HHS: Cross country squad earns Hesston crown
BY RYAN RICHTER
Sports writer
On its quest for a successful return to the Class 3A state cross country meet at Wamego, Thursday afternoon's meet at Hesston loomed large for the Trojans.
Coach Brian Kennell believed that to stay on track and continue to compete at the level his state runner-up team did a year ago, the Trojans would need a strong performance at the formidable, 35-team Hesston meet.
Kennell still has nothing to worry about as the Trojans, for the second straight year in a row, defended their Hesston crown.
Edging out runners-up Halstead and Ellsworth by slim two-point margins, Hillsboro's road was indeed as rugged as Kennell thought it would be.
"This was another exciting win for us," he said. "This was one of our largest meets and we thought the competition would be tough.
"It was fun winning our second meet in a row and also winning this meet for the second year in a row. We only beat Halstead and Ellsworth by two points. It's always exciting to win by this close a margin."
Coming off a first place finish a week earlier at Smoky Valley, Aaron Yoder sped up, finishing the race with the fastest time yet this season in the 3-, 2-, or 1A class, 16:45.
Fourteen-hundredths of a second behind his twin Aaron, Danny Yoder claimed his second third-place finish of the year in 16:59.
"This was the first time Aaron and Danny have run under 17:00," said Kennell. "This was exciting for them and also for the team."
Six Trojans earned medals on the progressive day with all shaving time off last year's records.
Rounding out the varsity medal-winners with the Yoder twins was a healthy Nick Unruh.
Hampered with illness a week earlier at Lindsborg, Unruh recuperated enough to finish 16th in 18:53.
For the junior varsity class, Kody Borg beat out teammate Karl Magnuson for fifth by 6/100 of a second, leaving Magnuson in sixth in 18:30.
Daniel Bookless came in 11th in 19:44.
Sammy Espada and Robert Jost fought a heated battle for 23rd with Espada beating out Jost by 43/100 of a second.
Making significant improvements were the varsity duo of Michael Bookless and Michael Fisher.
Michael Bookless took 28th with a time of 19:54, 1:03 faster than last year's 20:57.
Fisher made even more progress. Despite not placing, his time of 23:14 whittled more than 4:00 off his previous Hesston mark of 27:26.
The Trojans travel today to Leon for a meet with Bluestem. Race time begins at 3:30 p.m.
Varsity results
1. A. Yoder, 16:45. 3. D. Yoder, 16:59. 16. Unruh, 18:53. 28. M Bookless, 19:54. 34. Billy Winegarner, 20:47. Tyler Stout, 21:46. Fisher, 23:14.
Junior varsity
5. Borg, 18:24. 6. Magnuson, 18:30. 11. D. Bookless, 19:44. 23. Espada, 20:01. 24. Jost, 20:44.
