Free State High cross country runner Danny Schneider won Wednesday during the Haskell Fliers meet at Haskell Indian Nations University.

The question is, what took Schneider so long to find the sport — let alone the winners circle?

“I guess after five races I should know what I’m doing by now,” joked the FSHS junior, who despite a track background had never run cross country until this season.

Schneider gave credit for his first victory to senior teammate Nick Squier.

“He’s been the biggest help for me in learning about what I’m supposed to do in this sport,” said Schneider, who held off his buddy with a time of 16:48.42 in the 5,000-meter race, while Squier finished second in 16:54.10.

The Haskell Fliers meet usually features about five teams, but Wednesday’s competition became a dual between Olathe East and Free State when other teams chose to race in other events.

Using the top seven finishers in both the boys and girls race, O-East had the better score of the two teams, tallying 98, while the Firebirds scored 105.

“This afternoon, this kind of meet worked out real well,” FSHS coach Steve Heffernan said. “We are pretty comparable teams and also competitive at the state level, so it was kind of fun to run against each other.

“I think with fewer teams, the kids can also relax a little, and the lanes open up where people can run a little faster.”

But Heffernan didn’t want standout sophomore Alysha Valencia to get too comfortable as she pulled away from the field. Instead, the FSHS coach wanted Valencia to prepare for the next few weeks by having her set the pace.

Valencia won the 4,000-meter race in 15:12.20. The second-place runner, OE’s Ashley Kelso, finished nearly a minute slower in 16:05.00.

“She has really come a long way in the last four weeks,” Heffernan said of Valencia, who has won four of the five races she has run this season. “Our goal today was to have her be under 12 minutes after the two-mile mark, and she came in at 11:56.

“Now we’re working on that last kick.”

Schneider wished he could focus on one aspect of his race strategy, but said he was pretty raw.

“But much better than my first race,” he said. “I didn’t know what was going on out there in that one. I just tried to follow the pack.”

Heffernan said Schneider had the skill to run cross country.

“I think he fell into it, more or less,” Heffernan said. “He loves soccer a lot and never really tested himself in distance running. He still hadn’t done that until he decided to do cross country to get in shape for track. And then he found out he was pretty good at it.”

Still, Schneider hopes Squier would continue to show him how to succeed.

“We really push each other a lot in practice,” Squier said. “He kind of helped me out there today, and I was definitely trying to catch him.”