THS runners bring home dual wins
The Tonganoxie High boys cross country team had some company at the top last Thursday at Gardner-Edgerton.
The Chieftains stayed unbeaten in team competition on the boys side, beating out Anderson County and Gardner-Edgerton.
But for the first time this year, the THS girls squad also won the team title. Tonganoxie scored 46 points, 13 ahead of second-place Gardner-Edgerton. Iola took third with 80.
“We’d hoped we could win that,” THS coach Phil Williams said. “We’d won it the last three or four years.”
The girls team finished with the team title as Laura Korb won the race in 13 minutes and 29 seconds. Heather Helm finished ninth with a 14:45 time, while Michelle Williams (14:49), Elizabeth Smith (14:52) and Kelley Stauch (14:54) were 11th, 12th and 13th respectively. Janelle McCoy (15:40) took 22nd; Abbie Jones was 39th (17:39).
“I think the girls did run one of their better races, so I was pleased with that,” Williams said.
The Chieftain boys, meanwhile, scored 37 points, 23 ahead of Anderson County.
Kyle Norris again took second place, finishing in 17:36. Tony Aligo was fifth with an 18:23 time, while Tommy Powell finished in sixth with an 18:29 time.
Corey Brest just missed the top 10 in the boys division. He finished 11th (19:10); Levi Huseman took 13th with a 19:18 time.
Andy Kolman (18th, 19:36) and Matt Chenoweth (27th, 20:34) also placed for Tonganoxie.
The girls race had 41 runners while the boys fielded 47.
Williams said Gardner-Edgerton and Paola were basically the only teams in the field Tonganoxie hadn’t faced this year. He said the boys had a decent performance in the 7-team invitational.
“We knew it was not going to be as tough a meet as we’ve had the last couple weeks, so it’s easy to lose your focus on a meet like that,” Williams said. “It wasn’t their best race, but I’d say it was a good race.”
The Chieftains are expecting a tougher course with the Mill Valley Invitational on Thursday at Shawnee Mission Park. The boys won the invitational last year; the girls finished third.
“Mill Valley is fairly good and Kansas City Christian, they’re going to be a handful,” Williams said.