The Buhler High School girls cross country team captured the Kansas Class 4A state championship Saturday at the Wamego Country Club.
In a tough battle for the team title, Buhler scored 67 points to place first. Wamego placed second with 72 points and Baldwin was third with 74 points.
Buhler’s Corbin Starkweather and Isabella Friesen placed third and fourth in the 5K girls race with times of 19 minutes, 14.33 seconds and 19:28.16.
Buhler’s Isabella Rivera placed 21st, 20:48.86; followed by Hannah Dick, 32nd, 21:14.83; Brynlee Adams, 35th, 21:22.77; Haylee Kinast, 55th, 22:20.33; Emma Smith, 76th, 23:20.36
Baldwin’s Irelyn Kennedy was the first-place individual champion with a time of 18:57.08 and Paola’s Elia Needham was second with a time of 19:12.96. McPherson’s Adeline Kramer placed 10th in 20:24.19 and Andale’s Ayvah Banda was 19th in 20:39.99.
The Buhler High School boys cross country team will bring a third-place trophy home from the Class 4A state championships Saturday at Wamego Country Club.
Wamego won the team state title with 54 points, followed by Andale with 99 points and Buhler with 119. Chanute placed fourth with 121 points and McPherson fifth with 144 points.
McPherson’s Caleb Muehler was the first-place medalist with a 5K time of 15 minutes, 54.28 seconds, followed by Wamego’s Peyton Parker with a second-place time of 15:55.25.
Buhler’s top runner was Gavin Lindahl, who placed third with a time of 16:16.11. Teammate Ryan Cherry also placed in the top 20 medalists list with a 14th-place effort of 17:04.51.
Buhler’s Zayden Mendenhall and Samuel Hougham placed 40th and 41st with times of 18:03.82 and 18:05.39, followed by Christian Valle, 50th, 18:25.93; Cole Unruh, 55th, 18:40.16; Ben Gazaway, 58th, 18:41.59.
