Introducing the 2022 Wichita Eagle high school girls cross country All-Metro team
The Wichita area featured some of the best high school girls cross country runners in Kansas this season and that star power is highlighted on The Wichita Eagle’s 2022 All-Metro girls XC team.
The All-Metro squad consists of the seven top runners and the top coach from Sedgwick, Butler and Harvey counties, based on season-long performance with an emphasis on postseason finishes.
Clearwater senior Hayley Trotter, a Nebraska Huskers recruit who won her second straight Class 4A state championship, was named the Girls Cross Country Runner of the Year on the All-Metro team for the second straight year.
The Wichita Eagle All-Metro boys cross country team can be viewed here.
Taylor Barringer, Kapaun Mt. Carmel freshman
A life-long gymnast, Barringer picked up the sport of cross country for the first time in her freshman year at Kapaun. It turns out she’s pretty good at running too: Barringer was the City League champion, a regional runner-up and finished seventh in her debut at the Class 5A state meet. In fact, Barringer ended the season with a career-best time of 19:20 at Rim Rock and broke 20 minutes in her final four races of the season and five times total.
Kapaun’s Taylor Barringer: “I felt like I had a really good season, especially since it was my first time running cross country. I’m really proud of how I did and I’m going to try to do even better next year.”
Kapaun coach Gretchen Bina: “She is just a really determined individual who just improved as the season progressed. We saw her work ethic early on and she improved every race, getting more and more mentally strong as she learned the sport a little better. She had to learn how to pace and how to respond to other people during races and I think each time out she got better and better.”
Brecken Howell, Trinity Academy freshman
Another member of the area’s stellar 2026 class, Howell was an immediate contender as a freshman. She won the Bishop Carroll meet with a season-low time of 19:33 and finished third overall in the Class 3A state meet. Howell cracked 20 minutes in four of seven races with top-five finishes in five races.
Trinity coach Randy Mijares: “Brecken was tremendously consistent and very steady with her mileage this season. She doesn’t have great speed, but she has an excellent ability to absorb aerobic training and is just a natural distance runner. As the distance gets longer, she’s going to get better. She is already a very intelligent racer and really understands how to go about running a race.”
Abbye Hudson, Cheney senior
The best developmental story on this year’s All-Metro team is Hudson, who worked hard to transform from a good runner to a great one by her senior year. Her fourth-place finish at the Class 3A state meet helped Cheney finish second in the team standings for the first state trophy in the history of the girls’ program. A four-time state qualifier who steadily improved each season, Hudson ended with her best this season: a fourth-place finish in a time of 19:58. She finished in the top-five in all nine of her races this season with a career-best time of 19:56 in Halstead.
Cheney’s Abbye Hudson: “(The team finish) was really special for all of us. We worked really hard for this. It’s been 40 years since Cheney has brought home a state trophy, so we’re really excited. We spent a lot of time running in the winter just practicing and training for this moment.”
Cheney coach Rich Simmons: “It’s been nothing short of remarkable because Abbye has done everything we’ve asked from her since the beginning. She didn’t do cross country in middle school, she was more of a mid-distance kid in track. Her first race she didn’t even break 28 minutes. But she got faster and faster and snuck into state that first year and then had a panic attack on the course at Rim Rock. It’s pretty cool to see her go from that bad experience at state her freshman year to feeling like she got revenge on the course in her last race as a senior. She had a textbook career and every coach should be so lucky to coach a kid like Abbye.”
Brett Jacobson, Circle freshman
Jacobson was immediately one of the best runners in the state as a freshman, winning four races, including the AV-CTL Div. III and regional titles, and breaking her older sister’s school record with a time of 18:50. She finished no worse than third place in the eight races she finished, including three runner-up finishes to eventual state champion Hayley Trotter, and won a regional championship. Jacobson was near the front of the pack at the Class 4A state race, but collapsed and did not finish — she has fully recovered since the scare.
Circle’s Brett Jacobson: “I’m proud of my improvements and the times that I dropped. I’m really proud of dropping into the 18’s because I didn’t think I was going to be able to do that.”
Circle coach Charlie Jacobson: “She’s worked extremely hard over the summer and to see her have that much success was great. She broke the school record, which I didn’t think she would do this quickly. That was pretty special because the record was held by my oldest daughter (Spencer Jacobson in 2016) and now she works at the high school, so it was a neat moment for our family. Honestly, she’s successful because of her hard work and just working her tail off.”
Hayley Trotter, Clearwater senior
The unquestioned best distance runner in the area for the second straight year, the Nebraska commit wrapped up her cross country career with a second straight Class 4A state championship. It was another dominant season for Trotter, who won eight of her nine races and broke 19 minutes in six races. Trotter finished her sterling career as a 2-time state champion, 2-time All Metro Runner of the Year, 4-time state qualifier, 4-time AV-CTL Div. IV champion and 3-time Class 4A regional champion.
