You will hear the word “runner to your mark” and the starting pistol will sound for one final time this season in cross country action with the State competitions commencing this Saturday in Wamego for Class 4A, 2A and 1A and in Lawrence for Class 3A.

A multitude of runners will be competing in the State competitions either as individuals who qualified for state or some runners will be competing not only as individuals but teams, also.

In Class 4A only one area runner will grace the course to compete at the Wamego Country Club on Saturday as Atchison’s, Sarah Jaloma who won her Regional will race at noon in the Class 4A competition.

Class 3A will feature three area schools and four teams between those three schools competing as teams at Rim Rock Farm in Lawrence for the State competition on Saturday. On the boys side it will be the Hiawatha Red Hawks competing as a team after a second place finish at Regionals. Red Hawks will take to the course with a pair of seniors in Tyler Boeckman and Baxter DeFore alongside Brandt Houk, Conner Winters, Beau Oldridge, Brendan Steele and Jesse Quinn.

On the girls side the Red Hawks will also be competing as team after capturing the Regional championship this past weekend at Sabetha. Hiawatha will be led by defending state champ, Jordan Puvogel who won Regionals to lead the Red Hawks. Joining her on the team all season has been a young field of Red Hawks with Molly Kettler, Kailey Davis, Mykah Barnes, McKenna Gilpin, Katie Rosa and Jada Rosa racing to success this season for Hiawatha.

The ACCHS lady Tigers and the lady Rams of Pleasant Ridge will also be competing at state as teams in Class 3A girl’s competition. The Tigers this season have been led by sophomore, Madison Bissell who has had multiple top 10 finishes this year. Fellow sophomores, Tiffany Gilmore and Beba Scholz join Bissell on the Tigers squad along with twins MacKenzie and Maddison Forbes and Caitlin Fuller. The Rams area lead by junior, Kristina Silvers who took home a top 10 finish at Regionals; she will be joined by Hailey Worthington, Rachel Hattok, Skylar Ling, Syvannah Williams and Peyton Gould to comprise the Rams team at State.

While four teams will be competing in the 3A state cross country event, three other schools will be sending runners to compete too.

Pleasant Ridge will see Tony Weber who took second at Regionals compete in the boys competition individually, while Sabetha and Nemaha Valley will also be sending boys runners to compete at State. Sabetha Bluejay junior, Corbin Cox and freshman, Keegan Cox both placed in the top 10 at Regionals to qualify for state as did Nemaha Valley Raider junior, Colin Lierz.

Marysville will also be sending the boys Sabetha Regional champ to State as Joe Smith will be compete at Rim Rock and the girls third place regional placer, Bryclin Alstrom will run in the girl’s competition.

The 3A competitions in Lawrence at Rim Rock are slated for 10:00am for the girls race and 11:30am for the boys.

Class 2A the Jefferson County North Chargers will highlight the area with both their boys and girls teams qualify for State after taking second for each of them in Regionals. The Chargers on the boy’s side were led by junior, Devon Wilson at Regionals to help them to their second place team performance and to qualify for State. He will be joined by Bryson Weishaar, Ted Sharp, Thomas Steichen, Ty Brickell, Spencer Hubbard and Tyler Nolting to make up the Chargers team for the State competition. The lady Chargers were led by a pair of top 10 finishers at Regionals as Carissa McAfee and Laramie Leakey each tallied top 10 finishes. Joining them at State will be Julie Schrick, Abbie Weishaar, Mkayla Bertels, Molly Bassette and Maggie Sharp.

Only one other area team qualified for State in 2A and that was the Onaga Buffalo boys who were led by Luke Marten at Regionals who took home tenth place. Joining Marten on the Buffalo team competing at State is Michael Eisenbarth, James Johnson, Jackson Glessner, Wade Minihan, Jonathan Fairbanks and Blake Wesley. Two lady Buffalos will, also be making the trip to State as freshman as both Maggie Revell and Alexis VanDonge each qualified for State, too.

McLouth and Jackson Heights are the only other two area 2A schools to be sending runners to the State competition as Cobra runner, Kaitlyn Little took fifth at Regionals to qualify for State and Bulldog runner, Ryan Bristol placed 16^th at Regionals earning him a spot at the State competition.

Class 1A is completely stacked of area runners and teams competing at the State competition this Saturday, also, as two boys and two girls teams will compete in Wamego, along with many more individual runners.

On the boy’s side, Regional champs Frankfort lead the way after capturing a team regional championship and individual Regional championship by senior, Adam Koch who will lead Frankfort into the State competition. Competing alongside, Koch will be Keith Huddleston, Noah Suther, Alex Roeder, Sheldon Parthemer, Rylen Bailey and Brenden Levi. While, the Wetmore Cardinals will be the other boys area team represented at State after taking second place at Regionals. Cardinals will be led by Josh Ballenger, Aaron Achten and Jeremy Hoelscher who have plenty of top flight performances this season. Joining them on the Cardinals team is Layne Hodge and Isiah Ballenger.

On the girls side the Axtell lady Eagles and the lady Mustangs of Doniphan West will compete as teams in the 1A State competition at Wamego. The Eagles area fresh off a Regional title and were led by three top 10 finishes at Regionals from Susan Peschel, Paige Menninga and Tricia Schmitz. Rounding out the Eagles team will be Alexis Werner and CJ Strohmeyer. While for the Mustangs they were led by Kassydi Miller at Regionals and she will be joined by her teammates: Mackenzie Boos, Cara Prawl, Jessica Neibling, Elayne Clevenger and Kim Ellioitt at the State competition.

Centralia, Valley Heights, Clifton-Clyde will all be sending runners too state too along with Axtell sending one boys runner, too.

For Axtell, Tracey Schmitz is headed back to the State competition to compete in the boy’s competition, while Valley Heights Mustang Adrain Pishney will be competing alongside him as an individual, too.

On the girl’s side the Centralia Panthers area sending a pair of freshman in Madison Boeckman and Sadie Jones to State after top 10 performances at Regionals by both gals and Clifton-Clyde Eagle, Abby Sikes will be competing alongside them, while Miranda Ohlde of Valley Heights also qualified for State.

The 1A races are slated for 10:00am for the girls and 11:30am for the boys at the Wamego Country Club in Wamego on Saturday.

Yet again it’s another year of area athletes excelling in all sports and cross country continues to house some of the top area athletes and some of the top athletes of across the state.