WAMEGO – With Hutchinson Trinity’s last boys cross country state championship coming in 2012, one might speculate that the Celtics have operated the last decade-plus without wearing much of a bull’s-eye.
 
And certainly not like the one the Celtics carried this year as the top-ranked team in Class 2A for the duration of the 2025 season.
 
But for Celtic coach Jarod Wannamaker, it hasn’t necessarily felt that way.
 
“We felt like we’ve always had a target on our back, especially out in western Kansas with the success we’ve been having the last two years,” Wannamaker said. “So it really wasn’t anything that new to us. We knew what to expect and I just told them to have an underdog mentality and always just be ready to run.”
 
With two-time reigning champion Central Heights experiencing a youth movement after turning in a state-record performance last year at state, Trinity wore the burden of 2A favorite like a champion this season. The Celtics got a strong challenge from Kansas City Christian at Saturday’s state meet in Wamego, but responded as Wannamker expected.
 
Led by individual state champion Jacob Lindstrom, Trinity put all seven runners in the top 50 and all five scorers in the top 45 to finish with 64 points, just four ahead of KC Christian, which got a 2-3 finish from Andersen Minnich and Caleb Warner and scored 68.
 
“They came to run today,” Wannamaker said of the Panthers, who had three finishers in the top 10 but only had one other runner in the top 50. “I knew they were putting in some good times toward the end of the year here, so I’ve been keeping my eye on them. I just knew if we ran, tried not to do anything special and just ran our race our depth was going to carry us and I think that’s what got us there. That shows the importance of your six, seven – they cancel some of those points out and really helps.
 
“It just shows what kind of depth and what kind of team we have.”
 

 
The groundwork of this year’s championship run was actually laid three years ago when the senior class was freshmen. That year, Trinity spent most of the season as the team to beat with seniors Jonah Godina, Anthony Clennan and Brendan Kiser backed by a freshman class that included twin brothers Jacob and John Lindstrom and Ambrose and Sam Pennycuff as well as Cameron Kiser.
 
But the Celtics never really hit their stride that year and wound up placing fifth as a team at state.
 
“We were kind of the team everybody was looking at with those seniors and these guys coming in,” Wannamaker said. “We had really good times and we thought we would be set up that year. But we had a lot of injuries and illness and stuff hit us halfway through the year and we couldn’t recover from it. It just didn’t work out.
 
“So they’ve just really wanted it from that point. They knew what they had and they just had to keep working and this is a culmination of that work and finally getting across the finish line.”
 
Even though he wasn’t able to crack the varsity top seven for the state meet that season, Jacob Lindstrom said the 2022 campaign was a huge catalyst behind this year’s title run.
 
“I think that’s where we got our most motivation,” he said. “It wasn’t necessarily from the failure that season. What we got more motivation from was the work ethic and the commitment those seniors had to the team. We just tried to replicate that every season since and that’s what’s been pushing us all the way here.”
 
There was also extra motivation for Jacob with twin brother John not only being on the state team that season, but also one of its contributing scorers. The gap began to close their sophomore year when John finished 12th at state and Jacob placed 17th.
 
But things flipped last year. Jacob pushed his times into the low 16s and dipped to a then-career-best 15:54.70 at the Sterling Invitational, one of three straight victories heading into the state meet. He couldn’t quite extend the streak to four, but stuck right with Central Heights’ outstanding senior trio of Cody Hammond, Connor Burkdoll and Owen Miller, placing fourth.
 
John also got down into the 16s on a couple occasions, but only managed a 20th at the state meet.
 
“During his sophomore year, he got hurt pretty bad during the winter and couldn’t run like he was used to,” Jacob said of the role reversal. “That’s where I kind of started pulling away and then he’s been playing catch-up ever since.”
 
This season, the brothers almost inseparable. Jacob won titles at the TMP-Marian and Heart of America League races and also finished runner-up at the Halstead and Sterling Invitationals, running a career-best 15:52.10 at Sterling. John, meanwhile, was runner-up to his brother at TMP and league and third to him at Halstead and Sterling. John also finished ahead of Jacob at the Wamego, Buhler and Rim Rock Invitationals.
 
“He got me a few times this year,” Jacob said. “It’s a lot of fun and competition and it’s always, ‘I have to run good because he’s right there with me.’ We just push each other so much.”
 