Clearwater’s Hayley Trotter: “The ultimate goal this year was to have fun and keep my body healthy and enjoy my last season. It was a really bittersweet moment to end my high school career and I had a great runner like Brett (Jacobson) helping me all year, pushing me to a big PR and drop a lot of time, so I was really happy with how it all turned out.”
Clearwater coach Jeff Cornwell: “The most impressive thing about Hayley to me is just the way she approached every race like she was going to win the race. It wasn’t arrogant, it was more, ‘I’m here to do a job.’ And she did her job. She was so mentally tough, just look at the state race where she goes out so fast and she knew she was going to be in physical pain, but she trusted herself to go longer than anyone else could. She’s just very talented and extremely tough and she believes in herself. That’s a pretty good combination right there.”
Maddy Wallace, Andover freshman
It was a superb debut season from Wallace, who won the AV-CTL Div. II championship and a Class 5A regional title. She notched a top-10 finish in all eight of her races, including four victories and six races under 20 minutes with a season-best time of 19:09.
Andover’s Maddy Wallace: “I’m proud of my improvement over the whole season. I didn’t think I would be under 20 (minutes) this season. I’m proud of the amount of improvement I’ve had and how much faster I’ve gotten since I started last year.”
Andover coach Jonathan Jeffcoat: “I was so impressed with Maddy’s transition from going up from a mile and a half to a 5K in her first year in high school and how much success she was able to have. I know a lot of kids struggle initially with running that long, but for her, it was seamless. She was ready to roll and she knew what she was capable of and showed so much maturity. She knew how to run to her strengths and did it really well.”
Addisen Wills, Halstead freshman
Another one of the area freshmen who immediately became a superstar at the high school level, Wills finished her debut season with six victories to her name. She cracked 20 minutes in five straight races with a season-low time of 19:10 and won the Central Kansas League championship.
Halstead’s Addisen Wills: “I’m proud of showing up and competing in all of my races as a freshman. My highlight was probably winning league as a freshman at Smoky Valley.”
Halstead coach Steve Crist: “Addisen is a very talented athlete and a very special person. Addisen works extremely hard and has high expectations for herself. That work ethic led to a great freshman season and some very valuable experience gained that will serve her well in the years to come.”
Rich Simmons, Cheney coach
Long considered one of the best distance coaches in the area, Simmons now has hardware to show for it after the Cheney girls claimed their first state trophy in program history with a second-place finish in the Class 3A team race. The Cardinals have long considered it a success if they could just send their team to the state meet, but that mindset was changed by the hard work and leadership of senior Abbye Hudson. Led by a fourth-place overall finish at the state meet, Hudson was the lead runner for a Cheney team that was also the Central Plains League champions and a Class 3A regional champion. The rest of the scoring lineup featured sophomore Taelyn Hoch and juniors Kinslee Ingram, Tatum Ingram and Lakin Green, while sophomore Brynn Hoeme and freshman Addison Bearley also made the historic state squad.
Cheney coach Rich Simmons: “It feels nice to feel like we’re doing something right. You always have your training plans and you think you’re doing things the right way, but at some point you like to see that manifest in some kind of team success that we’ve had a little bit here and there, but that state trophy has always eluded us. It was as simple as we finally got a whole group on board with the year-round training that we like to promote. We’ve had great runners here or there that buy in, but to have a full core run year-round like this group did and then for them to see all of their hard work pay off is so rewarding. I’m sure there are teams out there with more talent, but my girls and the work they put in year-round are tough to beat.”
All-Metro second team
Madison Busch, Augusta sophomore
Addie Curtis, Kapaun Mt. Carmel senior
Hannah Grover, Valley Center senior
Amelia Hermann, Kapaun Mt. Carmel sophomore
Piper Hula, Derby sophomore
Ashley Lehman, Hesston freshman
Brooke Martin, Bishop Carroll sophomore
Isabella Ponce, Maize South freshman
Alison Unruh, Circle senior
Hailey Walden, Classical freshman
Jacob Gerber, Remington coach
All-Metro third team
Emma Brooks, Maize South freshman
Gabrielle Day, Andover junior
Abi Grantham, Maize senior
Laney Hooper, Valley Center freshman
Ava Klaassen, Remington junior
Ashtyn Koeppen, Goddard Eisenhower sophomore
Kimber Lovell, Rose Hill sophomore
Kyrsten Lucent, Rose Hill senior
Abigail Meyer, Bishop Carroll freshman
Alexa Ornelas, Wichita North junior
Ella Porter, Kapaun Mt. Carmel senior
Kendall Shields, Maize South senior
Sofia Wendell, Bishop Carroll junior
Chelsea Willour, Remington freshman
Eric Carroll, Trinity Academy
