CLASS 2A BOYS CROSS COUNTRY RUNNERS TO WATCH IN 2025
 

 
MICHAEL HAFFNER, HOXIE

Haffner was a main catalyst in helping Hoxie produce a strong season that culminated in a fourth-place team showing at state last year. He led the Indians with a ninth-place effort at the 2A meet in Wamego, posting a 17:37.33. Haffner was undefeated throughout the regular season and took second at the regional meet with a personal-best 16:35.59. It was the second time he went sub-17 minutes on the season. Haffner, now a senior, is a three-time state qualifier and two-time medalist, taking 14th as a sophomore.
 

GAVIN HICKERT, SMITH CENTER 

Hickert qualified for state as an individual last year and left Wamego with a state medal, placing 18th in 17:56.70. He improved 14 spots from his performance at state as a sophomore when he placed 32nd. Hickert, now a senior, delivered his best race of his career at the regional meet in Norton last year, clocking a 16:27.01 to win the meet and break his own school record. He also won the Smith Center and Lakeside Invitationals.
 

 
CAMERON KISER, HUTCHINSON TRINITY
 
Kiser has been part of three state-qualifying teams with the Celtics, including Class 2A runners-up to Central Heights each of the last two years. He earned individual medals in 2023 and 2024, finishing 15^th as a sophomore and then 13^th last year with a time of 17:48.03. Kiser ran his personal-best 5K last October at the Sterling Invitational, posting a time of 16:20.30 in a sixth-place finish. He has a pair of top-10 finishes in both the Heart of America League meet and in regionals, taking seventh at both a year ago.
 

 
JACOB LINDSTROM, HUTCHINSON TRINITY
 
Lindstrom returns as Trinity’s top runner, coming off a junior cross country season in which he won three consecutive races before finishing third at the Class 2A state meet. The senior set a school-record 5K (15:54.70) in winning the Sterling Invitational, then captured the Heart of America League individual title before an 11-second victory at the Marion regional. Lindstrom came in behind Central Heights’ duo of Cody Hammond and Connor Burkdoll at state, boosting the Celtics to a second-place team finish for the second straight year. Lindstrom finished 17^th in his first state meet as a sophomore. 
 

 
TYLER MARTISKO, INMAN
 
Martisko, a senior, earned his first individual state cross country medal in three tries last season, finishing sixth in the Class 2A meet at Wamego in a time of 17:28.60. That capped a season in which Martisko posted top-10 finishes in all but one race, the exception being an 11^th-place effort at the Sterling Invitational, where he ran a personal-best 5K of 16:35.90. Martisko’s best finish of 2024 was second place to Ell-Saline’s Garrison Zerger at the season-opening Tescott Invitational. Martisko, who has healed from a calf injury he battled during track season, was part of the Teutons’ school-record 3,200-meter relay along with classmate Riley Roots. He is within 8 seconds of his brother Nick’s school-record 5K time set in 2019. 
 

 
LUCAS MEREDITH, JEFFERSON COUNTY NORTH
 
Meredith is the two-time reigning Northeast Kansas League champion, winning the title as a sophomore in 2023 and successfully defending it last year. While his 2023 league title was his only win his sophomore, last year’s league crown came in the midst of a three-meet win streak as Meredith sandwiched the league victory with wins at the Pleasant Ridge and Lyle Alley Invitationals. Meredith had three other top-10 finishes last year, including a seventh at regionals. He capped his year with an 11th-place finish at the Class 2A state meet, moving up nine spots from a 20th as a sophomore, which was a nine-place jump from his freshman year when he took 29th.
 

 
JOSIAH MEYER, CENTRAL HEIGHTS
 
Meyer was an impact freshman for Central Heights last year, helping the Vikings retain their hold on the Class 2A state title. Serving as a complement to the outstanding senior trio of Cody Hammond, Connor Burkdoll and Owen Miller, Meyer held down the No. 5 spot on the squad for the bulk of the season, posting four top 10s going into the 2A state meet, including a fourth in his season debut at Lyndon and a sixth at regionals where he turned in a career-best time of 16:29.13. Meyer narrowly missed out on earning a state medal as a freshman, taking 21st and coming .25 seconds away from 20th. He carried that momentum into the spring where he owned a top 10 3,200 time in 2A. He’ll team with returning junior Stetson Miller to give Heights a strong duo to build around as it goes after a 2A three-peat this fall.
 

 
STETSON MILLER, CENTRAL HEIGHTS
 
Central Heights has been the dominant team in Class 2A the past two seasons, capturing back-to-back crowns with last year’s title coming on the strength of three Vikings finishing in the top four, including a 1-2 finish from Cody Hammond and Connor Burkdoll. Hammond, Burkdoll and fourth-place finisher Owen Miller have all graduated, leaving Stetson Miller as the top returner for the Vikings from their championship squads. He’s been a solid fourth behind Heights’ lead trio the past two seasons and last year posted seven top-10 finishes with a high finish of third at the Lyndon Invitational. Miller had a career-best time of 16:24.56 in taking fourth at Heights’ 2A regional as the Vikings swept the top four individual places and he just missed out on being their fourth state medalist, finishing 22nd at state. Miller and returning sophomore Josiah Meyer, who took 21st at state last year, will be tasked with bringing along Heights’ next wave of runners as the Vikings look for the three-peat this year despite replacing four seniors off last year’s title team.
 

 
ANDERSEN MINNICH, KC CHRISTIAN
 
After not running cross country as a freshman, Minnich qualified for state as a sophomore in 2023 and then just missed out on being a first-time state placer last year as a junior. Minnich followed in the footsteps of former teammate Andrew Schumacher – the 2023 state champion – in winning the Kaw Valley Conference title last year after taking third at the league meet as a sophomore. His league winning time of 17:42.85 was a career best but he smashed that the following week with a time of 17:02.85 at KC Christian’s 2A regional, taking 10th. Minnich ran an 18:09.53 at the Class 2A state meet and finished 24th, 10 seconds away from a top 20 and medal.
 

 
COLTON SMITHHISLER, ST. MARY’S COLGAN
 
Smithhisler made a big improvement last year from his freshman campaign in 2023 where he topped out with a season-best time of 18:05.97. He nearly matched that in his first meet last fall, winning the Labette County Invitational title in 18:32.74. The next week, Smithhisler ran a whopping two minutes faster with a 16:32.49 at the Girard Invitational and that set him on his way. He was never slower than 17:55 the rest of the season and finished strong with a career-best 16:27.67 at regionals, where he took fifth. Smithhisler capped his sophomore season with a 15th-place finish at the Class 2A state meet – a 45-spot improvement from his 60th-place finish as a freshman.
 

 
LEVI STURM, WICHITA CENTRAL CHRISTIAN
 
Sturm became Central Christian’s first state cross country medalist last season when he finished 10^th in the Class 2A meet at Wamego. It completed a solid fall for Sturm, who posted five top-5 finishes, including a pair of thirds at the Marion Invitational and Heart of America League meet. Sturm, now a junior, ran a personal-best 5K of 16:53.03 in a fifth-place finish at the Marion regional. On the rainy, muddy state course, Sturm ran 17:43.50. Sturm is coming off a track season that culminated in a fifth-place finish in the 2A 3,200 meters with a PR of 9:54.36 and sixth-place showing in the 1,600 at the state meet. 
 
 
NOTE: Classifications for the 2025-26 school year had not been released at the time of publication. Runners featured could potentially fall into a different classification once those have been determined.