LAWRENCE — At the KSHSAA state cross country championship races held Nov. 2 at Rim Rock Farm in Lawrence, the weather called for a steady increase of rain throughout the day.

The race schedule, however, called for the day to start with a bang.

No, not the lightning delay that pushed the first race of the day back by 15 minutes.

It was the first race of the day that promised fireworks.

The 5A girls race kicked off the state meet with a reigning two-time state champion trying to hold off a record-setting opponent who entered the state meet as the odds-on favorite.

Topeka Seaman junior Ryin Miller took over frontrunner status heading into this state meet by setting the all-time state record for high school girls 5K in Kansas history, as well as earning a victory over the two Salina Central runners who bested her at the 2023 state meet.

But all that momentum would not be enough to deny Salina Central senior Katelyn Rupe from completing her three-peat by winning at the state meet once again.

Rupe ran a 17:09.77 to win the 5A girls race, besting Miller by more than 20 seconds over the final mile to cross the finish line with time to spare. Miller finished as the runner-up with a time of 17:26.36 while Rupe’s sophomore teammate Kaylie Shultz took third with a time of 18:13.67.

Rupe said the victory felt amazing.
 

“It’s just a lot of hard work and a lot of tough workouts, all that stuff,” Rupe said. “Obviously all that stuff is fun and the process is fun, but it definitely makes it feel extra good.”

Although Rupe had entered her senior season without having lost a race, she still entered the state meet trying to catch up with Miller and the outrageously fast pace she had set this season.

Miller rode the momentum of a double-gold performance at the state track meet in the spring into a hot start to cross country season in the fall. After landing the third fastest 3200-meter time in Kansas history with her performance at the KU Relays, Miller continued chasing history as she set the all-time best 5K time in Kansas history with her 16:32.62 PR at the Joe Schrag Invite on Sept. 14.

She achieved that result in an afternoon event on the same day as the Olathe Twilight race, a late night event that has often produced quite a few PRs and often a bunch of the top 10 times on the state leaderboard for the entire season.

In fact, Rupe would be one of those runners setting her PR that evening, posting a 16:52.70 time that would remain the second fastest time in the state at season’s end.

If that didn’t quite put Rupe on notice, their first head-to-head match-up on the state course during the Rim Rock Farm Classic on Sept. 28 would provide the clear proof that Rupe would not be the frontrunner in 5A as she pursued state title No. 3.

Miller delivered a time of 17:14.10 that day at Rim Rock as she took first place in the Gold Division girls race. Not only would that be the first loss for Rupe in a high school race, but her sophomore teammate Kaylie Shultz would take runner-up with a 17:17.40. Rupe finished three seconds later to claim third.
 

“That third place definitely stung,” Rupe said. “Kaylie and Ryin are both phenomenal, amazing runners. So I can’t have a B-minus, or I can’t have a bad race and expect to still win. They both ran so amazing that day and did so amazing.”

Losing a race at the Rim Rock Farm Classic may have stung, but her finishes behind Miller and Shultz did not shock Rupe at all.

“I think it was just that day and I tow the line every time with Kay,” Rupe said. “I know I’m going be pushed and she’s right there and such an amazing runner. It’s hard to win every time.”

Rupe would lose another race with her second-place finish at regionals, although it was Shultz taking first by two-hundredths of second ahead of her teammate as both runners took a slower pace to ready for the state meet.

When the 5A girls state race started, it was Miller once again setting the pace early in that race. The whole battle started to look like deja vu when Miller held a five-second lead at the two-mile mark.

Just like the previous showdown at Rim Rock, Miller kept Rupe at a distance by the time they crossed the bridge leading to Cemetery Hill. Shultz was in third again, although her gap increased significantly this time around.

“I could tell I was gaining some ground coming through that bridge,” Rupe said. “I was hearing people yell, ‘You've got four seconds,’ and then a little later it was two seconds. I was like, ‘Okay, I'm closing in.’”

It wasn’t until right after Cemetery Hill that Rupe finally gained contact with Miller, but she was also not in a rush to try and overtake her for the lead just yet.

“I just sat there a little bit,” Rupe said. “I was like, ‘Okay, I can’t make my move quite yet.’”
 

