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Junior Brock earns state bid

By Eric Sorrentino - | Oct 24, 2007

? Saturday’s Kansas Class 4A state meet in Wamego will be the first time Matt Brock hasn’t competed with his team.

Brock, a Tonganoxie High junior, has ran with the Chieftains at every race for three years. After Saturday’s regional race in Ottawa, Brock was the lone Chieftain member who garnered state honors.

Tonganoxie finished sixth as a team at Ottawa’s Eisenhower Road Course. Only the top three (De Soto, Baldwin, Paola) qualified for state.

The good news for Brock was the top five individuals who weren’t part of the top three teams also advanced to state. Brock was fourth on that list, registering a 5K time of 18 minutes, 17 seconds.

“The whole time, I just remember running uphill,” Brock said. “That’s all I remember. I don’t remember downhill. This was the toughest course I’ve seen.”

Tonganoxie hasn’t competed at the Eisenhower road course since the early ’80s, according to coach Phil Williams.

“It’s probably number one,” Williams said, when asked to rank the toughest high school courses in Kansas. “If you look at the times, they’re all slower. It has a lot to do with the course. You can’t maintain a good tempo and a consistent speed when you’re going up the hills so many times.”

Brock finished 10th overall. Junior David Powell finished 30th with a time of 19:47, while freshman Justin Soetaert finished 38th with a time of 20:26. Senior Patrick Holton was right behind Soetaert in 39th place with a 20:28.

Sophomore Matt Titterington (55th place, 21:21), freshman Joel Dunning (59th place, 21:29) and junior Dalton Lawson (70th place, 22:38) rounded out the Chieftain times.

Brock will compete in the boys 4A race Saturday the Wamego Country Club. The 4A boys race is scheduled for noon.

THS girls

The Tonganoxie High School girls cross country team missed qualifying for state by one position. The Chieftains finished fourth, behind Baldwin, De Soto and Eudora.

Sophomore Andie Jeannin was the lone Chieftain to advance to state as an individual. Jeannin finished 13th individually with a time of 17:20 in the 4K. She was third of five state qualifiers who weren’t on the top three teams.

Freshman Alex Hauk finished 28th with a time of 18:19, while senior Christy Weller finished 33rd with a time of 18:48. Junior Addy Phelps (41st place, 19:11), senior Kaitlyn Saathoff (44th place, 19:23), senior Katie Chenoweth (48th place, 19:28) and junior Lauren Himpel (65th place, 20:44) rounded out the Chieftain times.

Jeannin will compete at the Wamego Country Club on Saturday. The 4A girls race is scheduled for 11 a.m.