After being in second place nearly the entire race, senior Katelyn Rupe passed Ryin Miller of Topeka Seaman with 400 meters remaining to claim her third straight 5A state cross country championship.
“I had been behind the entire race and I kind of knew going into the race that that was gonna be my strategy,” said Rupe, who won the Bob Timmons Award for having the fastest time in all classes. “My plan going into the race was to just stick behind, let her dictate the pace, because I know she goes out fast, and then just try and get her that last mile. And so I knew I wasn’t stressing when I was behind, but then when I caught up, and I could tell, OK, like, I have more in the tank than she does. And then when I did pass her, I just sprinted.”
In the girls state race, Rupe was joined by sophomore Kaylie Shultz who placed third despite battling a hip injury.
“It’s definitely fun to be so high up. We have a lot of competition in 5A,” Shultz said. “I was kind of dealing with an injury, so I think that that plays a part in my time, but I’m still proud of how I performed.”
Shultz won the regional cross country meet a week prior to the state meet.
“Katelyn and I both took regionals kind of easy,” Shultz said. “Her and I just kind of took it as fun and ran together.”
Junior Liam Deniau-Young, who placed 18th in the boys state meet, said that the competition at regionals was intense.
“We got third and it was really close,” Deniau-Young said. “Second was, I think, a point off and first was like six, seven points off of us.”
Deniau-Young was proud of his time of 16:21 and glad that the younger people on the team got to experience what the state meet feels like.
“When you have pressure that might hinder your performance, but if you’re learning how to cope with it earlier on, then it’s going to help you later,” Deniau-Young said. “Freshman year, I was so nervous. But for the third year in a row, I don’t feel it anymore.”
Rupe, who will run cross country and track at the University of North Carolina next year, was the only senior on the team this season.
“It was my last ever cross country race in a Salina Central uniform,” Rupe said. “So that’s really sad, because it’s been such a great three years, and I’ve loved the team.”
