WAMEGO – Ellis junior Avery Boydston has won her share of races in two-plus years of high school cross country and track.
 
But there have been a lot of second-place finishes as well, many times the product of competing in the same classification (2A) and league (Mid-Continent) as Smith Center standout Madison Howland.
 
With the Railroaders dropping down to Class 1A this cross country season, Boydston faced a new challenge at the state championship meet. She passed the test with flying colors, overtaking reigning champion Ellei McCrory of Northern Heights on the way to a dominant victory at Wamego Country Club.
 
That first-place feeling elicited some post-race tears from Boydston after she crossed the finish line in 19:32.33. Hutchinson Central Christian freshman Harper Newcome also passed McCrory in the final mile to finish second in 20:34.68, while McCrory was third in 20:46.35.
 
“I obviously wanted to win,” said Boydston, who cured her runner-up blues with eight victories in nine races this fall. “It just seems like I’ve gotten second a lot. I got second at state track, I got second at (Junior Olympic) nationals. So, finally.”
 

 
Of the six championship races contested at Wamego – three boys and three girls in 4A, 2A and 1A – the rain-soaked course and conditions took its greatest toll on the 1A girls. McCrory and Attica’s Cady Hemphill, the top two finishers at state a year ago, required attention in the medical tent afterward, with Hemphill unable to complete the race. Several other competitors needed recovery time after struggling across the finish line.
 
Boydston wasn’t sure what fate awaited her as McCrory built a significant lead between the first and second miles of the race.
 
“I had a plan to stick with her the first mile and then see where we were at at the two mile,” Boydston said. “By the time I got to the two mile, she had taken off and I didn’t.
 
“I probably had some doubts when I was a lot further behind her. But I heard my family say, ‘She’s dying,’ and I looked and saw her, and I was like OK, I’m just going to go for it.”
 
Boydston passed McCrory on a straightaway that parallels the 5-kilometer course’s finishing stretch. She continued to build her lead the rest of the way, adding her first state victory to a 2A runner-up finish to Howland last year and a 2A fourth-place finish in 2022.
 
Newcome set a personal best with a time of 19:51 in a runner-up finish at the Wichita regional. She matched that placing in her state debut with her third best time of the season.
 

McCrory was followed by South Gray senior Kylie Stapleton, who ran 20:54.96 to lead the Rebels to their third consecutive state team title. Crest junior Josie Walter finished fifth.
 
Boydston celebrated with her family and friends near the finish line, taking time for a phone call with her grandfather, Ross Davis, of Sharon Springs. Ellis’ move to 1A not only paid off at state, Boydston said, but gave her hope for the future.
 
“Running against Madi (Howland) is always tough and McCrory was really tough, too,” Boydston said. “I kind of like it because next year we have a better chance of having a team because right now we don’t have as many girls out. I like the change to 1A.”
 

SOUTH GRAY FENDS OFF CREST TO COMPLETE TITLE HAT TRICK
 
There wasn’t nearly the margin for error compared to South Gray’s previous titles in 2022 and 2023. But the Rebels held off Crest by five points (34-39) to maintain their spot atop the Class 1A perch.
 
In the four-runner scoring system of 1A, Stapleton and junior Jacee Deges matched Crest’s duo of Walter and fellow junior Peyton Schmidt. While Crest’s third runner, junior Aubrey Allen, came in ahead of South Gray No. 3 Gwyn Jantz, the Rebels made up the difference and more with sophomore Jenna Simmons, who gained nine points on Crest’s final runner, Kallei Robb.
 
“We have a motto each year and this year it was ‘One More,’” South Gray coach Alex Granados said. “I’ll talk to them about catching one more runner. The seniors knew what else we meant about one more, which was winning one more title.”
 
The Rebels got the job done, giving Granados and his squad three titles in as many seasons after Stapleton was South Gray’s lone competitor in 2021. Jantz and Deges were part of a group that came on board a year later, and the Rebels not only qualified for state as a team, but won the title by 18 points over Ness City.
 
After expanding the winning margin to 45 points last year over runner-up Crest, South Gray entered the fall as the favorite with its veteran trio. That experience surfaced, Granados said, on the eve of the state meet.
 
“At a team meal, we coaches were listening to the girls’ conversation and they had a specific plan,” he said. “After listening to that, I was like, ‘I’m not saying anything different.’ It was just time to implement that plan. They knew what they wanted to do, and I think the motto was very fitting.”
 
Deges, who broke 22 minutes for the first time at state as a freshman, ran 21:20.36 to finish eighth. It was her second straight top-10 state finish.
 
Jantz, who finished sixth at state as a sophomore and ninth last year with a personal-best time of 20:35.40, was injured in a vehicle accident in May. While her times dropped off this season, her 28^th-place finish Saturday was crucial to the Rebels’ success.
 
“She was getting a little bit discouraged earlier in the season because she wasn’t getting the results she wanted,” Granados said. “We just encouraged her to maintain the course and be patient. She’s got a really tough, gritty mentality. Toward the end of the season, she was really starting to put things together.”
 
The Rebels’ other senior, Reegan Meairs, finished 41^st. Like Stapleton and Jantz, she was part of a team that started from scratch and left Wamego on Saturday as three-time champions.
 
“The three seniors that I have – Kylie, Gwyn and Reegan – they’ve set a good example for our younger runners,” Granados said. “Hopefully we’ll be able to pick up where they’re leaving off and carry this forward.”
 
 
CLASS 1A GIRLS
 
TEAM SCORES
 
South Gray 34, Crest 39, Ness City 52, Northern Heights 59, Quinter 80, Lebo 99, Kiowa County 108, Centralia 109, South Haven 124, West Elk 164.
 
INDIVIDUAL MEDALISTS
 
1. Avery Boydston, Ellis, 19:32.33; 2. Harper Newcome, Hutchinson Central Christian, 20:34.68; 3. Ellei McCrory, Northern Heights, 20:46.35; 4. Kylie Stapleton, South Gray, 20:54.96; 5. Josie Walter, Crest, 21:07.27; 6. Elizabeth Weiner, Golden Plains, 21:13.16; 7. Peyton Schmidt, Crest, 21:17.86; 8. Jacee Deges, South Gray, 21:20.36; 9. Adilyn Meier, Golden Plains, 21:37.69; 10. Lillian Skalsky, Olpe, 21:48.86; 11. Kennah Speer, Lebo, 21:51.65; 12. Jailyn Brandl, Greeley County, 21:51.69; 13. Brooklyn Countryman, Quinter, 22:01.47; 14. Stephany Esparza, Ness City, 22:01.90; 15. Cheyenne Hoeting, Stockton, 22:09.93; 16. Hannah Nelson, Thunder Ridge, 22:10.53; 17. Breck Lohr, St. Francis, 22:13.99; 18. Josie Tiffany, Northern Heights, 22:18.68; 19. Trystan Harrold, Pratt-Skyline, 22:19.48; 20. McKenzie Baker, Washington County, 22:23.86.