Tonganoxie boys cross country take 5th at state
Contributed photo
Tonganoxie High's Parker Welsh earns all-state honors Saturday at the Class 4A state cross country championships in Wamego. Welsh led THS to a fifth-place finish as a team. Pictured with Welsh is THS assistant coach Jodie Smith and head coach John Tollefson.Tonganoxie High boys cross country finished state with a fifth place finish overall and one runner with all-state honors in Class 4A.
Parker Welsh placed 15th with a time of 17 minutes, 36.67 seconds and earned all-state honors with that placing Saturday in Wamego.
Jett Gilmore placed 22nd with an 18:06.10 time, while Solomon Carter finished 25th with an 18:12.35 time.
Elijah Weatherford placed 50th (18:56.97), Huston Albert 75th (19:45.55) and Piercen Eccles 78th (19:54.76). Ried Wilson placed 101st for Tonganoxie (22:25.83).
On the girls side, Kara Johnson represented THS as an individual runner.
She placed 39th in the girls race with a time of 22:20.02.
Wamego won the team title with a low score of 52 points. Buhler placed second with 66 and McPherson third with 119. Augusta placed fourth with 147, just ahead of Tonganoxie’s fifth-place score of 150. Baldwin, the only other Frontier League representative, finished 12th out of 12 state teams.
McPherson junior Caleb Muehler won the individual title with a time of 16:33.40.
Eudora senior Hanna Keltner won the girls title with a time of 19:18.56. Keltner placed second as a junior, third as a sophomore and second as a freshman.
Buhler won the team title with a low score of 78. The Frontier League took the next two spots, as Eudora was runner-up with 89 and Baldwin third with 90.
Eudora’s state champion streak was snapped in the process, as EHS had won the previous three state titles. Baldwin won the one before that.
Saturday’s state meet marked the end of the careers for several Chieftains: Johnson on the girls side and Carter, Gilmore, Albert and Eccles on the boys side.