WAMEGO – Five years ago, a girls state cross country championship would have seemed inconceivable for Kansas City Christian coach Jon Ford.
 
That’s because five years ago, he barely even had a team.
 
“We had two girls,” Ford said of the 2021 season that saw only Rebekah Jenks and Rory Hawk run. “Those two really saved us because they kept doing cross country.”
 
A program that barely had a pulse now is not only alive, but kicking tail. A year after qualifying for the Class 2A state meet for the first time as a team since taking seventh in 2018, KC Christian completed its meteoric rise by bringing home the 2A team championship on Saturday at Wamego Country Club.

 
Led by state placers Lola Humphrey and Cedar Bond and putting four in the top 30, the Panthers finished with 75 points to beat runner-up Berean Academy by 31 points for the title. It was the first state trophy of any kind for the girls’ program, the previous best a fourth-place finish in Class 3A in 2005.
 
And while five years ago even a team state berth, let alone a state title, might not have seemed possible for the Panthers, a championship was something that Ford felt was within reach before this season started.
 
“I knew it was a possibility because we had enough girls that could run,” Ford said. “They train hard and I knew if they put the work in, it was possible.”
 
After seeing the numbers in the program go from two in 2021 to three in 2022 and then six in 2023, the Panthers really began to lay the groundwork last fall.
 
The arrival of a strong freshman class led by Sarah Schumacher and Ava Graber to join returning state placer Josephine Willhite, who was 18th at state in 2023, helped the program not only qualify as a team for the first time in nearly a decade, but finish eighth in the standings. Willhite earned her second straight state medal, finishing ninth.
 
Losing only one runner off that team, senior Brooklyn Veer, the prospects for this season were already good. They got even better with the addition of another strong freshman class led by Humphrey and June Johnson as well as the addition of sophomore Bond to the varsity lineup.
 
“We pulled in some really good newcomers,” Ford said. “Our No. 1 and 6 today were freshman girls and (Humphrey) has been in our top three pretty much all year. That helped round us out and the rest of the girls matured a bit and got better.”
 
KC Christian started the season with a strong showing at the Basehor-Linwood Invitational, finishing runner-up as a team to Class 5A Blue Valley Southwest. The Panthers then took eighth at the Wamego Invitational with the only 2A team to finish ahead of them Remington. At Rim Rock, they finished seventh as a team, the highest 2A placer in the Blue Division.
 
While excited by the early results, Ford’s enthusiasm was also tempered a bit.
 
“We came out of the gates pretty hard, but we did that last year, too,” Ford said. “I felt halfway through last season, everybody started catching us and we just didn’t improve that much. But this year we came out of the gates hard and then we kept improving as well.”
 
KC Christian spent part of the year ranked behind Remington in the Kansas Cross Country Coaches Poll but moved up to No. 1 in the final poll. But at regionals, they finished behind Central Heights, leaving the Panthers a bit hungry for the state meet.
 
It showed as five of the seven Panthers that ran at state turned in PR times. 
 
Humphrey ran a career-best 20:29.85 to finish 15th individually while Bond posted a PR of 20:35.74 and was two places back in 17th. Also turning in best times were Schumacher (21:22.90, 29th), junior McKenzie Severson (21:47.47, 39th) and Johnson (21:51.94, 40th).
 

 
Willhite was about a minute off her career best and just missed her third straight state medal, finishing 22nd.

"(I was) nervous before state but I knew we had worked hard in the season and knew I had to do my best and give God the glory and that worked out," said Schumacher, whose older brother, Andrew, was the 2A individual champion in 2023.

Graber agreed.

"Very, very nervous before state," she said. "But I trusted God and the team and Jon."
 
After finishing ahead of KC Christian at the Wamego Invitational, Remington couldn’t duplicate that effort. Despite getting a 9-10 finish from Chelsea Willour and Alyssa Klingenberg, the Broncos didn’t have another runner cross until 51st, which was behind all five of the Panthers’ scoring runners, and placed fifth as a team.
 
Runner-up Berean Academy only had one finisher in the top 20, Addie Busenitz in 18th, and though the Warriors did have four in the top 31, they didn’t quite have enough for KC Christian. Same for regional champion Central Heights, which had no medalists and only two runners finish in the top 40 and took sixth as a team.
 
Hoxie, led by sisters Taegan and Brylie Lindenman, who finished 11th and 12th, took third as a team with 120 points.
 
The championship could be the start of something for the Panthers. All seven runners at state were underclassmen with the team’s lone seniors, Isabel Franz and Selah Smitley, serving as alternates.
 
 
CLASS 2A GIRLS
 
TEAM SCORES
 
Kansas City Christian 75, Berean Academy 106, Hoxie 120, Wichita Classical 132, Remington 141, Central Heights 149, St. Mary’s Colgan 159, Northern Heights 186, Ellinwood 191, Hillsboro 201, Marion 254, Oakley 254.