Seizing the moment

Pittsburg senior Jonny Adamson (who attends St. Mary’s Colgan but runs for a co-op Pittsburg team during regular season meets) bided his time in the Pittsburg Invitational boys’ 5K race Thursday and seized his moment in winning first place on the Four Oaks Golf Course in Lincoln Park.

“He had a really good race,” Pittsburg head coach Gary Ausemus said. “He just keeps getting better each time out. He’s really starting to learn how to race now instead of just go out and run. He’s developing a kick at the end and today, he beat one of the better runners in the state (Drew Baum, Labette County). He just timed his kick when he wanted to and looked real strong today. I was real proud of him.”

Adamson ran a time of 16 minutes, 24 seconds — 9 seconds better than Drew Baum of Labette County. David Geren of Labette County also ran a sub-17:00 time of 16:51.

Pittsburg junior Hank Cloninger finished seventh (17:44), in the upper middle of a group of seven runners separated by 30 seconds — Chandler Summers of Chanute (17:30), Toney Asquith of Baxter Springs (17:43), Cloninger, George Langston of Labette County (17:53), Tyler Fleck of Southeast (17:58), Jamie Silvers of Paola (17:59) and Seth Blackburn of Labette County (18:00).
“Hank’s a first-year cross country runner,” Ausemus said, “but he sure doesn’t act like it when he gets in a race. He gets better each time out and he’s just learning the sport. He looks real impressive right now.”
Labette County won team honors with 49 points — propelled by medalists Baum, Geren, Langston and Blackburn. Pittsburg took second with 79, followed by Paola (97), Chanute (135), Girard (149), Southeast (172), Louisburg (184), Independence (265), Frontenac (270), Caney Valley (323), Neodesha (335) and Oswego (350).
Southeast finished with three medalists — Fleck, 12th place Trevor Johnson (18:07) and 14th place Steven Porter (18:09). Drew Zimmerman led all Girard finishers in 13th place (18:08), Michael Toms finished 18th (18:23) for Northeast, and Chance Medlin led Frontenac in 37th (19:22).

Northeast sophomore Kaylee Bogina led all Crawford County runners in the varsity girls race, finishing an impressive fifth place (16:42). Yes, impressive considering that Bogina and eighth place finisher Jenny O’Bryan of St. Paul (17:03) were the only non-Class 4A runners among 15 medalists.

Bogina finished behind winner Katren Reinbolt of Fort Scott (15:46), Michaela Ozier of Labette County (16:05), Paige White of Baxter Springs (16:14) and Katie Jo Kirk of Paola (16:31) but ahead of Top 10 runners Madison Dispensa of Chanute (16:48), Taylor Jameson of Frontenac (16:57), O’Bryan, Jenna Schroeder of Girard (17:04) and Sarah Jewett of Pittsburg (17:08).

Jewett led Pittsburg on the girls side and fellow Pittsburg runners Rachel Farmer and Alex Wachter (both Colgan students) finished top 20: Farmer 16th in 17:41 and Wachter 19th in 17:55.
“Our girls are up-and-down right now,” Ausemus said. “They’re working real hard. Sarah Jewett, Rachel Farmer and Alex Wachter are three strong runners and hopefully, they peak at the right time of the season and finish off their junior and senior years like they should.”

On the girls side, Paola won handily with 56 points, followed by Chanute (126), Pittsburg (129), Frontenac (130), Girard (162), Independence (182), Oswego (217), Louisburg (249) and Labette County (256). Paola had five medalists — Kirk, Lauren Frederick (11th, 17:09), Rebecca Wright (12th, 17:11), Natalie Effler (14th, 17:21) and Jessica Wright (15th, 17:31).