Wamego dominates Newton Invitational

Last year, it was the invaders from the south, Norman (Okla.) High School, that dominated the Newton Invitational cross country meet.

This year, the invaders from the north dominated. Wamego won both the boys’ and girls’ team titles of the meet Saturday at Centennial Park.

The Wamego girls downed Buhler 61-76 for the girls’ title, followed by McPherson at 89 and Newton at 97.

Wamego’s BreAnna Briggs won the race in 15:20, 35 seconds ahead of El Dorado’s Molly Milbourn. Megan Johnson of Norman was third at 16:01.

“I love this course. It is so awesome,” Briggs said. “We usually run on hilly courses. We host state (Classes 1A through 4A), and we have a hilly course. Here it’s very flat. It’s nice not to have to run any hills. The conditions were very nice.”

Briggs finished second at Newton last year to El Dorado’s Laura Nightengale, who now runs for The University of Kansas. She breaks a run of individual titles for El Dorado runners. Briggs was fourth at Class 4A state last year

“It was an honor to compete against (Nightengale),” Briggs said. “She was a real good runner. I was able to push myself. There were some good runners here. I was hoping to catch the Gator (the four-wheeler used as a pace vehicle). They had a kid behind him and the kid kept saying, ‘Keep going.’ And I was like no.”

The Wamego boys downed Norman 27-76 for the team title. McPherson was third at 84, followed by El Dorado at 110.

Newton was seventh out of 11 teams.

Junior Adam Porter of McPherson won the race in 16:10, 13 seconds ahead of Riley Woodward of Wamego. Cameron Sprague of Hutchinson was third in 16:34.

“I was trying to get 15:54. That’s the school record,” Porter said. “It’s gotten within 19 seconds of it. I got fifth here last year in 17:21. I got 15th at state in like 17:11 (Class 5A). Last year was my first year. I spent lot of time in summer training with my brother. He’s the No. 1 runner at Friends University.”

Porter and Woodward were neck-and-neck early in the race, with Porter pulling away in the final mile.

“I pulled away right behind the baseball field,” Porter said. “We went back and forth. I stayed behind him through some of the windiest parts, drafting a little.”

Newton claimed four varsity medals — three for the girls.

Newton was led by Erin Loeffler, who placed 10th in 16:34. Mallorie Coffman was 11th in 16:38 and Shannon Ahlstedt in 19th 17:01. For the Railer boys, Austin Lettau claimed the 20th and final medal in 18:24.

“Overall, this was a very tough meet,” Newton coach Richard Mick said. “Our girls competed well. We need to get all of our girls playing well at the same time. If we do, we’ll score even better. Erin Loeffler ran a gutsy race. She ran hard and put herself in good position. She got passed in the last 50 yards, but we try to tell our team it’s more important what we do during the race, and not at the very end. She competed well. Mallorie didn’t get a good start, but she moved up as the race went on. She probably moved up 10 or 15 places. Those two ran really well.

“Our boys didn’t have a good race. They have been getting better and better, but for whatever reason, they had a setback today. I know we need to work on being consistent. Our times are up and down. Austin had a good race. He’s had several good races this season. To win a medal today against this talented competition, that’s an accomplishment. We’re happy with him.”

Newton competes Saturday at the El Dorado Invitational.

“That’s another big meet,” Mick said.