By Staff
COUNCIL GROVE – On Saturday, the Smoky Valley cross country program earned a double bonus as both the Viking boys and Lady Vikings qualified out of regionals to run as a team at next Saturday’s Class 3A state cross country championships.
This will be the third season in a row for the Viking boys to qualify as a team while it is the second year in a row for the Lady Vikings to make the trip to Rim Rock in Topeka.
“Both the boys and girls teams set qualifying for the state meet as a team goal before the season started,” noted Smoky Valley head coach Zack Vogel in his post-regionals reflections. “They worked extremely hard during the summer and this fall to qualify. It is nice to see all of their hard work payoff. Both teams have been running very well and I am looking forward to seeing them race against the best of the best at Rim Rock next weekend.”
For the Lady Vikings, the team finished third with 90 points, just two points behind second-place Osage City who had 88. Southeast of Saline dominated the event and took first with 38 points as they placed five runners in the top 20 finishers. Rounding out the top five in the team standings was Prairie View at fourth with 101 points and West Franklin in fifth with 102.
Individually, Keira Mullen placed tenth and Hope Willems finished twelfth to lead the Lady Vikings while Taylor Helton placed twenty-third.
For the Viking boys, they scored 102 points to also finish third behind regional champion Southeast of Saline with 26 and second-place West Franklin with 93. Santa Fe Trail placed fourth with 125 and Hesston was fifth with 134.
Smoky Valley was led by Tytus Reed who finished in the top-ten at seventh with a run of 17:20.73 while Samuel Peterson finished eighteenth and Wyatt Johnson ran twentieth.
SMOKY VALLEY VIKING CROSS COUNTRY at State Regionals
LADY VIKING RESULTS:
Team Standings: 1. Southeast of Saline 38; 2. Osage City 88; 3. LADY VIKINGS 90; 4. Prairie View 101; 5. West Franklin 102.
LADY VIKING INDIVIDUAL RESULTS:
10. Keira Mullen 21:24.84
12. Hope Willems 21:45.14
23. Taylor Helton 22:35.85
35. Adrien Lochard 23:53.95
36. Sophia Fruits 24:17.93
41. Gracia Peterson 24:44.84
42. Mila Sims 25:08.46
VIKING BOYS RESULTS:
Team Standings: 1. Southeast of Saline 26; 2. West Franklin 93; 3. VIKINGS 102; 4. Santa Fe Trail 125; 5. Hesston 134.
VIKING BOYS INDIVIDUAL RESULTS:
7. Tytus Reed 17:20.73
18. Samuel Peterson 18:19.37
20. Wyatt Johnson 18:46.08
25. Brayden Eyer 19:15.98
32. Kaden Bishop 19:35.64
57. Sebastian Pavlovich 20:42.71
80. Elijah Spooner 23:07.00
(The Staff covering McPherson County Activities can be reached by email at crossdovewriter@gmail.com)