St. Thomas Aquinas boys run their way to another state championship in cross country

St. Thomas Aquinas junior Ethan Marshall trailed Great Bend’s Kerby Depenbusch much of the 5-kilometer course on a cold Saturday morning at Rim Rock Farms..

Marshall, however, used another gear in the final seconds to edge Depenbusch and propel the Saints to a fourth consecutive Kansas Class 5A boys state cross country championship.

Marshall finished first among all runners in 15 minutes, 38.1 seconds. Depenbusch was second in 15:41.2.

“Kerby is a really good runner,” Marshall said. “We were neck and neck most of the way. He took the lead at the cemetery and pretty much led all of the skyline until the very end. We just kind of duked it out at the end. I just knew I had to stay close to him to give myself a chance. I gave it all I had.”

Aquinas finished with a team score of 61, which was 11 points ahead of second-place Mill Valley.

The Kansas City area boasted all four team and individual state champions in 5A and 6A across the boys and girls competitions.

Aquinas junior Olivia Sovereign defended her individual 5A title with a time of 18:36.5, which was 13 seconds better than second place.

“I think it helps show how hard I worked the last couple of years,” Sovereign said. “Hard work really does pay off.”

St. James Academy captured the 5A girls team title with a score of 40. Thunder runners Sarah Murrow, Katherine Moore, and Mary O’Connor finished second, third, and fourth, respectively. Senior Mary Goetz also finished 20th, giving St. James four medalists.

Mill Valley was second with 45 points, and Aquinas finished third at 85.

Blue Valley Northwest freshman Riley Beach out-sprinted Manhattan’s Clara Mayfield to win the top individual honors in 6A girls. Beach, who finished in 18:25.7, was running side-by-side with Mayfield until the final 200 meters. Mayfield finished in 18:30.9.

“My thought was that I’d rather not have it close, because that’s really stressful,” Beach said. “So I decided I needed to get out ahead of her. I just imagined I had someone in front of me that I was chasing. I knew the finish was going to be tough. I knew I had to have something left.”

Shawnee Mission North won the 6A girls team title with a score of 76, edging Blue Valley North’s 79 and Olathe North’s 84.

Three Shawnee Mission North runners — Kathryn Kasunic, Cassie Raines, and Keagan Stiers — earned medals as they placed fifth, 11th and 19th, respectively.

“Two years ago, we were third. Last year, we were second,” SM North coach Aaron Davidson said. “So we’ve kind of been knocking at the door. So we knew we had a chance this year. We knew we had a lot coming back. I think this day has been on their minds since we left this meet last year. We just wanted to get to this day with a chance.”

Blue Valley West’s Sophie Call and Kalea Chu took third and fourth, respectively.

Gardner-Edgerton junior Trenton Cochran won the 6A boys race in 15:50.

Cochran took second last year. He was also second in the 2-mile last spring.

“I was kind of hungry to finally get one,” Cochran said. “I wanted it really bad, so I’m glad I was finally able to get it.”

Olathe North finished first as a team in Class 6A with 45 points. Juniors Brian Beach and Jackson Caldwell finished second and third, respectively, for the Eagles. Olathe North’s Cade Heikes and Jordan Yonce also earned medals with finishes of 14th and 19th.

Shawnee Mission North’s Logan Jiskra took fourth individually.

In the team standings, Manhattan (57) was second, and Olathe East (102) was third.

Halstead won the 3A boys team title with a score of 102, edging Central Heights by two points.

Scott Community junior Jack Thomas took first individually with a time of 16:04.9.

In 3A girls, Hiawatha won the team competition with a score of 67. Scott Community (76) was second, and TMP-Marian (98) was third.

Beloit sophomores Hannah Burks and Hayley Burks finished first and second, respectively, with times of 19:10.3, and 20:07.8.

