How Wichita Trinity became the best high school cross country team in the state of Kansas

The origin of arguably the best high school cross country team in Kansas this season can be traced back by how running alone had grown tiresome for Ian Carroll.

When Carroll was a freshman in 2019, Trinity Academy didn’t even have enough runners to make up a boys team score. He ended up as a medalist at the state meet, but found the individual experience rather unfulfilling.

“I was sick and tired of running by myself,” Carroll said. “I wanted to experience the sweetness of working hard with a team. And that’s when the Lord revealed to me that I’ve got a gift for talking to people and getting them to see a vision.”

From that point, Carroll dedicated himself to recruiting other athletes at the school to join the cross country team. He went as far as enrolling in a summer physical education class, normally reserved for incoming freshmen, as a sophomore with the sole purpose of finding friends to join him running long distances.

It was a hard sell, but Carroll eventually convinced a football castoff, a speedy soccer winger and some basketball players to join the team. Three years later, Trinity Academy, a Class 3A school, feels like it can boast the best high school cross country team in Kansas.

The Knights certainly have a compelling case after they won their second straight Class 3A team state championship in dominant fashion at the Wamego Country Club with four runners in the top-nine and six in the top-23 of the 5-kilometer race. Their team score of 35 points was the lowest total of any of the six team state champions crowned this past Saturday.

“I think we’re for sure the best 1A through 6A in Kansas this year, but I also think we are as good as any team there’s been in Kansas,” said Randy Mijares, who coaches the team along with head coach Eric Carroll.

“It’s a pretty incredible story because none of these guys ran in our youth program. They all just kind of showed up. It’s absolutely bizarre because we’ve put a heavy emphasis on distance running for a long time and you go from having all of these other teams with runners you knew were coming to the best team you’ve ever had who just shows up. It’s amazing.”

Maybe the most incredible part of the team’s story is the ascendance of junior Clay Shively, who won the individual Class 3A title with a time of 15 minutes, 26 seconds and has solidified his spot as one of the top distance runners in the class of 2024 across the country.

He was the football castoff whom Carroll recruited back in 2020. Shively had never run a cross country race before joining the team midway through the season and was not particularly excited about running 3.1 miles every race.

“I ran one season of track in the seventh grade and one time they tried to make me run the mile and I said, ‘Are you kidding me? That’s so long,’” Shively said. “But I had a pretty good freshman year and (Mijares) came up to me at the end of the season and said, ‘Listen, I think you have great talent and could be a really great miler.’ And I was like, ‘Okay, if you say so.’ But I trusted him.”

With Carroll organizing summer runs on Red Bud Trail in Andover and along the Arkansas River path by the Keeper of the Plains statue in Wichita, Shively became addicted to the sport.

Shively blossomed to an instant star, turning heads all around Kansas last spring by running a 4:10 mile on the track and then running a school-record time of 14:47 in a 5-kilometer in Olathe earlier this season. His coach thinks he barely scratched the surface of his potential with his state victory this past weekend.

“I’ve been coaching for 44 years at different levels and Clay is the best talent I’ve ever had,” Mijares said. “He not only has the physical gifts and the competitive drive, but also tremendous poise. He understands how to go about racing and how to prepare for racing. He’s the total package.”

But what makes Trinity special is that Shively was far from the only inexperienced runner to blossom. So did classmates Jacob Hobson, Samuel Ferguson and Wesley Ferguson and sophomores Caleb Tofteland and Grayson Payne.

At the state meet, Shively (15:26), Hobson (15:41), Samuel Ferguson (16:20) and Tofteland (16:23) were among the nine fastest runners in the 3A field with Carroll (16:55) and Wesley Ferguson (17:06) not far behind.

Carroll came away with another individual state medal, but this time he raised his second straight team championship. It was a surreal feeling for the senior, who couldn’t help but reflect how far his journey had come in four years.

“I think of all of the moments where we were at the drawing board and just imagining what we could do,” Carroll said. “And now we showed people that we might be a small, Christian school, but we can put on a show for our God.”

The group already has plans of pulling off even more impressive feats this coming spring during track and field season, not to mention the potential of the team with everyone but Carroll returning to the cross country squad next year.

While Carroll may graduate, his impact on the program will not be forgotten.

