CLASS 5A GIRLS CROSS COUNTRY RUNNERS TO WATCH IN 2025
 

TAYLOR BARRINGER, KAPAUN MT. CARMEL
 
Barringer enters her senior season as Kapaun’s school record holder in the 5K at 18:37.42, a time she ran in a runner-up finish at last year’s Greater Wichita Athletic League meet. A two-time league cross country champion, Barringer won her second individual state medal in three years last November, matching her seventh-place finish in Class 5A as a freshman. Her time of 18:48.5 helped the Crusaders finish second to St. James Academy. Barringer, who won league track titles in the 800 and 1,600 as a sophomore, posted six top-10 finishes in cross country last fall.
 

 
AVA CLAASSEN, KAPAUN MT. CARMEL
 
Claassen, a sophomore, put together a solid debut cross country season, capping it with a 15^th-place finish at the Class 5A state meet. Joining teammates Taylor Barringer and Courtney Nye as individual medalists, Claassen ran 19:36.09 and was second among the 5A freshmen in the race. Claassen finished seventh at the Greater Wichita Athletic League meet and ninth at the Wichita regional, running her best 5K time of 19:20.96. She went on to finish 10^th in the 5A 3,200 meters in May at the state track meet.
 

 
CAMPBELL HARGER, BLUE VALLEY SOUTHWEST

Harger was the top finishing freshman at last year’s Class 5A state meet, just missing the top 10 with her 11th-place finish. That capped a strong freshman campaign for Harger, who won the title at the De Soto Invitational in her second high school meet and added two more top fives, including a fifth at the Eastern Kansas League meet and a runner-up finish at the Class 5A regional meet. Harger ran a season-best time at regionals with a 19:17.70 and then bettered that time at the Nike Cross Nationals Heartland Regional. Harger battled injury and sickness throughout the winter and into the spring that limited her during the track season, but she’s been healthy since and should be one of the top contenders in Class 5A this year.
 

 
BROOKLYN HUIGENS, ST. THOMAS AQUINAS
 
Huigens was one of three freshmen to place at last year’s Class 5A state meet and was Aquinas’ only placer, leading the Saints to a fifth-place team finish. Huigens’ strength is more in the middle distance where she was a state qualifier in the 800 during the track season, but she showed she can handle the longer distances as well. Six of her eight high school meets last year saw her post times in the mid-19s with a season-best of 19:27.10. She was just off that in placing 10th at the Eastern Kansas League meet and then followed with a fifth-place regional finish before capping her season with a 19:39.46 and 16th-place finish at the state meet. Huigens is one of five returners for the Saints from last year’s state team.
 

 
KELSIE KUDZIA, LEAVENWORTH
 
Kudzia emerged as one of the top distance runners in Class 5A last year after having a somewhat non-descript freshman season where she only had a pair of top-10 finishes, never placing better than eighth and not qualifying for the state meet. But in between her freshman and sophomore year, Kudzia flipped a switch and last year she was a completely different runner. After having only one race where she finished under 21 minutes as a freshman, she had six where she dipped under 20 minutes last year, twice going under 19 minutes. She took third at the United Kansas Conference meet and then third at regionals, posting a career-best time of 18:44.92 at the latter. Kudzia finished the season with a 12th at the state meet and then had a breakout spring track season as well, sweeping regional titles in the 800, 1,600 and 3,200 and taking second at state in the 800, running a top-10 all-time time during the regular season.
    

 
ABIGAIL MEYER, BISHOP CARROLL
 
One of three Class 5A individual medalists for Carroll last season, Meyer posted a 10^th-place finish at Rim Rock to help the Golden Eagles claim fourth as a team. She set a PR a week earlier at the Wichita regional, running 19:02.23 to finish sixth. Her state medal was her first in three tries after finishing 46^th as a freshman and 49^th two years ago. Meyer has been a three-time, top-10 finisher in both league and regional meets, and she owns the ninth-fastest 3,200-meter time (11:47.76) in school history.
 

