3 county teams to run at state
Staff writers
After finishing third at a rain-soaked regional Saturday, Marion’s entire boys’ and girls’ cross-country teams will advance to state this weekend — the girls for the first time since 1999.
At regionals on Marion’s Big M course, Eli Klenda finished first among boys. Among girls, Zayden Janzen was sixth; Harrison Beery, eighth; and Brooklyn Beery, 10th.
“When I got out to the course Friday morning and saw how full the pond was, I did not think we were going to be able to pull this off,” coach Jason Hett said. “We made a few more cuts to go around the flooding and threw out 25 bags of mulch in different spots and said let’s go.
“The Warriors came hungry and were ready to compete in uncomfortable conditions.”
Hillsboro’s Trojan girls also ran at the Big M regional in Marion, placing second as a team and also qualifying for state Saturday at Wamego.
The Trojan girls were led by Quinlyn Funk, who medaled in third place. She was followed by Jaidyn Frantz in fifth and Riley Richert in 11th.
State competition will begin at 11:10 a.m. for boys and 12:55 p.m. for girls.
Goessel
Eli Gaeddert and Madelyn Olson will represent Goessel as individual competitors at the state meet at Wamego.
Gaeddert finished first in a sloppy race at Richmond with a time of 16:58.34. Olson was 14th with a time of 22:52.04.
The team finished fifth, one slot below what was needed to qualify for state as a group.