State cross country

Class 6A

Boys

Team scores

Olathe North 45, Manhattan 57, Olathe East 102, SM North 117, Olathe South 139, SM Northwest 159, Washburn Rural 182, Garden City 197, Wichita North 200, Dodge City 215, SM West 300, Wichita West 356

Individual medalists

Cochran, Gard.-Edgerton, 15:50.0; 2. Beach, Olathe North, 15:56.2; 3. Caldwell, Olathe North, 16:04.7; 4. Jiskra, SM North, 16:09.0; 5. Jones, Derby, 16:09.8; 6. Schroeder, Manhattan, 16:13.1; 7. Harkin, Manhattan, 16:17.4; 8. Cervantes, Garden City, 16:19.5; 9. Shryock, Olathe South, 16:21.9; 10. Kahnk, Olathe East, 16:23.4; 11. Clayton, Wichita East, 16:23.6; 12. Iyali, Wichita North, 16:23.6; 13. Bradley, Washburn Rural, 16:26.1; 14. Heikes, Olathe North, 16:26.6; 15. Keeter, SM East, 16:26.9; 16. Gawlick, BV Northwest, 16:27.0; 17. Sabus, SM Northwest, 16:27.4; 18. Logback, Manhattan, 16:27.6; 19. Yonce, Olathe North, 16:28.9; 20. Pickering, Manhattan, 16:29.6.

Girls

Team scores

SM North 76, BV North 79, Olathe North 84, Manhattan 109, BV West 116, Washburn Rural 157, Free State 215, SM South 216, Dodge City 227, SM West 231, Garden City 262, Wichita East 264

Individual medalists

Beach, BV Northwest, 18:25.7; 2. Mayfield, Manhattan, 18:30.9; 3. Call, BV West, 18:44.4; 4. Chu, BV West, 18:57.8; 5. Kasunic, SM North, 19:00.0; 6. Scott, BV North, 19:10.1; 7. Schillinger, Olathe North, 19:13.2; 8. Fuhlhage, Olathe North, 19:13.2; 9. Ochana, Olathe East, 19:13.9; 10. Whitaker, Olathe North, 19:16.2; 11. Raines, SM North, 19:16.7; 12. Shufelberger, Washburn Rural, 19:19.1; 13. Strauss, BV North, 19:25.9; 14. Larkin, Free State, 19:24.3; 15. Anna Martin, BV North, 19:25.9; 16. Navarro, Garden City, 19:28.0; 17. Williams, SM West, 19:28.2; 18. Endsley, Wichita East, 19:43.4; 19. Stiers, SM North, 19:47.6; 20. Ganter, BV North, 19:48.2.

Class 5A

Boys

Team scores

Aquinas 61, Mill Valley 72, Andover 108, Bishop Carroll 115, Great Bend 122, Maize South 131, BV Southwest 156, Leavenworth 199, Seaman 244, Newton 249, Lansing 257, Emporia 330

Individual medalists

Marshall, Aquinas, 15:38.1; 2. Depenbusch, Great Bend, 15:41.2; 3. Moore, St. James, 15:47.0; 4. Jones, Maize, 15:54.2; 5. Jones, Aquinas, 16:01.8; 6. Moen, Andover, 16:02.6; 7. Miller, BV Southwest, 16:04.5; 8. Griffith, Great Bend, 16:05.8; 9. Bohnemann, Leavenworth, 16:07.0; 10. Haynes, Mill Valley, 16:09.4; 11. Hubert, DeSoto, 16:10.0; 12. Pope, Seaman, 16:10.2; 13. Cofer, Aquinas, 16:10.6; 14. Merriman, Maize South, 16:12.7; 15. Terry, Mill Valley, 16:13.9; 16. Wallace, St. James, 16:17.4; 17. Kinnane, Andover, 16:17.8; 18. Harding, Bishop Carroll, 16:18.0; 19. Magnuson, Maize South, 16:19.0; 20. Hightower, Mill Valley, 16:23.4.

