Shawnee Mission North’s Belesti Akalu wins Kansas 6A cross country championship

The training program started during the summer, after a coach practically begged Shawnee Mission North senior Belesti Akalu to try out for the cross country team. He had never run before — at least not as a sport — and preferred to play soccer. But he reluctantly obliged.

Good thing, too.

Akalu capped his rookie cross country season with the Kansas Class 6A state championship on Saturday at Rim Rock Farm in Lawrence. He completed the 5-kilometer course in 15 minutes, 43.4 seconds.

“I was really excited about this race because this is my first time at state, but when I saw how many people were here, I was nervous,” Akalu said. “I didn’t expect this much competition.”

He bested them all — even the defending state champion, Manhattan junior Jackson Schroeder, who settled for second place. Lawrence Free State senior Ethan Donley was third, and Olathe East senior Nicholas Skinner was fourth.

Despite not placing anyone among the top-seven spots, Olathe North won the team championship — its first in program history. Olathe East was second.

“I thought we were good, but you still have to run the race and see what happens,” Olathe North coach Levi Huseman said. “If we ran the race again tomorrow, I don’t know if we would win.

“We’ll take it today.”

CLASS 6A GIRLS

Shawnee Mission Northwest sophomore Molly Born won a pair of Kansas Class 6A track state championships last spring, and almost immediately, the eagerness for another win — one she had been eyeing for much longer — popped into her head.

“Why not cross country?” she recalls thinking.

Five months later, Born turned the thought into reality. She won the Kansas 6A state cross country meet on Saturday, ending the two-year reign of Lawrence Free State junior Emily Venters, who settled for third. Olathe East senior Kayla Davis was second. Shawnee Mission North junior Amber Reed took fifth.

Venters led for a signficant portion of the race before Born passed her near the 2-mile park of the notoriously hilly course at Rim Rock. Born defeated Venters for the first time at the Sunflower League race earlier this season.

“It was difficult for me to get enough confidence to run with her, so that definitely helped,” Born said. “But I just came out today and said I was going to run the best I possibly could. It didn’t matter if or when I passed her.”

Lawrence Free State placed second in the team standings, losing a tiebreaker to Manhattan for the championship.

CLASS 5A BOYS

The details of Oct. 31, 2014 have been etched in St. Thomas Aquinas senior Michael Shanahan’s memory for the past year. On a day he had hoped to compete for a state title, Shanahan was instead sidelined with tendonitis in his hip.

“It was very painful — both having the injury and missing the meet,” he said. “That was my motivation.”

He’ll remember Oct. 31, 2015 more fondly.

Shanahan won the Kansas Class 5A state championship, leading from start to finish. He completed the 5K run in 15:48.5.

“I was just testing the waters, seeing if I could hold the lead,” Shanahan said. “That’s what I would usually do, and I wanted to treat the meet exactly how I treated every other meet.”

St. Thomas Aquinas runners Will Cole (second), Daniel Petracek (third) and Alex Gill (fourth) finished behind Shanahan. The team cruised to its second straight team title, well ahead of second-place Blue Valley Southwest.

CLASS 5A GIRLS

When St. Thomas Aquinas sophomore Margaret Pigott outlasted her competition at the Kansas City Metro Championships earlier this season, it marked her first career varsity win. She soon added another in the Eastern Kansas League championships. And then another in the Kansas 5A regionals.

And one more on Saturday.

Pigott won the Kansas 5A state title with a time of 18:41.2. She was immediately followed by her teammates — freshman Olivia Sovereign and senior Olivia Rode. Lansing sophomore Jaci Huckabee was fifth.

“I think KC Metro really boosted my confidence that I could keep on winning,” Pigott said. “I think after that, is when I realized, ’Hey, you can do this.’“

With the top-three placers, St Thomas Aquinas breezed to a fourth straight team title. BV Southwest took second.

This story was originally published October 31, 2015 at 5:47 PM with the headline "Shawnee Mission North’s Belesti Akalu wins Kansas 6A cross country championship."