The Prairie View girls cross country team members were runner-up Class 3A champs at the regional cross country meet on Saturday, Oct. 26, with Bree Allen (center holding the plaque) the individual winner. The team will travel to the state meet on Saturday. (Photos by Roger Sims / Linn County Journal)
Editors note: The Prairie View girls will be in the state Class 4A race at Rim Rock north of Lawrence on Saturday, Nov. 2. The race begins at noon but allow at least an hour for traffic once you arrive at Rim Rock. Here is the link for more information: https://www.kshsaa.org/react/fanpage/2967
RICHMOND – Prairie View senior Bree Allen had a strained but determined look on her face as she ran onto the mowed path around a native grass field adjacent to the Central Heights school complex. Another half mile or so to go in the Class 3A regional cross country race on Saturday, Oct. 26, and Allen was by herself.
A young man in the crowd said to his friend, “I don’t think she’s that far ahead.”
But she was.
Senior Bree Allen crosses the finish line with no other runners in sight, setting a personal best and a Prairie View school record in the process. She will try to reclaim the title of Class 3A champ at the state meet on Saturday.
It had been a big week for Allen. She had won the Pioneer League girls cross country championship for the fourth time. (Make that the seventh time, because she did it in middle school as well.) She had just announced that she had committed to be a distance runner for the K-State Wildcats.
And now she was a couple of minutes away from once again qualifying for state with a chance to reclaim the title of state champion. It was a title that she held as a sophomore but let slip through her grasp in 2023 on an unseasonably cold November day. She was forced to settle for runner-up.
Prairie View Senior Wylie Teagarden charges up a steep-but-short hill with Jayhawk freshman Gabby Parsons following her. Teagarden had her best race of her career, placing 12th.
As she came across the finish line Allen was alone. She is accustomed to that. But she usually walks, tired but composed, through the gauntlet of flags at the finish line and off into the crowd. But this time she collapsed on the ground, exhausted, winded.
Signaling that she didn’t need any help, after a few moments Allen pulled herself up and walked away. The second-place runner, Natalia Onelio from Girard, was only now within sight of the finish line.
Allen had pushed herself to the limit. She would walk away with a medal for first place, she would lead her teammates to a second place team finish, which would mean a trip to state for the entire team.
But she had also set a new school record and a new personal record for herself with a time of 18:22.80, thirty-six seconds ahead of Onelio.
Senior Rylie Lueker sprints to an 18th place time at the finish line at the regional meet.
While Allen’s performance as a distance runner has put her in the school’s collective sports memory, hers wasn’t the only story on Saturday.
Every one of her teammates set personal records as well, according to their coach, Marcie Caldwell. Every one.
And their effort meant a return to the state meet for the four seniors who as freshmen rocked the league and regional meets. Those seniors – Wylie Teagarden, Kally Stroup, Rylie Lueker and Allen – had not been back to the state meet as a team since their freshman year.
Teagarden, who had struggled early in the season, placed 12th with a time of 21:40.00. Lueker was 18th with a time of 22:34.21. Stroup placed 36th with a time of 24:13.10; it was only her second race of the year after sitting out nearly two months with an injury.
Laramie Stevens powers up a steep incline midway through the race. She maintained a steady fourth place throughout the race and clear to the finish line.
The race was also a good look at next year’s team. Sophomore Laramie Stevens, who has been been running a strong second to Allen this year, placed fourth with a time of 20:13.90.
Sophomore Timberlyn Browning placed 39th, and junior Ella Steinle placed 42nd out of 53 runners competing.
Only three boys competed in the regional meet, and two of those boys may represent the school’s future for distance running events. Sophomores Bracken Malin and Brogan Beattie made the transition up to varsity races earlier in the season.
Malin placed 28th with a time of 18:51.00, and Beattie ran the course in 20:21.80 for 44th. Senior Rylan Cline, who began running this season, finished his high school career with a time of 21 :37.21.
Senior Rylan Cline sprints to the finish line. The regional was his final race for PVHS.
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