Girls

Team scores

St. James 40, Mill Valley 45, Aquinas 85, Maize South 92 Bishop Carroll 126, Maize 151, Leavenworth 228, Emporia 250, Shawnee Heights 253, Lansing 268, Valley Center 268, Salina South 286

Individual medalists

Sovereign, Aquinas, 18:36.5; 2. Murrow, St. James, 18:49.5; 3. Moore, St. James, 19:01.1; 4. O’Connor, St. James, 19:05.9; 5. Kemp, Mill Valley, 19:09.5; 6. Stewart, Emporia, 19:15.9; 7. Rios, Maize South, 19:17.8; Koca, Mill Valley, 19:25.0; 9. Wilks, Pittsburg, 19:25.7; 10. Ricker, Mill Valley, 19:28.3; 11. Wilson, BV Southwest, 19:29.8; 12. Winter, Bishop Carroll, 19:29.9; 13. Taylor, Mill Valley, 19:35.3; 14. Nelson, Mill Valley, 19:37.5; 15. Eskridge, Maize South, 19:39.8; 16. Miller, Aquinas, 19:40.3; 17. Niederee, Kapaun, 19:40.4; 18. Robinson, St. James, 19:40.4; 19. Loffredo, BV Southwest, 19:40.7; 20. Goetz, St. James, 19:43.3.

Class 3A

Boys

Team scores

Halstead 102, Central Heights 104, Scott Community 113, Norton 134, Kingman 156, Hiawatha 158, West Franklin 174, Council Grove 183, SE of Saline 187, Riley County 199, Hesston 219, Sabetha 220

Individual medalists

Thomas, Scott Community, 16:04.9; 2. Flanagan, Kingman, 16:15.5; 3. Kulp, Riley County, 16:26.2; 4. Pearce, Kingman, 16:30.9; 5. Hodge, Hiawatha, 16:39.5; 6. Bailey, West Franklin, 16:48.2; 7. Dodson, Douglass, 16:51.3; 8. Oatney, Pleasant Ridge, 17:01.0. 9. Hall, Norton, 17:05.7; 10. Haner, West Franklin, 17:05.7; 11. Clark, Chaparral, 17:07.2; 12. Stevenson, Central Heights, 17:10.6; 13. O’Brien, Halstead, 17:12.7; 14. Goeckel, Council Grove, 17:13.6; 15. Black, Maur Hill, 17:14.2; 16. Hole, Independent, 17:17.6; 17. Gleason, SE of Saline, 17:20.6; 18. Patterson, Norton, 17:21.4; 19. Yang, Hesston, 17:22.6. 20. Cardin, Central Heights, 17:24.2.

Girls

Team scores

Hiawatha 67, Scott Community 76, TMP-Marian 98, Beloit 109, Douglass 132, Cimarron 161, Segwick 170, Sabetha 172, St. Marys 175, Fredonia 208, Council Grove 262, Osage City 291

Individual medalists

Han. Burks, Beloit, 19:10.3; 2. Hay. Burks, Beloit, 20:07.8; 3. Giles, Minneapolis, 20:26.4; 4. Kats, Norton, 20:27.9; 5, Stevens, Scott Community, 20:29.1; 6. White, Lakin, 20:32.0; 7. Clinesmith, Cimarron, 20:35.5; 8 Schmidt, Remington, 20:37.7; 9. Rossman, West Franklin, 20:38.5; 10. Kettler, Hiawatha, 20:48.5; 11. Leach, West Franklin, 20:49.5; 12. Dawson, Jayhawk Linn, 20:50.1; 13. Coombes, Douglass, 20:50.8; 14. Madsen, Hiawatha, 20:54.9; 15. Werth, TMP-Marian, 20:57.2; 16. Lukert, Sabetha, 20:58.2; 17. McDaniel, Wellsville, 20:58.5; 18. Ayala, Scott Community, 20:59.5; 19. Smith, Fredonia, 21:00.8; 20. Wolfe, McLouth, 21:02.5.

This story was originally published October 28, 2017 at 8:25 PM with the headline "St. Thomas Aquinas boys run their way to another state championship in cross country."