By CONOR NICHOLL
Led by coach Caryn Murray, Frontenac cross country qualified both teams to the state meet. It marked the first time the Raider boys have qualified for state. Frontenac ran at Fredonia.
On the girls’ side, Prairie View won the competition with 49 points, while Anderson County took second with 76, and Frontenac was third at 81. Prairie View freshman Bree Allen cruised to the championship in 19 minutes, 52.28 seconds, nearly 27 seconds ahead of the field. For Frontenac, freshman Alexa Reddick was ninth in 22:28.49.
Sophomore Maggie Payne finished in 15th in 23:23.49. Senior Lydia Pyle was 16th in 23:30.62. Juniors Kaitlyn Hayslip and Trinity Lohrmeyer were 20th and 21st in 24:02.92 and 24:09.55, respectively. Freshman Anistyn Clayton posted a 24:34.93 for 27th place. Junior Grace Jones also participated in the race.
The Raiders had a nice improvement from the last several state meets. Last year, Payne was the lone girl to qualify and finished in 93rd place in 25:14.47. Frontenac graduated its only qualifier, senior Easton King, who took 77th.
In 2019, King was the lone Raider to reach state on the boys or girls side when he took 74th. In ’18, Frontenac’s lone qualifier was senior Jessica Peterson, who finished in 13th. Peterson was also the only Raider to qualify in ’17 when she finished 29th, according to Heartland Timing archives.
On the boys’ side, state power Girard won with 45 points, and Anderson County took second with 49. Frontenac finished third with 80 points. Girard finished 1-2-5 with juniors Tanner Ulbrich and Gavin Doubrava in the top-two slots with freshman Houston McGown fifth. Ulbrich won the race in 17:21.22, which was more than 50 seconds ahead of the field.
For Frontenac, sophomore Tallon Bonine was eighth in 18:32.35. Senior Ryan Hite took 13th in 18:57.65. Senior Connor Doherty was 18th in 19:55.74. Senior Coy Medlin was 24th in 20:50.63. Senior Lucas Brummett was 47th in 23:46.57. Junior Dayton Hutchison was 48th in 23:50.08. Sophomore Evan Zafuta was 50th in 24:07.24.
State is Saturday at Wamego Country Club. Class 3A boys run at 10:40 a.m., and the 3A girls run at noon.
Reddick, Payne, Hite and Bonine earned CNC all-league honors at the conference meet. Frontenac girls won the CNC league, and the Raider boys took third at conference. Frontenac has nine overall seniors between the two squads. Earlier this year, Bonine won the Southeast meet, a competition where both Frontenac squads won team titles.