“He is the glue that has brought this whole thing together,” Shively said. “I seriously wouldn’t be running if it wasn’t for him and I know a lot of these other guys wouldn’t be here if it wasn’t for his vision. He’s my best friend and I’m so blessed to have him by my side because that’s what it took, having that one guy who had the faith even when the rest of us didn’t have a ton of experience. He always believed.”

Clearwater’s Hayley Trotter wins second straight 4A girls title

Clearwater senior Hayley Trotter successfully defended her Class 4A girls individual state championship by winning the title once again at the Wamego Country Club. It was another dominant performance from Trotter, who finished with a winning time of 19:17 -- almost 34 seconds faster than second place.

Winfield won the third-place trophy in the 4A girls team race, finishing with 87 points, just behind Baldwin’s 84 points in second place. The Vikings were led by medalists senior Kayli Myers (6th, 20:25) and junior Lauryn Turner (17th, 21:13) followed by sophomore Lydia Nelson (27th, 21:55), sophomore Rhyanna Richert (22:01), senior Gracelynn Benavides (22:07), sophomore Addison Potucek (22:11) and junior Brooke Brogan (24:44).

Other area 4A girls medalists were Circle senior Alison Unruh (8th, 20:35), Augusta sophomore Madison Busch (9th, 20:46), Rose Hill senior Kyrsten Lucent (18th, 21:17) and Rose Hill sophomore Kimber Lovell (20th, 21:18).

In the 2A girls race in Wamego, Remington earned the second-place team trophy with 97 points, only behind Stanton County’s 72 points. The Broncos were led by medalists freshman Chelsea Willour (12th, 21:12) and junior Ava Klaassen (19th, 21:30) followed by freshman Kassi Peters (22:26), freshman Hannah Jenkins (22:54), junior Kyleigh Hayworth (23:00), freshman Tia Ayres (25:47) and sophomore Laila McCormick (25:56).

Other 2A girls medalists included Sterling freshman Julia Kilgore (3rd, 19:55), Hillsboro freshman Quinlyn Funk (9th, 21:08), Conway Springs freshman Sydney Zoglmann (15th, 21:21) and Conway Springs senior Cheyanne Tull (20th, 21:36).

In the 1A girls race in Wamego, the area medalists were Classical freshman Hailey Walden (2nd, 20:07), McPherson Elyria Christian freshman Laney Reiff (7th, 21:27) and Attica freshman Cady Hemphill (19th, 22:02).

Cheney senior leads Cardinals to second-place team finish in 3A girls

The Cheney girls cross country team won the first team trophy from the state meet in program history and captured the first one for the overall program in 40 years with a runner-up finish in the 3A team race at Rim Rock.

Behind a fourth-place overall individual finish by senior Abbye Hudson in a time of 19:58, Cheney (108 points) topped Wichita Trinity Academy (110 points) to capture the second-place team trophy. The Cardinals were rounded out by sophomore Taelyn Hoch (21:23), junior Kinslee Ingram (21:38), junior Tatum Ingram (21:38), junior Lakin Green (22:21), sophomore Brynne Hoeme (23:56) and freshman Addison Bearley (25:07).

Trinity Academy finished third in the team standings behind a third-place overall finish by freshman Brecken Howell in a time of 19:52. The Knights were rounded out by freshman Emily Hein (24th, 21:02), sophomore Allie Schlabsz (21:44), sophomore Breckynn Lee (22:00), senior Ariel Gish (22:05), sophomore Lucy Glennen (22:50) and junior Parker Howell (22:57).

Other 3A girls medalists included Hesston freshman Ashley Lehman (2nd, 19:38), Kingman junior Mary Pearce (11th, 20:26) and Kingman senior Erin Albright (18th, 20:38).

Maize’s Kaleb Glazier highlights area’s finish for 5A boys

The breakout season of Maize junior Kaleb Glazier was completed by a runner-up finish in the 5A boys race at Rim Rock in a time of 15:48. The first-year runner was 32 seconds behind champion Colby King, a senior from St. Thomas Aquinas, but Glazier topped a pack of four pursuing the runner-up finish.

Glazier helped put Maize in position in the team race, but Kapaun Mt. Carmel (87 points) edged out the Eagles (102 points) for the third-place trophy for 5A. The Crusaders were led by fifth-place medalist senior Luke Brock (15:54) with the team rounded out by sophomore Will Niederee (20th, 16:35), freshman Daniel Enriquez (22nd, 16:40), sophomore Andrew Guyer (23rd, 16:41), senior Christian Bartel (17:20), senior John Mies (17:52) and sophomore Tim Rowell (17:59).

