Brody Anderson never pictured himself becoming one of the best cross country runners in Seaman’s rich history.
 
That’s because Anderson never pictured himself running cross country.
 
“Soccer player, that’s what I was,” Anderson said. “And that’s what I had planned on being. I did cross country my seventh grade year, but after that I just knew soccer was what I wanted to do and that’s what I focused on.”
 
Everything changed after his freshman year at Seaman, however. Anderson played soccer that fall for the Vikings but coming out of that season, he admitted “the love was gone.” In search of something to fill that void, he decided to give cross country another shot.
 
It turned out to be a prosperous decision. Anderson has rewritten Seaman’s cross country record books, adding the latest entry in last Saturday’s season-opening Manhattan Invitational. The defending champion at the meet after winning a year ago with a time of 15:35.77, Anderson blew that time away on Saturday, finishing in 15:11.50.
 
The time not only knocked nearly six seconds off his previous school record, but also ranks as the fastest in the state so far this season, nearly 32 seconds ahead of the next-best time of 15:43.40 from Blue Valley Northwest’s Jacob D’Souza and Washburn Rural’s Henry Laubach, Laubach’s time coming in a runner-up finish at Manhattan.
 
“I wouldn’t say it was surprising, but it was unexpected this early,” Anderson said. “I knew I could run that fast. I had a great summer with really good training and was very consistent and that played a lot into it. Week 1, I felt I had something to prove and I went out there and ran – not an easy course at all – and when I saw the time at the finish line, I thought, ‘This is pretty crazy.’”
 
Four years ago, it certainly was inconceivable with Anderson still locked in on soccer. But once he made the decision to give that sport up, he got all the motivation he needed to go back to cross country during his freshman track season.
 
For starters, there was consistent urging from distance coach Luke Wiens to nudge him in that direction. If Wiens’ prodding wasn’t enough, there was inspiration drawn from his teammates on Seaman’s 3,200 relay that spring -- Vikings Zach Jowers, Brandon Moore and Landon Stuke -- when Anderson said he was “thrown to the Wolves.”
 
“They were great guys and I got thrown into workouts with them and they kind of showed me what it was all about,” Anderson said. “You have to train hard if you want it this bad and that’s something that’s stuck with me.”
 
Once Anderson threw himself into cross country, the transformation began from a sprinter/middle distance runner into one of Seaman’s all-time best. Six races into his high school career as a sophomore, Anderson broke the school record of 15:57 that had stood for more than 40 years, running a 15:50.10 at the Topeka City Championships in a runner-up finish.
 
Last fall, Anderson enjoyed a breakout season when he not only won five races – including a sweep of the City and United Kansas Conference championships – but also broke his own school record twice, lowering it to a 15:17.05 in winning the Joe Schrag Invitational.
 
“He just grew into it and has grown into it every year,” Wiens said. “He’s got an improvement-based, “What can I do better?” mindset and he’s made himself an amazing distance runner.”
 
As successful as last season was for Anderson, he came out of it with a bit of a bad taste in his mouth. After breaking his school records in each of his first two races, he only managed one more race below 15:40 the rest of the season. After placing second at his Class 5A regional in 15:42.15, Anderson managed just a ninth-place finish at the 5A state meet with a time of 15:56.52.
 
“Cross country is really long and longer races than I’ve normally run in the past,” he said. “It gets to be a long season and I kind of have gotten burned out and by state I was pretty shot. I was very disappointed. It wasn’t what I wanted last year at all. I had higher expectations for myself.”
 
Anderson said he’s modified his offseason workouts to better prepare him for maintaining his times throughout the season to be his best at the end of it. Some of that is reigning in his go-all-out mentality he attacks whatever sport in which he’s competing.
 
His latest record and state-best time will get one of its biggest tests of the year this Saturday when Anderson competes at the Olathe Twilight Invitational. That meet, held under the lights on a non-traditional course at the Olathe District Activities Center has traditionally produced ultra-fast times from a high-level field.
 
Seaman has never competed at the meet, but that doesn’t mean Anderson isn’t aware of what he’ll be facing on Saturday night.
 
“I’m super-excited,” he said. “I’ve always been looking at Twilight results and it’s such a fast course I wanted to go run there. The environment there is awesome. I went there last year to watch, actually, after our race that we had in the morning. It was a cool experience and talking to Wiens about that it would be a great opportunity to go run fast. That’s the goal, to go shoot out a time.”
 