 
The two were hoping to wage a fierce battle for the individual title after finishing 1-3 at regionals with Inman’s Tyler Martisko separating them. But at state, John began dealing with cramps early in the race that hampered his ability to make a strong challenge to his brother.
 
“He said after about the first mile his legs were kind of dying on him,” Wannamaker said. “He gutted it out and for him to finish fourth overall, that just goes to his character and his grit. I know Jacob wanted it and John wanted to be up there with him, but the fact that he was able to gut it out with all the problems he was starting to feel was big.”
 
Jacob was pushed early in the race by Smith Center’s Gavin Hickert, who set the early pace. But using a pointer he got from his Central Heights rival after last year’s state meet, Jacob was able to take control of the race at the midway point.
 
“I raced him earlier this season and he did kind of the same thing, went out fast and died out,” Lindstrom said of Hickert, who wound up placing 32nd. “My tactic was to sit and wait for him to die out and then go. One thing I did really well here was I talked to the Central Heights kids after last year and the one thing they learned from running this course was to push the downhills as hard as you can. And that’s what I did.”
 
Lindstrom still had to fight off the KC Christian duo of Minnich and Warner. But pushing the downhills, he was able to gain separation and wound up winning by just over 11 seconds in 16:26.21. Minnich took second in 16:37.67 while Warner was third in 16:41.84, just ahead of John Lindstrom in fourth in 16:43.59.
 
“My theory is if you get to the top of that long uphill and you have a gap, you win,” Jacob said. “That was my only goal and that’s what I did.
 
“I really realized I wanted this after last year, taking third. I was right there and I just wanted to get it.”
 
As much as the individual win meant to him, Jacob said he cherished the team title even more.
 
“We’ve been chasing that thing for so long now,” he said. “We finally got it. This was a great way for us six seniors to cap our careers off.”
 

 
In addition to the top-four finishes from the Lindstroms, Trinity also had a medalist in senior Cameron Kiser, a four-year state runner for the Celtics, who placed 18th in 17:25.47. The Pennycuffs rounded out the Celtics’ scoring with Ambrose placing 31st and Sam taking 45th.
 
Trinity will graduated all five placers as well as four-year starter Noah Lau, who finished 48th, leaving 50th-place finisher Sam Madden as the Celtics’ lone returner from this year’s state team next fall.
 
In addition to Minnich and Warner, KC Christian got a 10th from Hudson Humphrey. After winning two straight titles, Central Heights slipped to third as a team, led by a ninth from Stetson Miller and 13th from Josiah Miller.
 
Marion’s Eli Klenda (fifth), Hoxie’s Michael Haffner (sixth), Jefferson County North’s Lucas Meredith (seventh), Inman’s Martisko (eighth) also finished in the top 10 individually.
 

 
CLASS 2A BOYS
 
TEAM SCORES
 
Hutchinson Trinity 64, KC Christian 68, Central Heights 80, Jefferson County North 148, Moundridge 155, Stanton County 162, Marion 171, Remington 197, Ellinwood 223, WaKeeney 226, Solomon 261, Berean Academy 268.
 
INDIVIDUAL MEDALISTS
 
1. Jacob Lindstrom, Hutchinson Trinity, 16:26.21; 2. Andersen Minnich, KC Christian, 16:37.67; 3. Caleb Warner, KC Christian, 16:41.84; 4. John Lindstrom, Hutchinson Trinity, 16:43.59; 5. Eli Klenda, Marion, 16:54.36; 6. Michael Haffner, Hoxie, 16:58.92; 7. Lucas Meredith, Jefferson County North, 17:03.28; 8. Tyler Martisko, Inman, 17:07.29; 9. Stetson Miller, Central Heights, 17:10.28; 10. Hudson Humphrey, KC Christian, 17:12.69; 11. Max Kane, Jefferson County North, 17:15.79; 12. Colton Smithhisler, St. Mary’s Colgan, 17:17.16; 13. Josiah Meyer, Central Heights, 17:19.10 14. Will Snook, Berean Academy, 17:29.68; 15. Riley Roots, Inman, 17:23.04; 16. Zayne Gabern, Southeast-Cherokee, 17:23.85; 17. Colt Koehn, Remington, 17:24.55; 18. Cameron Kiser, Hutchinson Trinity, 17:25.47; 19. Ryan Pohlman, Ellinwood, 17:26.53; 20. Jethro Crisler, Oakley, 17:27.16.