Aquinas needs young runners to step up as Saints eye 8th straight state title

In any high school sport, winning consecutive state titles requires a little bit of luck.

Even for St. Thomas Aquinas, a team looking for its eighth straight Class 5A state title in cross country, that luck can swing both directions.

Aquinas lost three seniors from their 2020 championship team, including third-place finisher Tommy Hazen, but the team still planned to have four underclassmen with state experience return.

Instead, the Saints will have to settle for three of those individuals as 20th-place finisher Darren Mallot has opted to focus on boys swimming this fall. Mallot, who finished ninth in the 100-yard breaststroke at Class 5-1A state last year, decided to focus solely on competing in the pool this year. 

Head coach Justin Wrigley still feels like his team has the pieces necessary to go for eight at state, it's just a matter of if it will make enough strides in the next month.

"We've got guys who'll step up and take care of business, but we've got a ways to go," Wrigley said.

Seniors Logan Seger and Ashton Higgerson return after all-state finishes with Seger placing fourth and Higgerson taking seventh a season ago. Seger, Higgerson and Hazen were part of the Saints' state runner-up 4x800 relay team. Hazen broke the state record in the 3200-meter race with a time of 9:05.39. Seger was four seconds back in second place while still being four seconds ahead of every other two-mile state runner across all classifications.

"That was a pretty exciting day to see those performances," Wrigley said.

If the team needed a little luck to cover for the loss of Mallot, it'll come from a competitor who started to catch up to those track stars in the spring after running on the cross country C-team in the fall. Colby King made major improvements during his sophomore year as he set his personal records for the 1600 meter by breaking the 4:30.00 mark and in the 3,200 meter with a time of 9:34.31. Aquinas will also look for team captain Frank Curran to round out the team's top four after running with the JV team a season ago.

Wrigley said it's going to be really important who works their way into the five, six and seven spots for this team.

"We are trying to really develop those guys," Wrigley said. "We've got some really young guys that worked really hard this summer. They're not quite there yet, but hopefully they will be."

On the girls team, Aquinas might have its best shot at winning its first Eastern Kansas League title since 2016. The Saints return three varsity runners with state experience with sophomore Lilly Mauk, junior Quinn Babcock and senior Alexis Huddin. Mauk had the top state finish among returners with her 40th-place finish in 2020. The team also expects great things from their newcomers, including sophomore Sophia Spinello who is running cross country for the first time after playing volleyball her freshman year.

Wrigley said both teams are looking forward to the Olathe Twilight Classic on Sept. 11 and the Rim Rock Classic on Sept. 25 to gauge this group against other top teams in Kansas. The Saints will also get to compare themselves to top teams from across the South when they head to the 33rd Annual Chili Pepper Cross Country Festival on Oct. 2 in Fayetteville, Arkansas.

The boys team will likely face a strong push from last year's state runner-up, St. James Academy. The Thunder will bring back four state qualifiers from last season, including seniors Eli Moore (eighth place) and Terry Irvine (10th place). Bishop Carroll will bring back state runner-up senior Carson McEachern and all five of the team's other state qualifiers from its fourth-place finish in 2020.

For the girls side, reigning state champion Maize South will look to replace two state runners who graduated, including fifth-place finisher Alexa Rios, but will have four returners from the 10-23 spots. The top two placers returning are junior Bowi Sargent (10th place) and senior Britton Kelly (11th place).

Bishop Carroll will have enough of its top runners returning to have a shot at winning the team's first state title since completing a two-peat with their 2011 championship. Senior Hope Jackson returns as the two-time reigning state champion, along with the third-place finisher in Landon Forbes. The team will have three other state qualifiers from a season ago.

Mill Valley lost three seniors from its fourth-place team in 2020, but will return state runner-up senior Katie Schwartzkopf, who was the 6A state champion as a freshman. The Jaguars will also have three other state qualifiers, including senior Bridget Roy (35th place).