On Saturday, most of the Blazer XC Squad wrapped up their season with some exciting performances on a beautiful Fall morning at KU’s Rimrock Farm XC Course.

On the girls team side-10 Blazer’s dropped Rimrock Course PRs and two Blazers, Frosh Olivia Walion (21:33) and Natalie Roberts (24:56) dropped season PRs on one of the most challenging courses in Midwest. The Girls Varsity squad finished 13th in the Sunflower League with impressive performances as 5 of our top 7 girls dropped a course PR. The Blazer Varsity squad was lead by Junior Bella Meili who crossed the 5K finish line at 21:11, followed closely by the Varsity Frosh trio of Cox, Walion, and Shaffer. Seniors Sarah Farrens and Hannah Elliott came through at 5th and 6th place, and Junior Caroline Clarke punched her ticket to post-season by crossing as the Blazers 7th runner on the squad.

On the boys team side-13 Blazer’s dropped Rimrock Course PRs and 4 Varsity Blazers ran under 17:00 minutes for 5K at Rimrock which is an impressive showing for our Varsity boys. Varsity Senior Andrew Leach ran a career PR of 16:59, and C-team Frosh, Andrew Anderson (23:31) and Parker Prins (26:35) ended their seasons with a career/ season PR. The Varsity boys were lead by Paker Walion who finished 6th overall in the SFL with a time of 16:03 and a Course PR at Rimrock. Junior Nick Kilonzo placed 21st just outside of the medals with a Course PR of 16:52. Sophomore Aiden Scherman, Senior Andrew Leach, Frosh Cade Halton, Senior Jackson Elsey, and Sophomore Robert Falkner would come across the finish line in an impressive pack all placing in the top 37 runners of the Varsity meet. All boys set a course PR and earned a TEAM 3rd Place Sunf l owe r League Finish/ Medals on the Podium behind Shawnee Mission East (1st) and Olathe East (2nd).

The boys 3rd place team finish in the SFL is the first time in Blazer XC history that the Trailblazers have put a team on the podium stand with a top 3 team finish. The boys demonstrated great tactical and pack running as the final four Blazers all finished within 6 seconds of each other–a truly impressive performance that bested several SFL teams ranked ahead of the Blazers.

The Blazers look to continue their post-season running at the Olathe Regional XC Meet on Saturday morning at Johnson County Community College. Our Regional is the toughest regional in the State on the boys and girls side…wish our Blazers well as we continue working in our hopes to making it to the State Cross Country Championships hosted at KU at Rimrock Farm on Saturday, October 29th.