A stretch of 400 yards wasn’t the only thing separating Caleb Muehler and his first state cross country championship.
 
There was also Eudora’s Zach Arnold, last year's state runner-up who had been setting the pace over the last half of the Class 4A boys’ race at Wamego Country Club.
 
But with both Arnold and the finish line in his sights, Muehler found his kick. The McPherson sophomore not only closed strong, but powered past Arnold in the final stretch to capture the 4A crown.
 
“That last 400, I had to put it all out there, so I did,” said Muehler, who finished in 15 minutes, 58.74 seconds, just .85 seconds ahead of Arnold. “I just said to myself, ‘This is what you’ve been working for.’ The last 50 meters, I felt I had it.”
 
Muehler might have entered the state meet a little under the radar as a true title contender. For starters, last year was his first-ever running cross country, encouraged by coach Nik Rempe to give it a shot after experiencing success in track and field in middle school.
 
He fell in love with the sport immediately and had a solid freshman season, capped by a 27^th-place finish at the state meet.
 
Addressing what he called “doing all the little things – training, going to sleep at good times, eating right foods – doing what I can to be the best I can,” Muehler lived in the top 10 at all his races this season.
 
But he recorded just one win, that coming at the El Dorado Invitational, and on most of the occasions he went up against fellow 4A rivals Blake Logan of Circle and Buhler’s trio of Layne Whisler, Kaden Lohrentz and Gavin Lindahl, Muehler couldn’t beat them.
 
At last week’s regionals, he finished fourth behind the Buhler trio. Yet when he stepped to the starting line at Wamego on Saturday, his confidence was firm.
 
“I definitely thought I could do it,” Muehler said. “I just wanted to sit in that pack the first mile and then if I was feeling good, push it a little bit.”
 
When Arnold broke away from the pack, Muehler went with him and the duo slowly put distance between themselves and a secondary pack that included Logan, Chapman’s Drew Elliott and the Crusader crew. Muehler hung right on Arnold’s shoulder the rest of the way until they made the turn for the finish.
 
With Arnold peeking back over his shoulder to see where Muehler was, the Bullpup exploded past him at the finish for the title.
 
“It’s amazing,” Muehler said. “This is everything I’ve worked so hard for.”
 
Arnold crossed in 15:59.6 to take second, while Logan was third in 16:06.03 and Elliott fourth in 16:09.52. Buhler’s threesome then swept the next three spots with Whisler in fifth (16:10.05), Lohrentz in sixth (16:23.29) and Lindahl seventh (16:30.66).
 
Chapman’s Dereck Klukas (eighth, 16:32.14), Tonganoxie’s Solomon Carter (ninth, 16:33.78) and Wamego’s Harrison Cutting (10^th, 16:46.41) rounded out the top 10.
 

 
BUHLER LEAVES NO DOUBT IN RETURNING TO TOP OF 4A BOYS
 
There was only one way for Buhler to view the 2022 4A state meet: Opportunity lost.
 
“Last year, two and a half miles, we had the race; 5K we didn’t,” Crusader senior Layne Whisler said of last year’s state meet in which Buhler saw its string of four straight 4A state championships ended by Wamego, which nipped the Crusaders by eight points. “That gave us that little bit of driving force for this year. We knew we couldn’t settle for we had enough seniors coming back. We wanted to push to be better than we’ve ever been before.”
 
Returning four seniors, all but one runner off last year’s state team and adding a talented freshman in Gavin Lindahl – younger brother of former Crusader state champion Tanner Lindahl – Buhler left nothing to chance this season. And the Crusaders left no doubt they were the best team in 4A this season.
 
With Whisler, fellow senior Kaden Lohrentz and Lindahl all finishing in the top 10 and juniors Henry Trumpp and Kai Mendenhall placing in the top 15, Buhler emphatically returned to the throne. Buhler finished with 31 points, easily winning by a whopping 63 points ahead of Wamego.
 
The point total was easily the Crusaders’ lowest in its recent string of five titles in six years and it’s margin of victory its largest as well. In 2018 – the first of four straight titles for Buhler – the Crusaders scored 47 points and won by 34 points over Circle.
 
