LAWRENCE — For 20 long minutes, the Kapaun Mt. Carmel boys cross country team thought their season had ended in heartbreak. 

After crossing the finish line at Saturday’s Class 5A state championship, the Crusaders gathered near the electronic scoreboard and saw it flash a score of 45-47 — appearing to give Blue Valley Southwest the victory. Some runners cried. Others stared in disbelief. 

But when the official results were released minutes later, the heartbreak turned into pure joy. 

Kapaun had actually tied Blue Valley Southwest with 42 points — and won the program’s first state title since 1981 on the tiebreaker, thanks to the team’s sixth runner, senior Kolbe Meyer, who placed 24th. 

“It was the stuff of movies,” said Kapaun head coach Gage Garcia. “We thought we had lost. The boys were in tears. Then when we found out we had actually won, the emotions completely flipped. They mobbed Kolbe when they realized he was the decider. That moment is one I’ll never forget.” 

The Crusaders also had reason to celebrate at the front of the race. Senior Daniel Enriquez captured the individual Class 5A state championship in 15:12.42 — five years after his brother, Erik Enriquez, won the same title. Daniel’s performance also earned him the prestigious Timmons Award, given annually to the top male and female runners across all classes at Rim Rock Farm. 
 

“I was pumped to finally win my first cross country title, and it felt great to win on Rim Rock since it’s my favorite course,” Enriquez said. “I also think it was fitting that it was definitely the hardest cross country race I have run. When I first crossed the finish line, I was so grateful to God that I finished the race since the last mile was the most I’ve hurt in a 5K. I didn’t necessarily think so much about winning individually at that moment, I was just really hopeful that my teammates would be finishing the race soon and that we would win the team title.” 

The Crusaders put together a complete team performance with five medalists. Behind Enriquez were Will Etheredge in sixth, Cole Reintjes in 10th, Jack Sauer in 11th and Koelton Erwin in 19th. Meyer’s 24th-place finish became the difference-maker, while Nathan Milligan, the team’s seventh runner, placed 61st in 17:46. 

Garcia said he had no idea how the scoring would shake out as the runners finished. 

“I remember watching our guys roll in and I wasn’t sure of the score, but you can look at the live scoring screen and see scores being tallied,” Garcia said. “Several different scores were being shown — some with us winning, some with us losing — and eventually it settled on the score 45-47 in favor of BVSW. I didn’t think of the possibility that they had included the individuals and I figured I would just do the math later when official results were published.” 

“When that score flashed up though, their group had started celebrating, and I figured that they had somehow found out that it was the official score,” Garcia continued. “When that happened, I tried to just gather my guys to remind them that they had worked incredibly hard all season and to also remind them that their identity wasn’t just in this sport. Their identity lies in Christ. While that’s true, it doesn’t heal the immediate disappointment that was clearly felt by all of the boys, many of whom had tears in their eyes. It was a difficult time since I knew as well as they did just how hard they had worked.” 
 

It was only when Blue Valley Southwest coach Aaron Ballew approached Garcia that everything changed. 

“The Southwest coach, Aaron Ballew, to his credit, came up to me thinking that there was a discrepancy in the results and that he thought we had tied with us winning the tiebreaker, and asked if we would go to the timing company to ask together,” Garcia said. “We did, and at that table they were just printing the final results that showed that he was right, and that we had won the meet on a tiebreaker.” 

Ballew said he had nothing but respect for the way Garcia and the Crusaders handled the moment. 

“In all the confusion with the scoreboard and official results, Coach Gage Garcia was with me when we found out,” Ballew said. “He is one of the most gracious winners I’ve ever met. He’s a class act. They are great kids and did an amazing job on Saturday — they earned it. The whole program has my utmost respect.” 

Ballew’s Timberwolves nearly pulled off the win with a strong front pack. Blue Valley Southwest placed runners 2-4 and 8th, with Alex Roberts finishing second (15:26), Andrew Claar third (15:50), Cameron Paschke fourth (15:55), and Wyatt McCulley eighth (16:02). 