Anderson is on the short list of favorites in Class 5A as one of three returners from last year’s top 10 at state with the top-five finishers all graduating. Blue Valley Southwest’s Alex Roberts was sixth at state a year ago while Kapaun Mt. Carmel’s Daniel Enriquez was 10th and is coming off a spring track season where he set the 5A state meet record in the 3,200.
 
A state title is the biggest piece missing on Anderson’s resume, but he hasn’t made that his be-all, end-all season make or break result.
 
“I just want to be smart with my races and I want the longevity of it and have a nice season where I can continue running fast at the end,” he said. “Be the best at the end is the main goal because I want to go for it all this year. It’s something I’m hungry for, a state title. It’s definitely the missing piece to the puzzle and I’m pretty hungry for it.”
 
 
OTHER CROSS COUNTRY STANDOUTS

• Manhattan’s girls turned in an impressive performance at the Indians’ home meet to take the team title by 21 points over Centennial League rival Washburn Rural. Gabrielle Converse beat freshman teammate Zara Koehn by 13 second to lead a 1-2 Indian finish individually with Converse winning in 18:53.3. Manhattan also got a fourth from Isla Spreer and a 10th from Scarlett Williams.
• Washburn Rural won the boys title at Manhattan by a mere two points over Wamego. The Junior Blues were led by Henry Laubach’s runner-up finish while Wamego was led by a third from Peyton Parker. Both teams also put two more runners in the top 10 with Brooks Kehoe placing fifth and Duke Graf 10th for Rural and Braxton Williams taking eighth and Isaac Ibendahl ninth for Wamego.
• After not fielding a full girls’ team the past two falls, Rock Creek has one this year that could challenge for a place on the podium. The Mustangs got the season off to an impressive start with a win at the Silver Lake Invitational, putting four runners in the top 10. Livia Nippert led the way in fourth with Violet Matzke (sixth), Lucia Nippert (seventh) and Clare Buessing (ninth) also landing in the top 10, Matzke and Buessing both freshmen making their high school debuts.
• Rock Creek also had a strong showing in the boys race as Simeon Bohlen set a new school record in a runner-up finish individually. Bohlen finished in 16:42.65, demolishing the old school record of 17:08.30 set by Zane Roberts in 2017. The Mustangs also got a fourth from Liam Johnston and eighth from Dylan Nelson to finish second as a team, one point behind West Franklin, who swept the titles at the meet with Caul Johns winning individually in 16:06.78.
• West Franklin also had the girls winner at Silver Lake as sophomore Bailey Cameron won by more than 30 seconds in 19:28.27.
• Hiawatha swept the girls titles at the Marysville Invitational. Junior Pauly Rockey captured the individual title, winning in 21 minutes, 2.12 seconds – 14 seconds ahead of Nemaha Central freshman Cora Langill. Bri Guilliams (eighth) and Ali Krauter (10th) also made the top 10 for the Red Hawks, who finished with 41 points to win the team crown by 17 over Nemaha.
• Riley County’s Jeter Adams opened the season with a big victory, taking the boys title at the Marysville Invitational. Adams crossed in 17:14.36 to win by 30 seconds over Nemaha Central’s Harry Langill, who led the Thunder to the team title by just four points over host Marysville.
• Olpe’s Kaleb Arnold began his season with a convincing win at the Burlington Invitational, finishing in 16:52.71 to win by 30 seconds over Burlington’s Isaac Miller. Olpe swept the individual titles at Lily Skalsky turned in an even more dominating win in the girls’ race, finishing in 21:04.30 to win by a minute and a half over Central Heights’ Lily Burkdoll.
• Chapman’s Riley DeLorenzo edged Blue Valley-Randolph’ Titus Cobb by less than three seconds to take the title at the Abilene Invitational and lead the Irish boys to the meet victory. DeLorenzo won in 17:16.8, just ahead of Cobb’s 17:19.5. Sacred Heart’s Mia Hamilton won the girls race in 21:56.6, nearly 40 seconds ahead of Abilene’s Josie Wilson.
• Northern Heights’ Ellei McCrory got back to her winning ways at the season-opening Mission Valley Invitational, cruising to the meet title in 20:16.25, nearly a minute faster than runner-up Jaiton Bosse of Osage City. Heights also won the team title.