The boys Sectional 4 race Saturday at the Raymore-Peculiar cross country course will match some very even teams. It will include some old standbys as well as surprising newcomers.
After reviewing results from the district, conference, KC Metro and Rim Rock meets, the front runners appear to be:
Liberty (winner of District 8, 1st at Gold Conference and 3rd of 35 teams at Rim Rock.)
Ray-Pec (winner of District 7, 2nd at Gold Conference and 1st at KC Metro.)
Rockhurst (2nd at District 7, 2nd at KC Metro and 7th at Rim Rock.)
Park Hill South (2nd at District 8, 1st at Red Conference, 4th at KC Metro and 10th at Rim Rock.)
LS North (3rd at District 7, 3rd at Gold Conference and 6th at KC Metro.)
Individually, this promises to be a very tight race, certainly through the first two miles or so. Then, who will push it from there? It will feature four runners who have had some remarkable races this year.
District 7 and Gold Conference champ Stephen Mugeche of Blue Springs; District 7 runnerup and Red Conference champ Cole Rockhold of Truman; District 7 3rd place finisher and KC Metro runnerup William Thompson of Rockhurst; and District 8 champ and Blue Conference champ Clayton Adams of Kearney.
Moving on to the team possibilities:
Liberty is a team that always seems to be right there come Sectional and State time. This solid squad is led by Matt Alvey, Kyle Gabrielson, Austin Throckmorton and Brandon Colner. Liberty has run well all year, and its very high finish at Rim Rock more than a month ago still remains worthy of much notice.
Ray-Pec has surprised a lot of people, but now expectations will run high on Saturday because this squad has gained more attention as the year has gone on. It's been led much of the season by Jason Fambrough, although a surging Justin Howard turned in a team-best finish of 5th place at District 7. Rhett Hammers, Courage Davis, Keaton Wasson and Hunter Fawcett give the Panthers a very good shot at a high finish Saturday.
Rockhurst, led by Thompson, has its usual strong contingent of runners who sometimes trade places in the top seven. Charlie Smith rose all the way to be the Hawklet's No. 2 runner at District 7, just ahead of Sam Wilkerson. Carson Bode also has placed well in meets for Rockhurst.
Park Hill South is paced by Tucker Melles (second at District 8 and second at Red Conference). Gus Whitman, Keyan Lunders and Darrien Case have run well. But like Rockhurst and LS North, especially, Park Hill South will need some higher finishers to ensure it gets through Sectionals to State.
LS North has some fine upfront runners in Brian Green and Kyle Dean. After that, the Broncos will look for some good races from Sam Stockman and Brent Kilgore to push them into the top four at state.
I know it gets boring to say, but it's so true in a meet like Sectionals: While you can run all the momilesplit virtual meets you want, the actual athletes will decide who's going to State (and who's going to unfortunately stay home) on Nov. 9.
Good luck to all the athletes on Nov. 9.