian girls to their second straight team title.
 
Speece finished that race in 20:10.0 and knocked off Council Grove’s Jordyn Picolet on her home course by six seconds. Picolet had just beaten Speece by six seconds two weeks earlier at the Northern Heights Karr Classic – a race won by Wurtz.
 
“I’d been working toward that goal (of winning) all season and to finally race that well and accomplish it was pretty cool,” Speece said. “I knew she was fast and it was her home course, but I’m just trying to get better and better each week. Since this is a new distance, it’s been a learning curve, but I feel like I’ve improved a lot.”
 
Speece finished fourth at the Wamego and Northern Heights Invitationals and then took sixth in the Blue Division at the Rim Rock Classic – the top Kansas freshman finisher in the race. With her first win under her belt, Speece enters the homestretch of the season with some new goals in mind.
 
“I really want to get under 20 minutes,” she said. “I knew I wanted to be under the sub-20 mark by the end of the year, but coming in and running a different race I didn’t know. In the 4K it’s more pace-pushing in the first half where in the 5K you settle in and slowly get faster.
 
“I’ve definitely had to alter the way I approach a race. Before I would get out a bit too fast and that was a struggle in the 5K at the beginning of the season. But my splits are becoming more even, so that’s promising.”
 
Speece’s success has come as no surprise to Osage City coach James Bellinger.
 
“Emory is a very talented athlete who excels in multiple sports and has done that from an early age,” Bellinger said. “I knew Emory was going to make an impact on the 3A level. She has an amazing work ethic and is always training and taking care of her body. She has that drive of wanting to be the best and is willing to do what it takes to make that happen.
 
“She had high expectations, not only from others, but for herself. At this point in her career, she is right where I thought she would be. I am excited to see what she can accomplish.”
 
The end of the season should be entertaining, indeed.
 
Speece and Picolet will see each other in the next four meets, beginning with Thursday’s Osage City Invitational and continuing at the Flint Hills League meet and Class 3A regional at Council Grove and 3A state meet. West Franklin’s Emma Bailey, who finished a spot ahead of Speece at Wamego, will also be at all three meets, making for a challenging closing run for the FHL standouts.
 
“I’m excited and it should be a great momentum builder,” said Speece, who currently is ranked sixth in Class 3A. “I’m just hoping to keep improving, qualify for state and then do some damage at state.”
 
 
OTHER CROSS COUNTRY STANDOUTS
 

• Topeka West’s Lenny Njoroge added another win to his ledger, running away with the title at the Seaman Invitational. Njoroge finished in 15:45.96 to finish 26 seconds ahead of runner-up Jackson Esquibel of Shawnee Heights. Esquibel and teammate Kory Sutton went 2-3 to lead the T-Birds to the team title by 11 points over Seaman.

 

• Piper’s Grace Hanson was the girls’ winner at Seaman, cruising to a 35-second win in 18:27.88. Seaman’s Ryin Miller was runner-up in 19:02.61 and led the Viking girls to a dominant team showing as Seaman put five runners in the top 11.

 

• Nemaha Central’s John Langill continued his winning ways, picking up his fourth victory of the season at the Centralia Invitational in dominating fashion. Langill’s time of 16:07.96 was more than a minute and a half ahead of runner-up Grady Buessing of Axtell (17:39.81).

 

• Wabaunsee’s Payton Wurtz made it 5-for-5 with titles this season, dominating the Centralia Invitational. Wurtz crossed in 19:57.33, more than a minute and a half ahead of teammate Rebekah Stuhlsatz (21:23.59).

 

• Hunter Bailey led West Franklin to a sweep of boys’ titles at the Central Heights Invitational. Bailey won in 17:02.00 and led a 1-3-5 Falcon finish along with Kyle Haner and Lucas Hassler as West Franklin won the team title by 32 points over host Central Heights.

 

• Prairie View’s Bree Allen won the girls’ race at Heights by a minute, finishing in 19:43.26. The victory was her fourth of the season in as many races.

 

• Southeast of Saline’s boys dominated the Halstead Invitational, sweeping the top four spots individually to run away with the team title. Levi Allen won in 16:30, but was closely followed by his teammates with just 28 seconds separating the top four. Damion Jackson was second in 16:40 while Brayden Walker was third (16:48) and Cayden Walker was fourth (16:58). Freshman Jacob Bircher also made the top 10 in 10^th.

 
The Trojan girls also won, led by a sixth-place finish from Abby Commerford.
 

• Wamego’s Brady Stegman tied the fifth-fastest time in program history in winning the Newton Invitational on Saturday. Stegman won in 16:16.4 to beat Liberal’s MJ Foster by 20 seconds. He led the Red Raiders to the team title as well, backed by top 10s from Emery Wolfe, Harrison Cutting and Peyton Parker, who finished 8-9-10.

 

• Council Grove’s Kodi Downes defended his home turf, beating Chapman’s Drew Elliott for the title at the Braves’ home meet. Downes won in 16:31, 25 seconds ahead of Elliott, who led the Irish to the team title.

 
Elliott and Abilene’s Eden Bathurst swept the individual titles at the Ellsworth Invitational. Elliott won the boys race by seven seconds over Ell-Saline’s Garrison Zerger in 17:07.47 while Bathurst won the girls’ race by 16 seconds over Minneapolis’ Alayna Cossaart in 21:02.71.
 

• Clay Center’s Grant Smith took the title at the Bob Schmoekel Invitational at Junction City, winning by 34 seconds in 17:01.6. Junction City’s William Dee was second and led the Blue Jays to the team title.

 

• Anderson County’s Tucker Nelson ran a 17:06.2 at the Perry-Lecompton Invitational to finish second behind Tonganoxie’s Eli Gilmore.