CLASS 4A BOYS CROSS COUNTRY RUNNERS TO WATCH IN 2025
 

 
GRIFFIN BLOEMKER, BISHOP MIEGE
 
Bloemker is two-for-two in earning state medals in cross country, making the top 20 in each of his first two seasons for the Stags. He finished 13th at state as a freshman in 2023 and last year moved up one spot to 12th. Bloemker had his worst time of the season at state last year, coming on the heels of posting the fastest time of his career with a 16:44.60 in winning his Class 4A regional. It was the second victory of his career, the other coming in his first high school race at the St. Mary’s Invitational, where he was second last year. Bloemker also was a state placer in track last spring as well as a state qualifier in golf, where he was a medalist as a freshman.
 

 
LOGYN EVANS, WAMEGO
 
Evans was part of a strong showing by Wamego that saw the Red Raiders put all five scoring runners in the top 20 as they snatched back the Class 4A team championship from Buhler, which had taken the crown away from them in 2023. Evans was one of four underclassmen in that pack of placers, finishing 14th in his first state appearance. His state time of 17:35.36 was nearly identical to the season-best time he posted at the season-opening Manhattan Invitational where he ran a 17:35.32. His only top 10 of the season came at the Clay Center Invitational (ninth) and though he missed regionals, he justified his return to the state squad with his top-15 finish.
 

 
ISAAC IBENDAHL, WAMEGO
 
Ibendahl was a consistent No. 2 runner for Wamego last year, helping the Red Raiders get back the Class 4A state championship after seeing Buhler take the crown in 2023. Ibendahl just missed out on a state medal as a sophomore in 2023 but had a big junior season that saw him post seven top-10 finishes in nine meets with the lone exceptions coming at the Wamego Invitational and Rim Rock Classic. He was runner-up twice, including at the North Central Kansas League meet where he was Wamego’s top finisher. After posting a career-best time of 16:29.95 in a fourth-place finish at regionals, Ibendahl capped his season with an eighth-place finish at the Class 4A state meet. He’s one of four returning state placers for Wamego this fall as the Red Raiders look to make it two straight state titles and three in the last four years.
 

 
CARLITO LARA, PRATT
 
Lara, a senior, posted the fourth-best 5K time in Pratt’s program history last season when he ran 16:31.30 and finished ninth at the Sterling Invitational. He posted top-10 finishes in every race leading up to the Class 4A state meet, winning the Goddard Invitational by more than 11 seconds with a time of 17:32.87. In his third state meet appearance, Lara claimed his first individual medal, finishing 17^th at Wamego Country Club. He has finished third at the Central Kansas League meet each of the last two seasons.
 

 
GAVIN LINDAHL, BUHLER
 
Lindahl inherits a greater leadership role with a young group of Crusader runners after two solid seasons as an understudy. He finished seventh at the Class 4A state meet as a freshman, helping Buhler win its fifth team title in six years. Last November, in the rain and mud at Wamego Country Club, Lindahl’s fifth-place finish paced Buhler to a runner-up showing behind Wamego. The junior set his PR in his debut season (16:12.40) in a Sterling Invitational victory. A fourth-place finisher in the 4A 1,600 and 3,200 meters at the state track meet in May, Lindahl is just a few seconds off school records in the 1,600 and 800. 
 

 
CALEB MUEHLER, MCPHERSON
 
A different type of race didn’t change the outcome at last year’s Class 4A state cross country meet, as Muehler defended his individual title on a rain-soaked day at Wamego. Muehler’s winning time of 16:33.40 was nearly 35 seconds slower than his first state victory in 2023, when he powered past Eudora’s Zach Arnold. But those races, coupled with Muehler’s victory in the 4A 3,200 meters at the state track meet in May, firmly establish him as a favorite heading into his senior season. Muehler, a 10-time state track medal winner, set McPherson’s school record in the 3,200 (9:24.70) at last year’s Kansas Relays, and has his sights set on the Bullpups’ 5K record of 15:18.
 

