Warriors take home nine medals
Sports reporter
Marion High School cross country team took home nine medals Thursday at Chapman.
Once again MHS showed improvement heading into Thursday's Mid-Central Activities Association meet at Marion Reservoir.
Chapman featured two races for both the girls and boys. Runners were grouped into either the freshman-sophomore race, or the junior-senior one.
All MHS boys ran in the freshman-sophomore race with sophomore Luke Bowers leading the way. Bowers finished fifth with a 3.1-mile time of 19:07.
Sophomore Daniel Goentzel continued to run well with a ninth-place finish and a time of 19:34.
The last runner to medal on the boys' side was another sophomore, Jordan Timm. Timm snagged the last medal with a time of 20:46 and a 20th-place finish.
Keith Jones and Justin Heidebrecht just missed medals as they finished 21st and 22nd, respectively.
"I thought we would do well," said MHS coach Rex Ostmeyer. "They had the right frame of mind going in, and that's important."
The girls' team also fared well. Sophomore Danielle Cope had her second top10 finish of the season, coming in at sixth with a two-mile time of 13:59. Laura Holt came in next for Marion at 11th place in 14:31.
Three girls medaled in the junior-senior race, led by Alissa Vogel's ninth place time of 14:02. Katie Hett was next at 13th with a time of 14:46, followed by Sabine Teichert in 17th with a time of 14:40.
"We are doing well," Ostmeyer said of both teams. "But now is where the chips are on the line."
That's because the regular season is over beginning Thursday with the MCAA meet followed by regionals and state.
"I won't treat it any different," Ostmeyer said of the league meet. "One thing I've learned: The less they are thinking, the better."
Just like other individual sports, Ostmeyer believes if the runners feel loose and confident and treat it like any other meet, the team should do well.
"The surroundings of the Reservoir should be to our advantage," Ostmeyer said. "It's new for us, but hopefully we can do some good things."
It's new because Marion has not run against many league teams this year. Some MCAA teams were at Hesston, but it seemed all of Kansas' 3A schools were present, not allowing the team to get a good look at the rest of the league.
The league meet will start at 4 p.m. Thursday and will feature all 12 MCAA teams. It will not affect regionals, but medals will be handed out similar to the regular season.
Boys' Fr.-So. race
Luke Bowers 19:07 (5)
Daniel Goentzel 19:34 (9)
Ben Leppke 20:22 (15)
Jordan Timm 20:46 (20)
Keith Jones 20:50 (21)
Justin Heidebrecht 20:51 (22)
Logan Richmond 22:08 (32)
Matt Kirkpatrick 22:44 (36)
GIRLS' Fr.-So. RACE
Danielle Cope 13:59 (6)
Laura Holt 14:31 (11)
Emily Svoboda 16:53
Elisa Gayle 16:58
Girls' Jr.-Sr. Race
Alissa Vogel 14:02 (9)
Katie Hett 14:46 (13)
Sabine Teichert 14:40 (17)
Chelsea Arnhold 15:39
Briana Vogel 16:05
