The Prairie View girls cross country team at the starting line for the state meet includes from left, Ryleigh Lueker, Ella Steinle, Wylie Teagarden, Kally Stroup, Laramie Stevens, Timberlyn Browning and Bree Allen. (Photos by Marcie Caldwell / PV Cross Country Facebook)
LAWRENCE – Prairie View senior Bree Allen must think that the state cross country championships at the Rim Rock course north of Lawrence are jinxed.
Last year the standout Buffalo distance runner faced sleet and cold rain in her bid to regain the Class 3A champion medal she won in 2022. She had to settle for runner-up.
This year it was rain. The heavens opened up just before the 3A girls race began, and Allen and the rest of the Prairie View team slogged their way through mud and muck.
“It was raining, slick, and muddy,” said coach Marcie Caldwell, adding that everyone’s times suffered as a result.
Last year, Prairie View’s team traveled to Rim Rock to support Allen, the team’s only qualifier for state. This year, though, misery loved company and the entire girls varsity team ran in the mud-fest.
Like football, cross country doesn’t stop because of rain, or wind, or snow. Only lightning can cancel a meet, and there was none.
Bree Allen, right, receives her runner-up medal at the state 3A awards ceremony. Allen has medaled at the state cross country meet every year since she was a freshman.
Allen’s time for the 5,000-meter course was 19:23.0, a full minute slower that her qualifying time at the regional meet the week before.
“Bree was actually quite pleased with her placing this year,” Caldwell said. “(Emily) Hein from Trinity has been running phenomenally, and it would have had to be perfect conditions and Hein would have had to fall down a hill for Bree to beat her.”
Not that Hein, a junior at Trinity Academy in Wichita who has now won the state championship two years in a row, had that good a run. Her time was 18:26.9, off more than half a minute from her qualifying time of 17:51 the week before.
As a team, Prairie View placed 12th in the meet with 228 points. Hesston was first with a score of 104 points (less is better here), Trinity Academy was second with a score of 105, and Jayhawk-Linn was ninth with 199 points (see separate story).
Laramie Stevens placed 56th out of 108 runners with a time of 22:17.0, more than two minutes slower than her qualifying time of 20:13.9. Ryleigh Lueker was 82nd, Wylie Teagarden was 84th, Kally Stroup was 101st, Timberlyn Browning was 102nd, Ella Steinle was 106th
This was the final cross country meet for the group of seniors that included, from left, Wylie Teagarden, Kally Stroup, Ryleigh Lueker and Bree Allen.
This was the final cross country run for a group of senior girls that made their mark as freshmen by winning the Pioneer League championship - a feat they have continued to do throughout their high school careers. Teagarden, Lueker, Stroup, and Allen created a core for the Prairie View program.
And while the girls have followed increasing divergent paths during their high school careers, they remained true to running. Last week each member of the girls team recorded personal best times.
“It’s been a really good run with those girls, and it’s bittersweet to see them moving on to their next adventures," said Caldwell.
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