Both runners reached the final incline, right before the skyline that winds around to the straightaway which leads to the finish line.

“That’s where I made my move,” Rupe said. “I just sprinted and gave it everything I had and then didn’t look back.”

Rupe had the chance to become a four-time state champion, if not for choosing to play for the Mustangs’ girls tennis team in 2021 instead of cross country when district policy forced her to pick just one fall sport for her freshman year. She shrugged off the suggestion that this victory could possibly be a little bittersweet for that reason.

“I don’t think about it that way,” Rupe said. “I had such an amazing experience playing tennis my freshman year and I was surrounded with such a great group of girls. I had coaches who I really thank still to this day. I carry things that they've talked to me about and taught lessons they've taught me. I carry them through into my running. 

“I don't think I would be the runner I am today without having done that season of tennis and all the tennis that I did. I just think it shaped who I am.”

After Miller took third in the 2023 state meet behind the Salina Central duo, she used that loss as fuel to turn in an epic track season the following spring. Rupe won the 5A state 3200-meter race with that same 1-2-3 finish as this year’s state cross country results, but Miller did edge Rupe for the top spot in the 1600 meter, as well as winning the 800 meter where Shultz took fourth.

Rupe is concerned about the possibility that the results of this year’s state cross country race could have that same effect again. In fact, Rupe welcomes that hypothetical future.

“I'm looking forward to it,” Rupe said. “She's such an amazing runner. I love getting to race her. I think it always brings out the best and the times come with those types of races. It just makes it more fun.”
 

ST. JAMES ACADEMY SHINES UNDER PRESSURE TO CLINCH 3-PEAT IN TEAM RACE

While Salina Central’s Katelyn Rupe needed to deliver a bit of an upset to overcome Topeka Seaman’s Ryin Miller in order to secure the upset, the St. James Academy girls team just needed to deliver on its frontrunner status to deliver its own three-peat.

The Thunder clinched their third straight state title, this time with 77 points to stay 16 points ahead of the next best squad. Kapaun Mt. Carmel edged out Blue Valley Southwest for state runner-up by four points.

The St. James girls team has now won five state championships, previously winning in 2017 and 2019 before starting this current streak with a state title in 2022.

Although St. James had been picked as the top team in the 5A girls field in the final high school coaches poll before state, the team entered the postseason sitting behind Kapaun in that same poll, right before finishing second behind Blue Valley Southwest at the Eastern Kansas League championship meet on Oct. 17.

St. James Academy senior Quinn Hays said she was not surprised by her team shaking off those results to win another regional title and rising to the occasion at state for the third straight year.

“We’re diamonds,” Hays said. “We shine under pressure every single time.”

Hays led the way for the Thunder by finishing fifth with a time of 18:44.93, which is her fastest time in her four outings at state in high school career. She did finish one spot higher as a sophomore in 2022.

Hays pointed out that the team was ranked second behind Kapaun in the coaches poll released at the end of the regular season. Between that and the team finishing runner-up at regionals behind Blue Valley Southwest, Hays said the team has continued to feel like the underdog even as one state title became two and now stands at three straight.
 

“Every year we've always been ranked third (at some point), or at least we've always been the underdog, and always came out on top,” Hays said. “So I wasn't really very concerned and nobody else was either. We race this course twice a year and most schools here don't. We like knowing that we have that experience.”

Senior Katelyn Menghini was the next across the line for the state champs, landing in 14th with a time of 19:34.46. Menghini, who was also second across the line for the Thunder last year when her 11th-place finish was five back of Katie Price, said the team has tried its best to separate its past results from its goals and performances this season.

“We just talk about how every year's a new year,” Menghini said. “Go out there and act like it’s new. Obviously people are gonna think about how we won last year, but we lost EKL to Southwest. I think that has kind of helped us. There’s other people out there that are trying to go get it. So now we kind of had an underdog mentality coming in, like ‘Okay, they beat us. Now we have to go get them.’”

While both runners embraced the underdog mentality in the team race, they avoided getting kept up in the same mindset in terms of chasing down the lead trio of Rupe, Miller and Salina Central’s Kaylie Shultz. After finishing a full minute behind her teammate and close to a minute behind Miller, Shultz was still across the line nearly 20 seconds ahead of the fourth-place finisher in Andover junior Madelyn Wallace, who finished the race 12 seconds ahead of Hays.