Other 5A medalists included Andover Central senior Landen O’Neil (13th, 16:21), Arkansas City junior Gabe O’Nelio (16th, 16:28) and Maize junior Alex Ayin (17th, 16:31). There were no Wichita-area medalists in 6A.

Kapaun girls snag third-place trophy in 5A girls

It came down to a single point, but the Kapaun Mt. Carmel girls (115 points) edged out Topeka Seaman (116 points) for the third-place trophy in the 5A girls team race at Rim Rock.

The Crusaders were led by three finishes inside the top-25 with freshman Taylor Barringer (7th, 19:21), sophomore Amelia Hermann (17th, 19:51) and senior Addie Curtis (22nd, 20:09). The rest of the team was rounded out by senior Ella Porter (20:54), junior Madeline Hermann (21:37), junior Lydia Scheck (21:52) and junior Alannah Wilhelm (22:09).

Other 5A girls medalists included Andover freshman Madelyn Wallace (6th, 19:20) and Bishop Carroll sophomore Brooke Martin (13th, 19:43). There were no Wichita-area medalists in the 6A girls race.

Buhler boys finish runner-up, as team title streak stopped

In a heavyweight battle with Wamego, the host school, the Buhler boys cross country team saw its 4-year run of team state championships come to a close. The Crusaders (56 points) put five entries in the top-20 scoring runners, but came up just short of Wamego (48 points) with the hosts putting four in the top-10.

It continued an impressive streak by Buhler, which had won four straight 4A boys titles and adds a runner-up finish to the mix. Junior Kaden Lohrentz (6th), 16:45), junior Layne Whisler (9th, 16:55), junior Chris Yutzy (14th, 17:09) and sophomore Cody Bunce (18th, 17:20) were all state medalists, while junior Cameron Yutzy (21st, 17:27), senior Wyatt Bunce (26th, 17:48) and sophomore Henry Trumpp (31st, 17:58) were all in the top-31.

Augusta (118 points) proved to be the best of the rest, as the Orioles snagged the third-place team trophy in the 4A boys race at Wamego behind three top-25 finishes by sophomore Dawson Schmidt (15th, 17:15), senior Michael Johnson (16th, 17:16) and freshman Jase Thomas (23rd, 17:36). The rest of the team was rounded out by junior Patrick Dieter (18:22), senior Aiden Broadbent (18:30), senior Grady Fox (19:04) and senior Ryker White (19:12).

Other area 4A boys medalists were Circle junior Blake Logan (7th, 16:47), Pratt junior Natanael Chavez (12th, 17:09) and Winfield senior Corban Priest (19th, 17:22).

Berean Academy boys win third XC title in last four years

After finishing runner-up in the team race last season, the Berean Academy boys were back on top of Class 2A with a team championship in Wamego. Berean had five runners in the top-25 scoring runners and its team score of 63 points was 32 better than runner-up Meade.

The Warriors have now won team state titles in three of the last four years, claiming the 2A titles in 2022 and 2020 and the 1A title in 2019. Berean Academy had three state medalists in senior Zach Briscoe (4th, 17:04), senior Andrew Harder (10th, 17:25) and junior Trevor Nusz (16th, 17:46), while the rest of the team was rounded out by junior Jeremiah Briscoe (27th, 18:12), sophomore Elias Simkins (30th, 18:15), junior Isaac Snook (19:18) and junior Nick Krebs (21:27).

Other 2A boys medalists included Hutchinson Trinity senior Jonah Godina (8th, 17:14), Marion junior Gavin Wasmuth (13th, 17:34), Sterling junior Tim Parish (14th, 17:34), Medicine Lodge junior Branden Fischer (15th, 17:35) and Medicine Lodge sophomore Davis Miltner (18th, 17:51).

In the 1A boys race in Wamego, the area medalists were Pretty Prairie junior James White III (7th, 17:51), Hutchinson Central Christian junior Blake Yoder (12th, 18:05), Pratt Skyline sophomore Jude Nelson (16th, 18:11) and Little River senior Treyton Olander (18th, 18:28).