 
RYIN MILLER, SEAMAN
 
Only one thing is missing from Miller’s resume and that’s a cross country state championship – a prize that’s been blocked the past three seasons by Salina Central’s Katelyn Rupe, who was a three-time state champion. Miller moved from fifth to third to a runner-up finish at state, crossing 17 seconds behind Rupe last year. That was the only loss Miller suffered all season, one in which she set the all-time state cross country record with a 16:32.62 at the Joe Schrag Invitational in mid-September. She’s won that meet three times and is a two-time United Kansas Conference and 5A regional champion. Miller swept the Class 5A state titles in track in the 800, 1,600 and 3,200 and owns top-three marks all-time in state history in each of those races. A winner of 15 meet titles in cross country during her career, including a prestigious Rim Rock Classic title last fall, Miller recently committed to Division I powerhouse Arkansas.
 

 
COURTNEY NYE, KAPAUN MT. CARMEL
 
Nye’s versatility and athleticism have come to the forefront in multiple sports. Kapaun’s record holder in the 800 meters (2:17.07) claimed the final Class 5A individual medal spot last year at state, finishing 20^th to join teammates Taylor Barringer and Ava Claassen. That helped the Crusaders finish second in the team competition. Nye ran a personal-best 5K of 19:19.94 at a meet hosted by Bishop Carroll, then finished eighth at the Greater Wichita Athletic League meet and 13^th at regionals. She followed up her top-20 finish at state by winning the 5A 125-pound wrestling title last winter. 

 

 
GWEN SATTLER, BISHOP CARROLL
 
Sattler, a junior, overcame injury and illness to finish 19^th last fall at the Class 5A state cross country meet, joining teammates Brooke Martin and Abigail Meyer as individual medalists for the fourth-place Golden Eagles. Sattler’s biggest highlights of the 2024 season included a victory at the Greater Wichita Athletic League meet and a personal-best 5K of 18:23.09 in a third-place finish at the Emporia Invitational. She added a win at The Rush at Brown Thrush Invitational – Carroll’s home meet – and finished the fall with five top-3 finishes. Sattler also owns the 3,200 school record (10:56.45), running that in a sixth-place finish at the 5A state meet. She capped last fall with a second-place finish in an open race at the Nike Cross Nationals Heartland Regional.
 

 
KAYLIE SHULTZ, SALINA CENTRAL
 
Part of the state’s top distance combination for two years with teammate Katelyn Rupe, Shultz takes the torch by herself as Rupe, a three-time Class 5A champion, begins her collegiate career at North Carolina. Shultz notched victories last fall at the Ark Valley-Chisholm Trail II and Great Bend regional meets, edging Rupe by .02 in the latter. Her personal best of 17:17.40, which she ran at last year’s Rim Rock Farm Classic, ranks second in school history to Rupe’s 16:49. Shultz finished third to Rupe and Seaman’s Ryin Miller at the 2024 state meet after taking second as a freshman. She finished the 2024 season with the No. 3 time in the state.
 

 
BRYNN SPENCER, SEAMAN
 
While teammate Ryin Miller has garnered all the headlines for the Viking cross country team over the past three years – and rightfully so – Spencer has quietly been a solid complementary piece for the program the past two seasons. She posted five top 10s as a freshman in 2023, including a runner-up finish at the Seaman Invitational and then followed that with six top 10s last year, again taking second at the Vikings’ home meet. Spencer placed fifth at the United Kansas Conference meet and then eighth at regionals before earning her first state medal with an 18th at state, helping Seaman place sixth as a team. Her best time of 19:22.40 came her freshman season at the Topeka City Championships, but she was right around that mark most of last season.
 

 
MADELYN WALLACE, ANDOVER
 
Competing in the same league and classification as some of the best runners in Kansas history, Wallace has put together an impressive resume herself in three years. After leading a 1-2 finish with teammate Jordyn Cleary for her third Class 5A regional title, Wallace posted a career-best, fourth-place finish at state last fall behind Salina Central’s Katelyn Rupe, Seaman’s Ryin Miller and Central’s Kaylie Shultz. Her time of 18:32.62 was her best in three state appearances. Wallace, who finished sixth in 5A as a freshman and seventh as a sophomore, won five cross country races in 2024, setting a PR (17:54.71) with her victory at the Emporia Invitational. 
 
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.