By Rich Winter

605 Sports

A year ago the Philip boys stormed to the Class B state cross-country title racking up just 20 points to outdistance second place Northwestern (38). 

All five of the Scottie runners placed in the top-16 at the state meet and those runners Wakely Burns, fifth; Tukker Boe, seventh; Baylor Burns, 12th; Trey Larson, 15th and Asher Peterson, 16th are all returning for what should be a terrific season. 

With a number of talented runners coming up just making the Philip varsity team is going to be a challenge.
Northwestern should be good again with its top-two runners Lincoln Woodring and Nathan Melius returning. 

Freeman Academy/Marion returns second place finisher Tavin Schroeder and ninth-place finisher Finley McConniel but will need to develop a third runner to be in contention by the state meet. 

With individual champion Josiah Schroeder of Canistota graduating, this year’s race for the tape should be quite competitive with four seniors leading the charge for that individual title. 

Tavin Schroeder was second a year ago (17:06.47) with Potter County’s Nicholas Schlachter third (17:11.70). Woodring was fourth (17:15.88) with Burns fifth (17:36.77).

Potter County senior Nicholas Schlachter and Freeman Academy/Marion's Tavin Schroeder will be among the favorites to win the Class B race in October- File photo

One of the wild cards to watch for is Mitchell Christian freshman Silas Holdeman who was sixth a year ago (17:38). 

A year ago the Potter County girls absolutely dominated the Class B field racking up 24 points to outdistance second place Arlington (60) and third place Gayville-Volin (64).

Potter County sophomore Dannika Kaup is the leader of what should be another spectacular team.

The Battlers return their entire team from 2022. Dannika Kaup, sixth; Jadyn Ahlemeir, 12th and Emma Schlachter, 17th. All three are sophomores and were the three girls that scored for Potter County at the state meet last year. Other returners for Potter County are Paige Ahlemeier and Peyton Stevens. 

Arlington returns all three of its athletes that scored a year ago, including Kaelyn Ulschmid who was third a year ago. 

Gayville-Volin was very young a year ago and returns Jolie Westrum, Abigail Engel and Payton Logan. 

The Class B team race is always the hardest to predict prior to the start of the season. Seventh grade additions for teams like James Valley Christian, Northwestern and Colman-Egan could easily push those teams into contention. 

Individually Chester Area’s Emery Larson dominated the 5K race at the state meet posting a time of 18:15. Larson was more than a minute ahead of second-place finisher Ella Boekelheide (19:19.24). Larson is a dual sport athlete and will likely split some time between the Chester Area volleyball team and the cross-country team. 

Chester Area's Emery Larson dominated the individual race and is the favorite to win another title in October - File photo

The rest of the individual contenders are all sophomores. Expect Boekelheide, Ulschmid, Highmore-Harrold’s Autumn Fallis, Kaup and Ipswich’s Madisyn Gelhaus to be near the front of the pack by the time the state meet rolls around.