The Blazer Boys continue on to State XC in Lawrence:

On Saturday morning, the Blazer Regional XC squads competed in the toughest 6A Regional in the State of Kansas at Johnson County Community College hosted by Olathe East. The Blazer Boys took to the course first and ran a dominant and impressive race putting our top 5 runners in the top 20 and scoring 71 points. The Blazer boys were bested only by Olathe East to bring home a second place Regional Runner-Up trophy. The Blazers placed 6th, 13th, 14th, 18th, and 20th with Junior Parker Walion leading the charge for the Trailblazers with a 16:41 4th place finish in 20-30 mph winds.

The boys put three runners under 17 minutes and ran quite well as a pack to hold off Olathe South and Olathe West who were also looking for those coveted top three spots. Only three teams (Olathe East, GEHS, and Olathe South) move on to the State XC Championship at KU’s Rimrock Farm next Saturday. Congratulate Parker Walion 4th, Nick Kilonzo 14th, Andrew Leach 15th, Aidan Scherman 18th, Jackson Elsey, 20th, Cade Halton 23rd, and Robert Falkner 31st for one of the best Regional performances in Blazer XC History. THE BLAZERS RETURN TO THE STATE MEET FOR THE THIRD YEAR IN A ROW and 4th TIME IN PROGRAM HISTORY. The boys finished 3rd/14 teams in the Sunflower League, 2nd/9 teams in the Olathe 6A Regional… the their work is not done yet…State XC has 5 teams fighting for the podium and your Trailblazers are in the mix. Wish them luck this week as GEHS sends these boys to run a tight race against Olathe East, Shawnee Mission East, Garden City, Olathe South, and Lawrence Freestate. All of these teams are fighting for the top three podium spots on Saturday–it is going to be quite a race!

The Blazer Girls wrap up their season at the Olathe 6A Regional: Goals were set for this young girls program and the Blazer girls XC team did not disappoint. Although wind and warm temperatures made for tough racing conditions, the girls set a goal of placing 6th in a preview of the State Championship. The girls XC Olathe Regional is truly the hardest Regional to clear on the way to get a team qualified for the State meet. With Olathe West, Olathe North, and Olathe East easily dominating the field, our girls set a team goal to place 6th and do our best to get 1-2 girls qualified for the State meet. As a team the girls hit their goal with their highest Regional finish since moving to 6A placing 6th out of 9th edging Blue Valley West, Blue Valley North, and Blue Valley High School. The girls were lead by a gritty performance from Junior Bella Mieli who missed qualifying for the State meet by one place with her 21st place finish at 21:13. The girls put all five point scorers in the top 50! Meili was followed by Senior Sarah Farrens (who closed out her career on Saturday) at 32nd place, Frosh Makayla Cox at 40th place, Frosh Olivia Walion at 41st place, and Senior Hannah Elliott (also wrapping up her XC Career) at 48th place. Rounding out the line-up for the Blazers were Frosh Landri Schaffer coming in at 56th place and Junior Caroline Clarke at 57th place. The girls look ahead to the future with some great incoming talent and look to chip away at the Olathe 6A Regional and eventually make their way to the State meet in coming seasons. Congratulate these girls for a great season–these 7 girls lead a team of 29 female runners this year and they are only going to get better!