HILLSBORO: Harriers take third at Bluestem
Hillsboro takes third at regional
BY RYAN RICHTER
Sports writer
So much for 'Wamego or bust' for the Trojans in 2002.
Ever since finishing as runner-up in 3A cross country the past two years, the Trojans have begun each season with their sites set on returning to one place: Wamego, where the state cross country meet is held.
For the third year in a row, Hillsboro gets a shot at capturing its first-ever title, qualifying for Saturday's state meet with a third-place finish Oct. 26 at the Leon-Bluestem regional.
And it was a minefield of a regional, with such stalwarts as the defending state champion Holcomb Longhorns and league rivals Hesston and Halstead in attendance.
Holcomb showed why it's the defending state champion, edging out runner-up Hesston by a comfortable 55-72 margin. Halstead came in fourth, four points behind Hillsboro's 84.
"We are very excited to finish third," an ecstatic Trojan coach Brian Kennell said. "We topped Halstead by only four places, and that's very close in a meet this size. Our runners did a great job to accomplish this.
"We had hoped to advance to the state meet and would have been very disappointed if we had missed it by such a close margin."
Leading the way for the Trojans was Aaron Yoder, placing third out of 67 competitors in 17:13.
Aaron Yoder missed out finishing as runner-up to Kismet's regional champion Cody Laymon by 15 seconds.
Holcomb's Chris George finished second, 25 seconds in back of Laymon.
Coming in seventh, 22 seconds behind his twin, was Daniel Yoder.
Merely a sophomore, Kody Borg proved the Trojans' tradition will remain strong, boasting a 10th place time of 17:52.
"Having three individual runners finish in the top 10 at this meet is a great accomplishment," Kennell said. "Aaron, Danny and Kody all ran very well today. They'll each be running for a medal at Wamego."
Karl Magnuson also helps strengthen the sophomore class, as does Sammy Espada.
The two finished 26th and 43rd with times of 18:47 and 19:35, respectively.
Daniel Bookless, freshman, rounded out the top 50, missing a 20:00 flat by a second.
For the last two weeks, senior Nick Unruh has been hampered by shin splints.
Unruh was again feeling the injury's effects Saturday, coming in six places and 36 seconds behind Bookless.
"We'll be looking to beat Hesston and compete for one of the top three spots," said Kennell of this weekend's state meet. "We are not counting ourselves out of a first-place finish.
"We'll have to have five guys run an excellent race to win the state meet, and this will be our goal. The guys have trained hard all year, and we run our best races on hilly courses. Wamego is a hilly course so we think this is an advantage for us."
Already the defending state champion and fresh off a big win in regionals, Holcomb is a team Kennell believes is a definite contender again.
Regional results
3. A. Yoder, 17:13. 7. D. Yoder, 17:35. 10. Borg, 17:52. 26. Magnuson, 18:47. 43. Espada, 19:35. 50. Bookless, 20:01. 56. Unruh, 20:37.
