WAMEGO – Even though the news wasn’t exactly a shock to the system, it still hit home for the Wamego cross country programs.
 
About a month into the season, Red Raider coach Rick Patton informed his runners that this season – his 44th as a coach – would be his final one.
 
“I expected it was going to be his last year, but I still wasn’t quite ready for that,” Wamego senior Peyton Parker said. “He’s had such a huge impact on this team, this program and this town.”
 
And just like that whatever motivation the Wamego boys team had to defend the Class 4A state championship it won a year ago, things got turned up a notch or two.
 
“We all talked that we had to do it for him,” Parker said. “We couldn’t let him go out any other way.”
 
The heavy favorite in Class 4A going into the season after returning six of its seven runners from last year’s championship team, Wamego left no doubt that Patton would indeed go out a champion for the ninth time in his storied career.
 
Led by a runner-up finish from Parker, top 20 finishes from Logyn Evans and Braxton Williams and top 25 showings from its remaining four runners, Wamego finished with 54 points to beat runner-up Andale by 45 points.
 
The margin of victory was the second-largest for the Red Raiders in their nine championship seasons under Patton, topped only by the 2011 team that scored 54 points and beat runner-up Hugoton by 58 points. That team placed five runners in the top 20 while last year’s title team put five in the top 16.
 
But never had the Red Raiders had all seven runners place as they as this year’s team, leaving the question if this might have been the best overall team in Patton’s 44 years, 42 of which he sent boys teams to state, including the last 38 straight.
 
“It’s hard to compare,” Patton said. “We’ve had some really good teams, some talented teams that came through. Honestly, we’ve had some runner-up teams that were better than some of our championship teams. 
 
“This one is special because it’s the last one.”
 
Patton said he debated on when to tell his teams this would be the last run for him as a coach, but ultimately decided it was better for them to know rather than have it linger as a possibility and unknown. While the announcement could have added a little more pressure to the target the Red Raider boys already wore as defending champions, Patton said he never saw it affect his team.
 
“I really didn’t talk about it much after I told them and I don’t think it put any pressure on them,” he said. “They just wanted it and they worked hard. They weren’t just satisfied with winning it last year. They wanted another one whether it was my last year or not.”
 
Wamego was dominant throughout the season, winning the team title at every meet except the Rim Rock Classic where the Red Raiders competed in the Gold Race against mostly 6A and 5A programs. At regionals, the Red Raiders swept the top four individual spots and had six in the top 13, posting a near-perfect score of 17 points.
 
The depth and balance of the team showed up once again at state.
 

 
Parker led the way, coming close to pulling off an upset for the individual title. Leading two-time defending champion Caleb Muehler of McPherson coming into the homestretch, Parker couldn’t quite hold on as Muehler used his strong kick to pull ahead and win by less than a second in 15:54.28 to Parker’s runner-up time of 15:55.25.
 

 
Logyn Evans was next for the Red Raiders in seventh (16:45.80) while Braxton Williams rounded out Wamego’s medalists with a 12th-place finish (17:03.47). Then came the pack of seniors with Emil Wolf 21st (17:20.14), Luke Ault 22nd (17:24.51), Isaac Ibendahl 23rd (17:28.69) and James Bearman 24th (17:29.09).
 

 
“We had a lot of pressure on us to go back-to-back, but we were ready for it,” Parker said. “We knew Chanute, Buhler, Andale were going to be right there, but we just treated it like another meet.
 
“Our depth is so amazing. We have so many guys capable of getting it done.”
 
Even though he fell short of upsetting Muehler for the individual title, Parker was more than happy about how his career ended, knowing he’d helped send Patton out on top.
 
“I’m really proud of what I’ve done and I don’t regret anything,” he said. “I left it all out here.”
 
Wamego nearly gave Patton a double title on his way out as the girls finished runner-up, just five points behind defending champion Buhler. It would have been his first-ever girls state championship.
 
Instead of chasing that one down, however, Patton will turn the program over to someone new next year. The boys team will have to reload with only Evans and Williams returning from the top seven. The girls team returns four of its seven state runners.
 
“I kind of stuck around for these guys,” said Patton, who received the state championship trophy from KSHSAA Assistant Executive Director Kyle Doperalski, who was a member of Wamego’s 1997 state championship team. “But it was time with my wife and family and stuff. You’re coaching and you’re all in. I enjoyed every minute of it and I’ll miss it. But if you want to go somewhere on a Saturday, you can’t. You want to go on a trip or watch your grandkids, you can’t go. I loved coaching, but it was time to give it up.”
 
Chanute looked like it might put a little heat on the Red Raiders as the Blue Comets placed three in the top 11 with Tucker Applegate placing eighth, Jaron Powers 10th and Easton Colborn 11th. But Chanute’s next runner didn’t cross until 37th and the final scorer was in 85th, dropping the Blue Comets to fourth.
 
Andale’s runner-up showing was led by a ninth from Jack Cutler while Roman Lubbers also made the medal stand in 17th. Buhler’s third-place finish was paced by a third from Gavin Lindahl and 14th from Ryan Cherry.
 

 
CLASS 4A BOYS
 
TEAM SCORES
 
Wamego 54, Andale 99, Buhler 119, Chanute 121, McPherson 144, Eudora 155, Pratt 173, Augusta 179, Rock Creek 203, Winfield 236, Bishop Miege 266, Fort Scott 308.