 
PEYTON PARKER, WAMEGO
 
Parker spent the bulk of last season as Wamego’s No. 1 runner, finishing in the top five at all but one of his nine races. The lone exception came when he was ill at the North Central Kansas League meet and he still battled his way to an 11th-place showing. Parker finished fifth in his division at the Rim Rock Classic and though he didn’t post a win, he had three runner-up showings, including at Wamego’s 4A regional. Parker followed that up with fourth-place finish at state in 16:49.94. Parker is a three-time state medalist in cross country, taking 16th as a sophomore and 11th as a freshman and has helped lead Wamego to team state titles two of the last three seasons. He ran a career-best 15:40.40 at the Nike Cross Nationals Heartland Regionals right after cross country season ended last fall and in the spring was the Class 4A state runner-up in the 1,600 and 3,200.
 

 
JARON POWERS, CHANUTE

Powers is a two-time state qualifier for Chanute and improved from a 61st-place finish at state in 2023 to a 37th-place finish last fall. Over the past two seasons, Powers has posted 10 top-10 finishes and last year he captured the Southeast Kansas League title with a time of 17:20.50. The previous week he had turned in his career-best time with a 16:40.23 at the Central Heights Invitational – the only time in his career he’s crossed in under 17 minutes. Following a strong spring track season that saw him placed 10th at state in the 1,600 and 3,200, Powers will look to break into the top 20 at state this year and earn his first state medal and help Chanute improve on last year’s ninth-place state finish as a team.
 

 
JASE THOMAS, AUGUSTA
 
After missing an individual state cross country medal by three spots as a freshman, Thomas has collected hardware each of the last two years in Class 4A, finishing 17^th as a sophomore and 10^th last year at Wamego Country Club. The latter came on the heels of Thomas’ personal-best 5K run of 16:41.92, which yielded a sixth-place finish at the Marion regional. Thomas finished one spot behind teammate Dawson Schmidt last fall at state. With Schmidt graduated, Thomas inherits the lead role for an Oriole team that finished fourth in 4A.
 

 
PARKER WELSH, TONGANOXIE
 
Coming off a solid freshman season that saw him just miss out on a state medal with a 26th-place finish at the Class 4A state meet, Welsh started his sophomore season with a bang. He not only captured the title at the Lansing/Tonganoxie/Leavenworth Triangular, but did so with a career-best time of 16:48.91. After taking 13th at the Wamego Invitational, Welsh picked up his second win at the Chieftains’ home meet. He added three more top-10 finishes, taking seventh at the Frontier League meet as the first non-Spring Hill runner to cross the line. He followed with a fourth at regionals before capping his sophomore season with a 15th-place showing at the state meet, leading Tonganoxie to a fifth-place team finish.
 

 
BRAXTON WILLIAMS, WAMEGO
 
Williams showed plenty of promise as a freshman in 2023 when he posted three straight top-three finishes including a runner-up finish at the El Dorado Invitational. After taking 64th at state, Williams became a much bigger factor for the Red Raiders last year as a sophomore. He placed top 10 at every meet before state except for the Rim Rock Classic where he took 16th in his division. His highest placing was a third at Wamego’s Class 4A regional where he turned in a career-best time of 16:27.40. Williams was one of five Red Raider placers at state, finishing 16th to help clinch their second Class 4A state team title in three years. He’s one of four returning placers for Wamego this season as the Red Raiders look to repeat.
 

 
LUKE WYLIE, WELLINGTON
 
Wylie, a senior, earned his first individual medal in three Class 4A state meet appearances last season, finishing 19^th with a time of 17:59.08. Better weather a week earlier at the regional meet in Hutchinson yielded Wylie’s personal-best 5K of 17:13.60 in a sixth-place finish. Wylie took second to Wichita Collegiate’s Will Meyer at the Ark Valley-Chisholm Trail IV meet after finishing third as a sophomore and ninth as a freshman. Wylie climbed from 78^th at state as a freshman to 27^th as a sophomore. 

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.