 

“Cameron and Andrew executed their races nearly perfectly despite both using very different strategies,” Ballew said. “Getting three in the top four was a pretty fun thing to watch. Alex was definitely disappointed — he had goals of winning state — but to run in the 15:20s on Rim Rock puts him into pretty elite company in state history.” 

For Kapaun, the victory carried even deeper meaning. 

“I love Wichita, and it was really great to see the title brought back here after so many years,” Garcia said. “It is certainly going to go down as a lesson for future groups of mine that every person matters and that every spot matters. After spending so much time with this group, you get to see how they are as people and you just feel everything for them. I just felt so proud of those boys and so happy for them, especially those hard-working seniors.” 

Enriquez echoed his coach’s sentiments, saying the moment was about more than a trophy. 

“Kapaun had not won a team title in the past 44 years,” Enriquez said. “From the first day of summer conditioning my freshman year, our team had the goal of winning state. Coach Garcia made sure we understood that the potential we had as runners does not come around often, and he reminded us to not take this opportunity for granted. It was heartbreaking to lose the past three years when we really believed we were capable of winning.” 

“When I saw that Blue Valley Southwest had their top three runners go 2, 3, 4, I started praying that my teammates would be crossing the finish line soon,” Enriquez continued. “Before hearing from Coach Garcia, we felt sure that we had lost. Then when he broke the news that we had actually won, we were in complete shock and we all started crying from joy. We were so grateful that we had finally won after years of crushed hopes and dreams.” 

The gold medal and state trophy wasn't the only thing that Enriquez won on Saturday as he earned the Timmons Award, which is awarded to the top male and female runners at the Rim Rock state meets.
 

"With Rim Rock being my favorite course, I was thrilled that I won the Timmons Award," Enriquez said. "Ever since I ran the course for the first time, I wanted to be the fastest on it. Though I didn't set the course record, it was super rewarding to think I was able to accomplish this goal by running the fastest at state."

The celebration didn’t stop there. Just hours after the boys’ victory, the Kapaun girls captured their first team title since 2002 to complete a program sweep. 

“It was so awesome to see the girls win their championship as well,” Garcia said. “It has been a long drought for them too — 22 years — and they came ready to go for that meet with such toughness. They came in as the underdogs, but just went out and all executed, especially in that last mile to not only claim the title, but do so in commanding fashion.” 

Class 5A Boys State Meet 

At Rim Rock Farm 

Team Scores 

Kapaun Mt. Carmel 42, Blue Valley Southwest 42, De Soto 112, Bishop Carroll 122, St. James Academy 135, Spring Hill 188, St. Thomas Aquinas 188, Basehor-Linwood 209, Salina Central 244, Maize South 250, Great Bend 258, Valley Center 284 

Individual Medalists 

1. Daniel Enriquez, Kapaun Mt. Carmel, 15:12.42; 2. Alex Roberts Blue Valley Southwest, 15:26.19; 3. Andrew Claar, BV Southwest, 15:50.59; 4. Cameron Paschke, BV Southwest, 15:55.40; 5. Aidan Braun, Andover, 15:56.69; 6. Will Etheredge, Kapaun, 15:58.14; 7. Zachary Andrerson, Spring Hill, 16:01.33; 8. Wyatt McCulley, BV Southwest, 16:02.41; 9. Landon Englert, Bishop Carroll, 16:04.24; 10. Cole Reintjes, Kapaun, 16:15.05; 11. Jack Sauer, Kapaun, 16:16.73; 12. Avery Moos, St. James, 16:20.68; 13. Xaden Delgado, Emporia, 16:23.29; 14. Max Brown, St. James, 16:25.30; 15. Cole Hubbard, Basehor-Linwood, 16:25.54; 16. Phillip Sullivan, De Soto, 16:25.83; 17. Dylan Estes, Spring Hill, 16:26.65; 18. Liam Deniau-Young, Salina Central, 16:26.75; 19. Koelton Erwin, Kapaun, 16:26.97; 20. Ethan Peak, St. Thomas Aquinas, 16:27.08