Hays said having those three top runners in the same race actually takes a little bit of pressure off her and her individual performance at state.

“It takes pressure off individually because I feel like even though they're up front, our (team’s) spread is very tight,” Hays said. “We know that we can do well as a team and as long as we do well as a team, I'm not concerned with my time, as long as I can just go get the points.

“I don't consider them in my race. There's their race and then there's our race. They race each other and we race the rest of the field.”
 

Although both runners said it with a laugh, Menghini said nearly the same thing.

“I'm not really worried because I know I'm not gonna be up there,” Menghini said. “Our team is who we need. it's not an individual race, it's everyone together and we need a tight spread. I think we just say, ‘Go out and run your race.’”

The Thunder had three more seniors finish in the mid-20s to give their team such a low team score. All three of the seniors also kept a 10-second split between them. 

Allie Morfeld took 22nd with a time of 19:46.94 while Annie Wilken finished two spots back with her time of 19:51.61. Abby Loos rounded out that group by finishing 26th with a time of 19:56.22.

Hayes and Menghini applauded the effort of their fellow seniors at the state meet, especially Morfeld and Wilken.

“Annie Wilkin had a phenomenal race and she really was the main contributing factor that won state for us,” Hays said.

Menghini added: “Same with Alllie Morfeld. She was struggling at the beginning of the season, but at regional she PR’d for a season best by like 40 seconds and she was right up there today. We just needed both of them to get up there and do what they needed to do.”

Junior Ellie Wurtenberger took 47th and freshman Keira Riordan finished 87th to round out the team’s runners at state.

Kapaun junior Taylor Barringer delivered the top time for the state runner-up Crusaders, earning a seventh-place finish with a time of 18:48.46. Freshman Ava Claasen took 15th with a time of 19:36.09 while junior Courtney Nye finished 20th with a time of 19:45.15.

Juniors Caitlyn Bruening and Abigail Bird rounded out the team’s scorers by finishing 34th and 35th respectively.

Blue Valley Southwest freshman Campbell Harger earned the best time for the third-place Timberwolves, finishing 11th with a time of 19:28.52. Senior Isabella Ross finished 13th with a time of 19:32.80 while sophomore Avery Reynolds landed in 21st with a time of 19:45.20. Freshman Adeline Niermeier finished 32nd while junior Erica Black took 39th to round out their team’s scorers.
 

CLASS 5A GIRLS

TEAM SCORES

St. James 77, Kapaun Mt. Carmel 93, Blue Valley Southwest 97, Bishop Carroll 112, St. Thomas Aquinas 117, Seaman 147, Andover 164, Great Bend 193, De Soto 236, Valley Center 244, Salina South 258, Spring Hill 259.

INDIVIDUAL MEDALISTS

1. Katelyn Rupe, Salina Central, 17:09.77; 2. Ryin Miller, Seaman, 17:26.36; 3. Kaylie Shultz, Salina Central, 18:13.67; 4. Madelyn Wallace, Andover, 18:32.62; 5. Quinn Hays, St. James, 18:44.93; 6. Brooke Martin, Bishop Carroll, 18:48.04; 7. Taylor Barringer, Kapaun Mt. Carmel, 18:48.46; 8. Jordyn Cleary, Andover, 19:05.89; 9. Brooke Bundt, De Soto, 19:22.56; 10. Abigail Meyer, Bishop Carroll, 19:24.72; 11. Campbell Harger, Blue Valley Southwest, 19:28.52; 12. Kelsie Kudzia, Leavenworth, 19:29.16; 13. Isabella Ross, Blue Valley Southwest, 19:32.80; 14. Katelyn Menghini, St. James, 19:34.46; 15. Ava Claasen, Kapaun Mt. Carmel, 19:36.09; 16. Brooklyn Huigens, St. Thomas Aquinas, 19:39.46; 17. Stella Appelhanz, Seaman, 19:40.39; 18. Brynn Spencer, Seaman, 19:40.68; 19. Gwen Sattler, Bishop Carroll, 19:41.15; 20. Courtney Nye, Kapaun Mt. Carmel, 19:45.15.