Salina Central junior Kaylie Shultz dominated the Rim Rock Cross County meet in Lawrence last weekend.
She finished with a time of 17:52.98, which was more than 30 seconds faster than the runner-up.
Central freshman Raylin Jensen had the team’s second-best time of 21:53.39, which was good for 115th at the highly competitive meet. Freshman Emily Shurts was close behind at 22:12.75.
Sophomore Addyson Lund ran a 23:59.47, sophomore Delilah McWhorter a 24:03.58 and senior Yessi Ingram a 24:25.40.
For the Mustang boys, senior Liam Deniau-Young finished 26th in 16:39.57, junior Luke Affholder was 83rd in 17:25.79 and sophomore Renner VanZant was 183rd in 18:33.10. Freshman Jaime Navarro finished in 20:12.83.
After finishing the 2024-25 cross country season with nine athletes qualifying for state, the team has improved a lot, sophomore Marshall Zuccarelli said.
“I think as a team, we’re definitely trying to make it to state,” Zuccarelli said. “We’ve only gotten better with the new people coming in.”
Assistant coach Trey Cullins said they are willing to push it so they can go to state.
“We have a number of athletes this season who have taken another step,” Cullins said, “and who have come in ready and willing to work hard.”
There are 10 freshmen this year.
“I’m really glad that they went out for cross country,” Zuccarelli said, “but just trying to accept them and make them feel welcome in our team is obviously the biggest goal.”
Cullins said that the freshmen are hard workers.
“We have some amazing freshmen coming up that are very highly motivated and already running varsity meets,” Cullins said.
The freshmen include Joshua Duong, Kayden Hansen, Zane Hoff, Ben Hughes, Raylin Jensen, Jaime Navarro, Mickayla Roberts, Emily Shurts, Jude Smith, and Callie Van Court.
Staying in peak physical condition is a high priority for the team, Cullins said, adding that they worked hard in the offseason.
“Our biggest concern is making sure that our athletes are healthy and are not burnt out,” Cullins said. “So, we try to be cognizant of that in the offseason.”
Everyone on the team trained at least two days a week during the summer, and some ran more than that, Zuccarelli said.
Cullins said that he hopes every runner enjoys what they do.
“I hope that our athletes feel a sense of joy in running.” Cullins said.
Their next meet is tomorrow, at Junction City – the Bob Schmokel Cross Country Invitational starting at 9 am.