“They were ready,” Buhler coach Curtis Morgan said. “I don’t think you can say it any different. They were hungry.”
 
That hunger set in quickly last year. After getting knocked off by Wamego a year ago, Whisler said the returning runners made a concentrated effort to pour even more into their already intensive training.
 
“I think especially in the winter offseason, we had more miles put in by our team than ever before,” Whisler said. “I think I put in over 400, a bunch of guys at 200, 300 in the winter alone. Summer we got even more and it made a big difference coming in with that kind of base.”  
 
The increased mileage also led to incredible depth for the Crusaders and thus, some serious competition for the seven spots on the state roster. Buhler was able to fill the void of returning state placer Cody Bunce being unable to run this season due to a health issue. And it was so good that another returning state placer, senior Chris Yutzy, wound up being the alternate for this year’s state team.
 

 
Quantity is always key for winning a state title, but so is quality. And after placing four in the top 18 last year, Buhler upped the stakes this year.
 
Whisler, Lohrentz and Lindahl took turns being the lead dog for the team this year. The threesome went 1-2-3 in that order at regionals, but throughout the season the order was seemingly always different.
 
“The pack made a big difference,” Whisler said. “The top three, me, Kaden and Gavin – we didn’t have a single race until state where someone won two in a row. I think that kept it so the shuffle between them, every time we stepped on the course they weren’t holding back. And we had the same thing with 5-6-7-8. Every week, they could switch it up.”
 
“We knew we had those top five, especially, we needed to be close,” Morgan said. “The strategy was to be as close as possible as a group, let the first mile play out and then roll through the second and third. But we needed to see each other and continue to pull each other.”
 
Whisler, Lohrentz and Lindahl were virtually side-by-side throughout the entire race. And though they didn’t challenge for the individual state title, they packed together within 20 seconds of each other with Whisler coming in fifth in 16:10.05 followed by Lohrentz in sixth in 16:23.29 and Lindahl seventh in 16:30.66.
 
Not all that far behind, Trumpp crossed in 11^th place in 16:56.54 and Mendenhall was two second back in 14^thin 16:58.76.
 
Only three other teams had multiple state placers in the top 20 – Chapman, Wamego and Augusta, each with just two.
 
“I’m on Cloud Nine right now and I think these boys are too,” Morgan said. “They did all the hard work, the blood, sweat and tears from last summer and all the way through to this season. They knew nothing was given and they knew it’s hard to beat Wamego on their home course, no matter what the year or how good they are, they’re going to run well. 
 
“We had the depth this year and it paid off.”
 

 
CLASS 4A BOYS
 
TEAM SCORES
 
Buhler 31, Wamego 94, Tonganoxie 113, Chapman 141, Baldwin 156, Scott City 166, Augusta 174, Rock Creek 195, McPherson 199, Winfield 225, Chanute 273, Coffeyville 294.
 
INDIVIDUAL MEDALISTS
 
1. Caleb Muehler, McPherson, 15:58.74; 2. Zach Arnold, Eudora, 15:59.61; 3. Blake Logan, Cirlce, 16:06.03; 4. Drew Elliott, Chapman, 16:09.52; 5. Layne Whisler, Buhler, 16:10.05; 6. Kaden Lohrentz, Buhler, 16:23.29; 7. Gavin Lindahl, Buhler, 16:30.66; 8. Dereck Klukas, Chapman, 16:32.14; 9. Solomon Carter, Tonganoxie, 16:33.78; 10. Harrison Cutting, Wamego, 16:46.41; 11. Henry Trumpp, Buhler, 16:56.54; 12. Jarynce Briggs Plenty, Louisburg, 16:57.20; 13. Griffin Bloemker, Bishop Miege, 16:58.73; 14. Kai Mendenhall, Buhler, 16:58.76; 15. Oscar Espinoza, Abilene, 16:59.02; 16. Peyton Parker, Wamego, 16:59.61; 17. Jase Thomas, Augusta, 17:01.06; 18. Devin Trent, Paola, 17:01.87; 19. Dawson Schmidt, Augusta, 17:02.58; 20. Nick Johnson, Baldwin, 17:07.07.