Behind the running of Page Miller, the Pittsburg High School girls’ cross country team finished third at the Class 5A regional cross country meet at Bonner Springs and qualified for the state meet next weekend.
As St. Thomas Aquinas swept the first seven individual places, Miller was eighth in a time of 16 minutes, 16.32 seconds and Hannah Carrier was 15th overall in 17:00.86.
Jacobi Spresser finished 19th individually in 17:20.63 and McKenzie Spresser, Emilee Beitzinger and Alesha Edwards placed 21st through 23rd respectively, only being separated by three seconds. Sara Koroush rounded out the Pitt placers in 19:17.06.
The Dragons placed third as a team behind Aquinas and Bishop Miege.
On the boys’ side, the Dragons picked up three state qualifiers as David Beckenhauer finished fifth individually in 17:25.94, just 30 seconds behind meet winner Brooks Ballou from Bonner Springs.
Bryan Mendez also qualified for the state championships after finishing 10th in 17:49.42. As a team, the Dragons were fifth as St. Thomas Aquinas won the team title followed by Mill Valley, KC Turner and Bishop Miege.
Patrick Johnson qualified for state after he placed 19th in 18:22.50, Michael Hughes was 29th with a time of 19:10.05 and Michael Bruce was 41st in 23:08.40.
Class 4A
EL DORADO — Girard’s Michaela Bauer and Hayden Herlocker were the lone pair of qualifiers for the Trojans out of the Class 4A regional championships at El Dorado on Saturday.
Bauer finished fifth in 16:33.22 and Herlocker was close behind in sixth with a time of 16:33.78.
Chanute won the team title by six points over Valley Center.
Girard’s Carley Bradshaw was 37th overall in 18:22.19 and Jordan Lowe finished in 39th with a time of 18:30.27. Martina Caneva was 49th with a time of 18:59.64 and Lindsey Stolte finished 52nd in 19:05.31. Kallie O’Brien was 59th in 19:23.55.
On the boys’ side, Girard’s Andrew Augustin was the Trojans’ highest placer in 22nd with a time of 18:13.41. Cody Bradshaw was 32nd in 18:29.69 and Preston Samuels and Travis Webb finished 52nd and 53rd respectively. Caleb Belcher was close behind in 56th and Nathan Reetz finished in 66th in 20:14.38. Bryant Augustin was 89th with a time of 22:33.28.
Class 3A
BURLINGTON — Northeast runner Austin Bogina finally got the best of Baxter Springs’ Jake Spence.
Bogina, who finished second to Spence at the Crawford-Neosho-Cherokee League championships last week, finished ahead of Spence in the Class 3A regional championships Saturday at Burlington.
Bogina won the individual title with a time of 17:51, finishing almost 20 seconds ahead of Spence.
Southeast’s Talon Thompson qualified for the state championships for the second consecutive year after placing ninth individually with a time of 19:34. The Lancer’s also got Mandy McGuire into the state meet after she finished seventh in 18:28. It is the first time that McGuire has qualified for the state meet as it is also her first year running cross country.
Baxter Springs’ Page White won the girls’ race in 17:10 and Lanina Spence finished second in 18:04.
For Southeast, Tim Holden placed 18th in 200:04 and Trevor Johnson was 41st in 21:31. Gage Fox placed 48th in 21:49 and Kyle Stewart and Thomas Porter finished 55th and 63rd respectively.
Hannah Clausen was 34th for the Southeast girls in 22:18 and Madison Martin finished 39th in 22:59. Rachel Holden placed 49th in 32:34.
Northeast had Cole Scott finish 43rd in 21:34 and Cody McCloud place 46th in 21:45.
Walter Cunningham was 61st in 23:09 and Joey Claffey was 62nd in 23:32. Mason McCade was 64th with a time of 23:49 and Josh Tingley placed 68th with a time of 26:33.
Class 2A
MOUND CITY — The St. Mary’s Colgan girls’ cross country team finished just 16 points behind Class 2A regional champion Berean Academy, but it was still good enough for the Panthers to earn a team trip to the state championships.
Faith Miller was the highest placer for the Panthers as she finished eighth with a time of 17:23.99. Rachel Famer finished 16th individually in 18:10.21 and teammate Alex Wachter was 18th in 18:18.58. Emmalia White placed 20th in 18:24.55 and Emily Dickey was 23rd in 18:37.14. Emily Honsicker placed 35th for the Panthers with a time of 20:08.70.
Jared Mazurek was the highest finisher for the Colgan boys as he finished 51st in 22:14.03. Connor Dayton finished 53rd in 22:27.62 and Aaron Gouvion was 57th in 26:46.14.
BONNER SPRINGS —
