Staff writer
The Marion High School boys cross-country team qualified for state Saturday, tying Hillsboro for second but finishing third because Marion’s sixth runner, Clark Kroupa, finished one place and two seconds behind Daniel Gray of Hillsboro.
“I knew we had a shot,” coach Bethany Carlson said of going to state. “I just wasn’t going to say we were going to do it and jinx it.”
Sophomore Jordan Hett crossed the finish line fifth with a time of 17 minutes, 37 seconds. The next Warriors to cross were sophomores Patrick McCarty, 13th, 18:40, and Jacob Cope, 16th, 19:00. Cope barely held off senior Michael Kirkpatrick who ran a personal best time of 19:01, only a second slower than Cope and 15 seconds faster than his previous best.
The key runner giving the Warriors a state berth was freshman Timothy Knolla. Knolla had bounced back and forth between varsity and junior varsity this year. He only joined the team in September after moving back to Marion from Virginia this summer.
His first varsity race was Sept. 16 in Peabody. He has gradually run faster times as the season has progressed but had not consistently run in the fifth runner position.
He was still competing with Kroupa and Derek Stuchlik before the race started but emerged as the fifth runner early in the race.
While the team was driving to Wichita, Carlson spoke with Knolla.
“Whenever I see you, you look like you’re dying out there,” she said. “Think positive. Don’t think about anything that hurts.”
Carlson and the Marion faithful, including Superintendent Lee Leiker, followed Knolla through the race and encouraged him to keep charging to the finish line.
“All of us knew our fifth runner had to have a big race,” Carlson said.
He placed 36th with a time of 20:06. It was his personal best time by more than a minute.
“If he would have finished where he usually does, it would have been about 20 places different,” Carlson said. “No one PRs by a minute.”
Knolla said he was inspired to run his time to step up for the team. Carlson said now that Knolla has proven he can run at that pace it will give him confidence to continue to improve.
“Mostly, I’ve been doubting myself,” Knolla said. “I can keep getting better and keep pushing myself to get better.”
Sophomore Elizabeth Goentzel also qualified for state, finishing 13th with a time of 17:46.
The top 10 runners advance to state, but, as a rule, five runners from non-state qualifying teams qualify individually. Goentzel was the last runner to earn a trip to Wamego.
“The best part was seeing her glowing face when the announcer announced, ‘the 13th runner will be going to state’,” Carlson said. “I think all the Marion fans were ‘beaming’ for her.”
MHS is holding a pep rally for the cross-country team 3 p.m. Thursday. There will also be a send-off for the team at 6:15 a.m. Saturday before the Warriors travel to Wamego.